​Team Nova Scotia picked up two GOLD medals and a SILVER at the 2022 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships in Burlington, Ontario. It was the province’s best showing in recent lawn bowls history, with Nova Scotian teams competing in three of the four gold medal matches. The Nova Scotia teams were composed of brothers, sisters, mother and daughters and husband and wife.

​​Men’s Pairs
Steve Ogden and Steve Bezanson (Wanderers Lawn Bowling Club) defeated Alberta 16-11 in the gold medal game to win their 4th Canadian Men’s Pairs Championship. The duo previously won in 2009, 2010 and 2012. After dropping their first two matches in round robin play, they went on a 6-1 run to clinch a spot in a tiebreaker, where the pair beat British Columbia 12-11 to advance to the final.

​​Women’s Fours
Tammy Foster-Veinot, Jackie Foster, Debbie Foster and Lorraine Bezanson (Bridgetown/Wanderers) defeated Saskatchewan 18-13 in the gold medal game to capture the gold and their first Canadian Women’s Pairs title. The Foster-Veinot rink finished round robin play with a 6-3 record to advance to the gold medal game.

​​Men’s Fours
Braeden Campbell, Raymond MacDonald, John Sitemanand Liam Campbell (Bridgetown/Dartmouth) brought home the silver medal after a 16-8 loss in the gold medal game against Alberta. This was the first appearance on the national stage for this foursome who made the final with 3 of 4 team members aged 25 years old or younger.

​Nova Scotia was represented in Women’s Pairs by Debbie Tower and Nancy Latimer of Dartmouth and Ann Marie Siteman and Vicki Balcom of Dartmouth as did the Dartmouth/Wanderers Men’s Fours team of Terry O’Neil, Rick Fry, Grahame Usher and Mike Ritchie.
 
The 2022 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships were held in Burlington, Ontario August 15-20, 2022.

It was an exciting weekend at the Bedford Lawn Bowls Club as we determined our second set of Provincials to head off to the 2023 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championship with this year's Provincial Fours Championship!

​Both Team Campbell and Team Foster-Veinot advance on to represent Nova Scotia at the 2023 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championship (with host to be announced at a later date). Thanks to the Bedford Lawn Bowls Club for their great hospitality in running an awesome Provincial Fours Championship. Up next on our LBNS Provincial Schedule, we head next week to the St. Mary's Lawn Bowls Club for the Atlantic Bowls Pairs Trials!

​It was a great day of bowls this past weekend as the EW “Silver Fox” Foster Open Pairs took to the greens of the Bridgetown Lawn Bowling Club. Congratulations to the team of David Veinot and Jackie Foster who took out this year’s championship title. Jeff Veinot and Jerry Publow secured 2nd place in the event. Thanks to all who participated and hope to see you all in Bridgetown next season for another great Silver Fox Open Pairs tournament!

​On Saturday, 12 teams battled it out on the greens of the Bedford Lawn Bowls Club in the Janet Merry Mixed Pairs. Congratulations to Carolyn Reeves and Hector Comeau (Bedford LBC) who captured this year’s title. 2nd Place went to the team of Betty MacAlpine and Doug McLearn (Bedford LBC), and 3rd Place went to Jim and Patti Granville (Wanderers LBC). The consolation prize went to the team of Richard Tracey and Linda Deveau of Bedford LBC. Thanks to Kathy Myketyn for umpiring for the event and to Jane Wentzell, the daughter of Janet Merry, who presented the prizes.

​It was an exciting weekend at the Dartmouth Lawn Bowls Club as we hosted the first of our three “Majors” Provincials- the 2022 Provincial Pairs Championship! With 6 Men’s teams and 4 Women’s teams battling it out all weekend long in some great games- it was expected to be a great start to the road to Canadians. In the Men’s- it was a return to the top for Steve Ogden and Steve Bezanson as they fought back through the B Bracket to defeat Braeden Campbell and Grahame Usher in the final. In the Women’s, it was the Wanderers based combo of Lena Cameron and Debby Purdy who captured their first pairs provincial title together with a thrilling final against former champions Ann Marie Siteman and Vicki Balcom which came down right to the last shot. Congratulations to the winning teams and good luck to them at the Canadians next August. Up next on our competitive schedule for LBNS is the E.W. “Silver Fox” Foster Open Pairs next weekend in Bridgetown.

It was an exciting day on the green at the Dartmouth Lawn Bowls Club as they held their annual Early Bird Mixed Triples as the kickoff to the 2022 Competitive Bowls season in Nova Scotia! They were excited to host a full field of 16 teams to battle it out in Singles, Pairs and Triples play. Congratulations to Gordon Foster, Vivian Condran and Sue Ellen Horne (all three of them from the Dartmouth Club) who went 5-1 to capture this year’s title! Thanks to DLBC Club Match Chair Vicki Balcom and her team for organizing a great event for bowlers across Nova Scotia. Hope to see you all on the greens at this event again next year! Up next on our competitive schedule for 2022, we'll be headed back to Dartmouth next weekend for our second event of the season, the Provincial Triples Championship.
Prize Winning Teams:
1st- Gordon Foster/Vivian Condran/Sue Ellen Horne (Dartmouth)
2nd- Cameron LeFresne/Lena Cameron/Tony Lynch (Wanderers)
3rd- Doug McLearn/Carolyn Reeves/Betty MacAlpine (Bedford)
4th- Chris Donnachie/Carolyn Ulch/Charmaine Potter (Cobequid/Bedford)

Lawn Bowls Nova Scotia is establishing “The Bluenose Bowls Academy” high-performance program to the benefit of all LBNS members.
The foundation elements of this initiative are to build a bowls’ performance program, which includes the development of coaches, the training of athletes following the Bowls Canada LTAD model, and coaching for excellence in performance.
Today’s announcement is an invitation for athletes who are interested in a program that supports regular practice and play, and continuous recording of all practice and competition results, for personal performance and skill development leading to excellence.
Program Goals
A key goal of “The Bluenose Bowls Academy” is that athletes are able to train at their own clubs as much as possible, ever-striving to learn and improve on their personal best, “NEVER SETTLING” for less effort or result.
The Academy aims to create a structure specifically offering services to develop and maximize the potential, for coaches, umpires and especially players seeking to seriously enter, commit and succeed at the elite level.
Training Team
The coach-driven training squad, “Bluenose Bowls Academy”, for those who have the passion and perseverance, will be supported by Coaching Lead Kathy Myketyn, N.S. Head Coach Terry O’Neil, a coaching consultant and the LBNS Coaching pool.
Objectives include:

• Setting (higher) standards of development to benefit Nova Scotia bowlers.
• Providing practical training programs to develop skills to elite level.
• Creating tactical, mental skill development programs for coaches, bowlers.
• Initiating the best use of IT for the sport.
• Identifying and liaising with all Nova Scotia clubs to exchange ‘best practice’ approaches to continue to improve the standing of the clubs.

Benefits include:

• Increase participants in bowls, especially female and youth.
• Market an integrated approach to delivering the sport of bowls.
• ‘Train the Trainer’ programs for the coaches and umpires.
• Athlete talent identification for resources and programs.

Regional benefits might include:

• Links with sport science facilities located within the region.
• Sport education development.
• IT and multimedia development and opportunities.
• Cross sport exchanges and programs.

BASELINE SKILL ASSESSMENT:
Each Academy member will create a coach-supervised private baseline skill assessment of the 11 key bowls’ deliveries, played forehand and backhand from the short, medium and long lengths.
Success in each attempt is based on how many draws out of 10 land within a mat length of the target, be it the jack, a bowl or a position on the green.
The results are recorded and challenged in the next delivery audit as athletes strive to improve their personal best score.
Following initial baseline measurements, athletes will engage in regular training sessions, utilizing both block and random form.

Other features will include learning tactics, reading the head, when to attack and defend, position play, the importance of delivery routines, singles and team play, drawing, debriefing, conversion shots, reading the green etc.
Coaches will endeavour to provide immediate feedback through observation and athlete-shared understanding, in some cases using video analysis to improve on or define a goal or focus. A series of training exercises will be introduced for independent practice.
To Register for “The Bluenose Bowls Academy” contact LBNS Head Coach Terry O’Neil (terryoneil504@gmail.com).

​Congratulations to both the Dartmouth Lawn Bowls Club and Wanderers Lawn Bowling Club on completing the first two stages of the Belonging in Bowls Program! The program is a great way for clubs to benefit from national best practices (currently beginning in Safe Sport but expanding in the future to many different sides of club operations). For completing the program, Dartmouth and Wanderers receive some great marketing benefits to promote their clubs going into 2022 from Bowls Canada Boulingrin. Want to learn more? Message us (via our Marketing and PR Chair John Siteman) or contact BCB to get started! https://bowlscanada.com/.../programs.../belonging-in-bowls/