The team of four u30 ladies and four men played in the Tiger Bowls World invitation tournament which consisted of three legs. The first leg (for which they won the bronze medal) was played in Hong Kong, the second (silver) took place in Zuhai, China and the last leg held in Shenzen, was where they won gold!
“We played against other countries like England, China, USA, Malaysia and Zimbabwe and we played on both indoor and outdoor greens which was an amazing opportunity as we don’t have indoor greens in South Africa. The indoor greens are much faster than grass, which we are used to, but we adapted quickly.
Back home, Dez recently won the most prestigious tournament on the Eastern Province Bowls calendar – the Masters.
This tournament has nothing to do with age and is all to do with the top singles players in the district being invited to play. Dez, who is also in the Bowls SA Gold Squad (the top National Federation squad), is the youngest winner of this tournament.
Now 28, Dez started playing bowls at the age of 15. She started her bowls career in Stillbaai in the Southern Cape, before moving to PE in 2007. At the time, the Southern Cape province was trying to promote the game to the youth and visited Dez’s school. She tried it and joined for fun, but “obviously the bug bit and bit hard!” She however, continued to play competitive hockey and other sport through school and into university.
Dez has played provincially in the bowls Open since 2009 and for the u/25 squad (now known as u/30), since 2006. She is currently a member of "The Woods" bowling club in Summerstrand.
“I have a passion for the game and want the world to know this sport is a sport for life!”
