Pembrokeshire Sport is now able to proudly proclaim another British champion in our midst because Madeline Roberts has just won the silverware for being the best in the UK in the B4 category for visually impaired outdoor bowling.
 
Her reward for being British champion was a lovely silver perpetual cup to keep for a year and an engraved medal in a presentation case after successfully competing in the championships at Kelvingrove in Glasgow.
 

Typical under-statement of her road to success

 
But with typical Madeline-like understatement when asked if she was thrilled with them just answered,
“I suppose it was nice to have something to bring home and put on the mantelpiece!”
 
What she doesn’t mention is the fact that it was fitting reward for a lot of hard work at many training sessions, with her determination to battle adversity.
 
She had only previously played indoors but the road to being British outdoor champion began at Bryn Bowling Club in Swansea, where the B4 Welsh Championship was held. This section of the Visually Impaired Championships is for partially-sighted bowlers and Madeline suffers from Macular Degeneration, which means she has some peripheral vision but no central sight, which she has had to learn to adapt to her own bowling.
 
“It means I am unable to see the jack when it is 40 yards away,” explained Madeline, “so I bowl my woods and just wait for the applause at the other end,” she chuckles!
 

Double partnership

 
She relies on a coach/assistant, who stands at the opposite end of the green to the one she is bowling from and tries to paint a verbal picture for her of where her wood has settled in relation to the jack and other woods on the green, plus her pace and direction variations needed.
 
It is a demanding role and so Madeline’s success is made all the more remarkable since her coach/assistant is now her partner Andrew Curtis, who did brilliantly in Scotland since it was his first time in the role.
 
He doesn’t play bowls regularly and had something of a crash course before they travelled up on the train to Glasgow, via Crewe, with Madeline doing well to use her experience to help him out and the partnership certainly seemed to work.
It was something of a compliment to Andrew when we asked her if he had the job on a permanent basis and she replied,
“He’ll do for the moment!”
 

Excellent performance after a hesitant start

 
Madeline’s opponents in the British Championships were Elizabeth Morris and Carol Coombs, two experienced bowlers, and they played each other twice on a round-robin basis. She won her first three matches by 21-12, 21-16 and 21-12 so although she lost her final match 21-12 she was already assured of the title and was loudly cheered by her Welsh colleagues, including Pembrokeshire colleague Jack Lloyd, plus her uncle Tim Roberts, who had made the long journey north from Milford Haven to support her.
 

Jack and Jim get her started

 
Her first involvement in bowls came when she attended the club for visually impaired people at the Meads Leisure Centre and met Jack Lloyd, already an accomplished bowler, who persuaded her to try her hand at bowling.
“I hesitated a little at first,” admitted Madeline, but once he mentioned that there was tea and biscuits at half time I decided I had to go!”
 
“Jim Lewis was a great help to me with coaching and I was soon into the swing of things as I learned to form a mental picture of the game that others see normally.
“Then I went to a competition in Swansea which I was told not to be nervous about because it was only a friendly – and came back having done so well that I had qualified for the British Championships in Belfast!”
 

Time to re-focus

 
Madeline enjoyed the competition in Ireland and although she lost her games it taught her an immense amount about competitive play and the match etiquette at this higher level, which was totally different from their friendly roll-ups at The Meads.
Sadly, Madeline’s dad Craig, who always seemed to be rink side,  passed away and for a while she, despite the support of her mum Kay, uncle Tim, sister Elinor and brother Andrew, found it hard to go bowling
 
It inevitably took some time for her to refocus but with partner Andrew’s encouragement alongside wonderful support from Olwyn and Steve Whitmore, who is the terrific secretary of the Pembrokeshire Disability Sports Club, Madeline began playing regularly again prior to the challenge of qualifying for Glasgow.
 

Steve gets her restarted

 
“There is a huge difference between playing on real grass and the beautifully smooth carpet indoors,” Madeline told us, “with every green different and the prevailing weather also playing a big part, so I had to learnt to adapt to the conditions more.
“I only had a few weeks to practise but Steve Whitmore was a great help as he chauffeured me to the green and stayed with me to call my shots.
“I owe so much to him and all my other friends at the Meads Club – I couldn’t have done it without them.”
 
So what of the future for our British B4 bowling champ?
“I would love to retain the trophy in England in 2016 but before that there’s the 2015 British Indoor Championships and I hope to be involved in them.
“Then there’s the World Championships in New Zealand and now that I have qualified for them I have to see whether I can go.

And finally . . .

 
“After that I would like to take up coaching bowls for the visually impaired and put something back into a sport that has been very good to me.”
 
One already senses that she would make a good tutor because she understands the needs of the bowlers alongside the technical skills necessary.
 
Madeline Roberts has a modest charm that underpins all she has already done in bowls for the visually impaired – so we are happy to redress the balance a little by singing her praises loud and clear and letting everyone know that she has done so well in flying the Pembrokeshire Sporting Flag with real distinction!