CORNER BROOK Experience, enthusiasm and even a family connection.
This team is certainly quite the mix.
The Corner Brook Centre Bowl mixed team, consisting of Robert Crewe, Troy Pardy, Chris Rumbodlt, LeAnn Tucker, Tracy Tiller and Sasha Lockyer, are the provincial representatives for the 2012 Canadian Open bowling championships from May 28-June 3 in Gatineau, Que.
They earned the right by winning gold at the provincial championships in St. John’s in March.
Pardy and Tiller are siblings and although they’ve both been bowling for over two decades and have both competing nationally before, this is the first time they’ll do so on the same team.
“I’m super excited about it,” said Pardy. “It’s great to have my sister on the team.”
Crewe is the veteran hand on the team, with three previous national appearances under his belt. Pardy and Tiller have both bowled on the national stage twice. For Tucker, Rumboldt and Lockyer, this will be their first country-wide event.
Obviously Tucker’s not sure what to expect at all, having never been in quite this bright a spotlight before.
“I have no idea,” she said of what she thinks might happen. “I get so excited just going to St. John’s ... I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”
Conquering provincials is one thing, matching skills against some of the best bowlers in the country is another.
“I think we’re going to do well,” said LeAnn Tucker, one of three team members bowling their first national competition. “We’re a good team and we work really well together.”
Even that might not be enough against the calibre of opposition they’ll be up against, but Pardy figures a strong start will go a long way.
“We’re hoping to do well enough to be in the hunt and bowl Saturday morning in the stepladder,” he said.
A member of the men’s team in his previous two national appearances, Pardy has noticed subtle differences between playing for the mixed team instead of the men’s squad.
“The competition is just as strong, but it’s a different team atmosphere, a different feeling,” he said. “The girls definitely keep you cheered up a little more ... they do a lot more cheering than what the men would be doing, for sure.”
Also representing Newfoundland and Labrador will be Colin Smith in men’s singles and Andrea Tucker in women’s singles, both from St. Pat’s Lanes in St. John’s. The men’s and women’s teams are coming out of Holiday Lanes in St. John’s.
