Winning Ways

Fraser had been selected to represent the County Under 25's today in the Jim Gibb Memorial Trophy.  Jim Gibb was a major driving force behind the Under 25 movement and took it from a fledgling team to a force in Scottish Bowls who this year won the silver medal in the County Championship.

Jim sadly passed several years ago and his family have sponsored this event to honour Jim and his contribution to our sport in general.  This is an open tournament that attracts many top bowlers due to the prize money on offer.  These young bowlers were in good company and their youth belies that two of them have already represented Scotland at age group levels but a slow start saw them only make the semi final by the narrowest of margins.

In the semi they were all square playing the final end they were lying 4 down on the end when a magnificent strike from Stephen Lowrie saw the game change and they progressed to the final.

A tense affair again saw them all square going to the last end they were one down when there were only two bowls to play when the opposition skip, a former under 25 player himself, turned Fraser's bowl in for the shot and a win for the young pups as they had been christened during the course of the day.

I am sure Jim Gibb would have loved that the product of his commitment to young bowlers prevailed today in his tournament. Unbeknown to anyone these fabulous young bowlers had decided before they had even thrown a bowl that if they got to the latter stages and won any prize money that they would donate it back to the Gibb family to be donated with the proceeds of the raffle to their chosen charity. I was so so proud not only of Fraser but all of the boys for this selfless act for I am sure the prize money for winning would have been a couple of hundred pounds.  This more than their win would have gladdened Jim's heart .

I have often said that to truly understand the pleasure of victory you must first learn to accept the disappointment of defeat, all of these young boys have learned this lesson and are gracious in defeat and revel in the joy of victory, a shared joy built from team spirit, friendship and enjoyment of playing the game, a lesson so many older players could learn from...

Bravo boys, for your sportsmanship, for your friendship and for your beautiful gesture today... true winners in every sense