Commonwealth Games: Young bowler taking it slowly to prep for Scotland's heavy greens

Selina Goddard has been practising on a croquet green, where the grass is longer. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Selina Goddard is taking a clever approach to her first appearance at the Commonwealth Games in July.

Preparing for Glasgow has meant using a touch of lateral thinking. The Scottish greens are expected to be far slower than those in New Zealand or Australia. So the Gold Coast-based 19-year-old has been practising on a local croquet green, where the grass is longer, to help adjust to the pace.

"Since we're used to playing on quicker greens our technique will have to be tweaked a little to get the slower delivery on heavy greens. There's a croquet green next to my club at Broadbeach. It runs at about 10 seconds, so the slower the better."

Goddard is the latest example of the changing face of bowls. Long gone are the days when it was the preserve of the middle aged. The New Zealand team for Glasgow includes Goddard, Mandy Boyd and Amy McIlroy, respectively 19, 23 and 22.

Aucklander Goddard got the bug when accompanying her parents Phil and Irene to their club. She played at Howick College and has made rapid progress. "It's definitely getting a lot younger but the thing that keeps me going is every single game you play is different. There's a lot of challenges, and I love seeing people's passion for it."

Goddard said she was stunned when told she had made the Games team. National coach Dave Edwards called her one Sunday night and "my brain just shot off".

"He was talking for another 10 minutes and I couldn't really understand anything. I didn't think I'd be in consideration; I thought maybe 2018 on the Gold Coast."

Winning the national fours title in Dunedin last January - as part of a composite four with Boyd, McIlroy and Gemma Watts, combined age 89 years - doubtless helped.

They are the youngest quartet to win the women's title. Goddard, Boyd and McIlroy are New Zealand's triple combination for Glasgow, and team up with experienced Val Smith in the four.

Goddard, whose partner Sean Ingham is in Australia's development squad, has also kept herself busy teaching artistic gymnastics, which reamins one of her sporting loves, on the Gold Coast, ..

Glasgow will be "a really good reflection of where we're at, a big stepping stone for years coming up, too".

Selina Goddard
Age: 19.
From: Auckland, based at Broadbeach on Gold Coast.