Ally Baldock looks to help Heysen Comets go back-to-back in Bowls SA’s Super League
Bowls SA’s elite competition – the SA Super League – returns to the greens this week with eight franchises vying for glory.
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Ally Baldock was involved in a bad accident nine years ago – but it changed her path for the better.
Now the 52-year-old is one of SA’s top lawn bowlers, having being picked up in an AFL-style player draft for this month’s SA Super League before earning selection in the women’s state squad.
“I was playing netball but I was involved in an accident – I was a school bus driver – it was in 2010 and I broke both my ankles,” Baldock says.
“So I was looking for a sport and one of my friends said to me ‘why don’t you give bowls a go?’
“I took it up and really loved it.
“This was an easy way that I could play sport and know that I’m going to have a bit of self-preservation without doing anymore damage.
“It’s taken off from there.”
The SA Super League is an elite, eight franchise-based competition and kicks off at Salisbury Bowling Club’s all-weather dome this Friday.
It follows a successful inaugural season last year.
The eight teams represent clusters of metropolitan and country-zoned clubs and will battle it out in a six-week competition, which aims to help more Croweaters gain national selection.
Baldock will line up with reigning premier Heysen Comets.
But she has a fair way to drive as she lives six hours away from Adelaide in Arno Bay – a small fishing and tourist town on the east coast of Eyre Peninsula.
The travel, however, doesn’t bother her as Baldock features with Cummins Bowling Club – which is about an hour away from her home – on Thursdays and then with Arno Bay Bowling Club on Saturdays.
“Because we live in the country, it’s just what you do because everything is just so far away,” Baldock says.
“But it doesn’t seem to bother me, I don’t mind driving and I go at my own pace.
“It’s nice to play something a little bit different.
“So I thought I’d give it a go but I didn’t actually expect to get selected and I was actually quite surprised.
“I’m hoping I bowl well and I like to learn from what other people do.
“I think when you go out and play with a new group of people, you learn more about bowls and there’s always something you pick up
The Super League will culminate with a grand final on Sunday, September 22.
Bowls SA has also introduced an under-21 Super League – a separate competition giving the state’s best junior players a chance to fight for glory.
