Another season interrupted by coronavirus concerns, not to mention a dreadful sequence of rainy weekends, concluded on Sunday November 28 with the Closing Day Tournament and Awards.
Though we certainly suffered from the rain mid-season, we were incredibly fortunate on tournament days, with the weather for Closing Day being quite fabulous.
Up for grabs on this occasion was the beautiful new piece of silverware donated by former member James Kater. Also at stake was first pick of the goodies that participants had contributed to the prize table.
The regular hardcore of bowlers welcomed back old friend Hiro and newcomer-to-bowls Dan, and together we launched ourselves into three hours of fast-paced triples action.
The winners were the peerless Alex, Dan and Foster.
After a swift refresher on the patio, we adjourned to the privacy of the Deck for the Awards.
Before presenting the trophies, I shared a slideshow depicting the history of lawn bowls at YC&AC. The idea was to whet the appetite for the 100th anniversary of bowls proper at the Club next year and to suggest one idea for a way to celebrate—a YC&AC v Kobe Lawn Bowls Interport?
For those who missed it, here it is again:
Onto the awards…
This season’s big winner, certainly in terms of number of tournaments won and prize money earned (!), was of course Honjo-san. What a player this guy is. Super Seniors, Seniors, Pairs (with George), Mixed Pairs (with Motoko), League (with Motoko and James).
Unfortunately Honjo-san could not attend the Closing Day event to receive his many awards, which included the Saturday/Sunday League in partnership with Motoko and James.
Honjo-san and Motoko also won the Mixed Pairs.
This may be the moment in the review to remind everyone that this year’s winners of the Nations Cup were Hot Curry, featuring Satish, Shion and Ishu.
Husband & Wife winners this year were the Ishiguros. George and Yoko practice quite a lot together, and for this reason alone I’d say they thoroughly deserved this victory!
The Pairs Handicap winners were Itoh-san and Kurosawa-san. Unfortunately, your photographers appear to have been distracted at this point in the ceremony and I have no photograph to share. Therefore, please take a moment to visualize a victorious Toshi and Itoh-san—and, if it pleases you, a crestfallen Alex & Russell.
The Singles Handicap title was won by Yoda-san. The Handicap tournament is not an easy title to win when you’re a -6 bowler, but Yoda-san did it, beating the excellent-this-year Toshi in the final. Strong work.
The winner of the Women’s Singles title in 2021 was the consistently consistent, year after year, Kazuko-san.
After the prizes had been presented, it was time to sit back and relax, and tuck in to charcoal-grilled meat on sticks.
We set up the karaoke equipment again…
It’s hard to recall, but I think everyone had a good time.
Oh…. And the Men’s Singles championship winner in 2021 was..
For your convenience, here is the full list of the season’s winners and runners-up. The winners have entered the Hall of Fame.
That’s all, folks!
See you next season!
AH
Lawn Bowls 