Committee

About Me: I first started bowling 9 years ago and fell into the sport by accident. Myself and a couple of friends went bowling as a way of catching up and one day we saw the chance to buy our own ball and it all went from there. I’ve always had to work at bowling as it has never been natural and over the years I’ve grown to love the sport.

I’ve been luckily enough to represent my home county of Bedfordshire in the Inter County Championships as well as bowl in various leagues over the years. I am also the captain of the Sherwood Forest MSL team and have been on the committee for just over a year, last year I was collator.

I first joined the BUTBA tour back in 2012/2013 with my university team, NTU, and went on to become runner ups in the BUCS Championships and gain a silver team medal (the best the club has ever had). During my time at NTU, I was club president for 2 years and managed to lead the team to success at BUTBA competitions.

For those who know me, you’ll all know I have a love, hate relationship with the sport! But that doesn’t mean I actually hate it. I’ve worked hard to bring my passion into the sport.

About Me: I started bowling in 2011 when looking for a hobby to take up some of my spare time. After being introduced to the BUTBA tour by a couple of the bowlers in my league, I started bowling on the ex-student tour in 2014 and have tried to take part in every tour event I have been able to since then.

I have run local Bowling leagues since 2014 and running Summer Series tournaments since 2013. I am always looking out for new bowlers and encouraging bowlers to widen their exposure and start bowling in different BUTBA events.

Currently I bowl in doubles leagues at Nuneaton and Strichley, and the Midland Scratch League and Midland Fives travelling leagues.

This is my first year on the committee and look forward to pushing the tour forward and helping to encourage new student bowlers, new ex-student and veteran bowlers back into the tour.

About Me: I started bowling about age 6 (I think, it was a while ago) at Wokingham YBC, and was lucky enough to participate in the Junior England Enhanced Training Scheme, now the NAYBC Academy. I bowled up until I started at the University of Gloucestershire in 2001. I didn’t actually bowl while I was a student, but instead took the sport up again in 2010. In 2012 I was part of the Lancashire adult ladies team who finished third in the Inter County Championships.

I currently play in leagues at the Airport, Wokingham and Newbury. I am Team Captain of the BUTBA Gotham (South) squad in the Southern Scratch League (SSL), for which I am also Results Secretary for both divisions. I am also Team Manager of the Berkshire adult ladies squad.

I joined the BUTBA Tour as an ex-student for the 2014/15 season, winning the Ladies Masters in 2014/15 and was Ladies ex-student champion in 2015/16. I also acted as Tournament Secretary for the BUTBA/BTBA Doubles at the Airport bowl in 2015/16.

About Me: Hi, I’m Paul and previous bowlers to the tour will know me quite well.

I’ve been bowling since I was 3 – I had an American godfather from Boston who introduced me to bowling; my first ever game was 12.

I bowled regularly at Tolworth YBC from the ages of 7 to 12, at which point I moved to secondary school. The school I went to unfortunately required me to attend on Saturdays and I was restricted for the next 4 years to bowling seriously only once per year in the annual schools event. I started bowling a little again on a Thursday evening league when I was about 16 firstly at Tolworth, then at Raynes Park.

I came to Manchester University at 19 looking for the Cricket Team and found the Bowling Club – like a few people when they come to uni, I was a little surprised that one even existed! However, stumbling into this table has probably been one of the single most important things I have ever done.

That was 11 years ago. Since then, I’ve bowled every year on the BUTBA tour and steadily increased my average from around 155 to 195. I was also fortunate enough to meet my partner Louise on the tour.

I have been involved with every aspect of the University Tour. In terms of student bowling, I joined Manchester University and was Secretary of that club in 2007/8. I graduated in 2008 and crossed over to Manchester Metropolitan. Lou and I started Man Met Bowling in the 2008/9 season and it’s been going ever since. In 2013/14 I was fortunate enough to qualify for the Representative squad for the 14/15 season and finally managed to win the Student National Champs in the same season.

In between my various university courses, I even managed to slip in a season on the ex-student tour in 2011/12.

In terms of the BUTBA Committee; my first stint was in 2008/09 when I was Student President for a year. I rejoined the committee in the 14/15 season as Secretary and currently hold the Treasurer position, although this will be given up at the start of the season as other candidates have come forward and I will focus on re-introducing the BUTBA Cup for universities for the 15/16 season.

About Me: I started bowling when I went to university in 1995, and I’ve been involved with the student and ex-student bowling tours ever since. I only averaged 105 that first season, so although I hold a 180-200 average these days, I can remember what it was like to be a newbie on the tour, and always try and look out for the lower average bowlers on tour.

I founded a student club at Nottingham Trent whilst I was studying there, and ran it for many years, with a great deal of success. More recently, as an ex-student, I’ve set up and am still helping to run a student club at the University of Wolverhampton (which isn’t too far from my home these days).

I’ve represented both Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire at an Adult level.

I’ve been on the committee for several years in various posts, but this is my first season as Tournament Coordinator. I try and attend as many tour events as possible, and also bowl in two local leagues, one at Tamworth and the other in Telford (with the Wolves students!), as well as captaining a BUTBA team in the Midland Scratch League (MSL), and being a member of the BUTBA Ex-student Rep Squad for 2015-16.

I live in Dudley, with my wife, my 4 year old son, and our cat!

About Me: During my first year at the University of Birmingham, I joined the Bowling Society as a way to relax, de-stress and socialise. At the time, I didn’t realise bowling had a competitive aspect until I participated in my first (BUCS) tournament, which I thoroughly enjoyed! After winning a free bowling ball the year after, I started to take bowling more seriously, competing in more BUTBA events during my second and third year as well as joining a local league.

Having held the position of treasurer for UoB Bowling last year and club captain this year, as well as Webmaster for BUTBA this year, will hopefully allow me to positively contribute towards student bowling!