Bowling outdoors on the big green in Berkeley

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Tejasvi Baluvuri,
Contributor

Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club, located outside of a residential neighborhood in Berkeley, hosted their Berkeley Triples tournament on Saturday.

The object of the game is to roll the ball from each side of the lawn seven times. It is played on a rink that looks like a lane on the green lawn. The rink is 14 feet wide and the club has green space that can accommodate four rinks simultaneously, stated Ann Brillhart, the director of the club.

The balls that are used are the size of a grapefruit and weigh about three pounds. The balls are spherical and hence they do not roll in a straight line. “They roll in an arc and this occurs because one side of the balls is shaven more than the other side,” said Brillhart.

Matches were right on schedule Saturday morning, starting at 9:30 a.m. and wrapping up about 3:30 p.m.

In their all-white uniforms, Ted Crum, Frankie Napoli, and Cris Benton walked away with the Berkeley Triples victory. They completed the tournament with 23 points and three wins.
MVP was rewarded to Ted Crum, Dave Rockhold, Andy Stapleton, and Xian Zhi Luo finished in second place with a total of 16 points. Members played a format of three fourteen-end games.

There are numerous matches that take place between the different clubs here in the Bay Area. The Berkeley Triples was one of the three tournaments the club will be hosting this year according to the event calendar.

The club was founded Sept. 1, 1928 by H.J. Haney and Dr. J.W. Henderson with the support of the Rotary Club.

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling club became a non-profit organization on March 22,1963; it remains the oldest club in the Bay Area.

“The club has 50 members. It is very socializing and I get to meet new friends and people from different cultures,” said Susan Jamart, a member of the club.

The tournament atmosphere was nothing like your typical bowling alley with people screaming and performing victory dances. Rob Hoey, a member of the club stated, “It is very relaxing and helps me in concentrating on one thing. It is as if I am doing yoga.”

Lawn bowling is a team sport that requires all players to strategize, concentrate and work together. The rules of the sport are simple to adapt to, and gives even competition for all ages.

“The basic goal of this sport is to roll your ball called a ‘bowl’ closer to the small white ball, called the ‘jack ball’, than your opponent,” said Brillhart.

The Berkeley club has many young players that play internationally. One of them is the country’s youngest lawn bowling champion, Jon Burnoski. The 18-year old, a prodigy of the Berkeley Lawn Bowling club, was the first player in 14 years to have won the national championship from Northern California.

Cathy Dinnean, member of the club for six years said, “We have people from the age of 14 through 93 years that come to play in our club. The versatility of the age group that come to our club is very unique.”  The club offers free classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Visitors are required to wear a pair of sneakers, as the club will provide the equipment that is needed for learning the sport.

Lawn bowling is one of the world’s oldest sports that is still being played today. It was first introduced to America in the year 1615 when a few settlers from the British Isles had come to the nation. The sport, over time, has captured the attention of many people across the United States.

Several international championships are organized around the world and one among them is the U.S. Open. The sport is widely acclaimed around the British common wealth nations and is a potential career option for people in the United States.

“There are a number of international championships that have huge cash prize for the winners,” said Hoey.

The editors of East Bay Express voted the club the Best Retro Sports Activity in the East Bay. Pixar Animation Studios of Emeryville are frequent users of the Berkeley club. Even Pixar employees play lawn bowling as a resource for team building skills.