Bowls New Zealand’s brightest young star will be competing on TV either side of sitting exams.

Aotea College head boy Seamus Curtin, 18, will play for the Stokes Valley Vipers in Bowls3Five, which will be broadcast live on SKY Sport on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for the next six weeks.

As well as weekly trips to the New Lynn Bowling Club in Auckland for the inaugural league, Curtin will head across the Tasman next month to join Jo Edwards and Ali Forsyth in the Blackjacks team for the Bowls Premier League in Queensland.

“The next few weeks will be interesting,” Curtin said.

“It’s about getting through exams and finishing these last few assessments to reach that goal of passing.”

Curtin was recently named New Zealand male development player of the year, after being one of the country’s form bowlers last season. He then started this season by winning the prestigious Burnside U26 singles for the first time.

“It’s been quite busy,” he said.

“I’ve missed quite a few days of school this year, but I’ve kept on top of all of my school work.

“I’ve been able to balance it so I get both done.”

Seamus Curtin will take “a couple more days off school” before Bowls3Five gets underway on Tuesday to compete in the North East Valley invitation singles in Dunedin.

“Some really big names go down to that tournament so it’ll be good to be among them and give it my best shot,” he said.

Past and present Blackjacks Lisa White and Black Signal will join the schoolboy in the Vipers’ first-choice trio for Bowls3Five, making Stokes Valley, Bowls New Zealand’s club of the year, one of the favourites for the inaugural title.

“It’s a good team, but it’s like a quick-fire raffle this Bowls3Five so there could be some upsets,” White said.

White has been lured across the Hutt Valley from Naenae Bowling Club, back to where her bowls career began.

“My heart is still there [at Stokes Valley],” she said.

Lisa White claimed a silver medal in the women’s triples at the world bowls championships in 2002, but hasn’t played for New Zealand for the past 15 years.

“I’m still winning quite a few titles in Wellington so my form’s there,” White said.

“Whether they’re going to look at me again is the question really.”

James-Cameron Powell, 17, and the experienced Alieta Vulu complete the Vipers’ roster and will fill in when the leading trio are unavailable.

And the name, the Stokes Valley Vipers?

“I’m a Stokes Valley boy and Stokes Valley ended up being called Snakes Gulley, for some unknown reason, because there are definitely no snakes here,” club president Jason Puddick said.

“We developed the name from there and looked at a couple of different options, but given it was called Snakes Gulley…we ended up with Stokes Valley Vipers.”

-ENDS-

What is Bowls3Five?
Bowls3Five is a new fast format of the game which aims to provide a competition where everyone interested can get involved. Depending on the competition you play in, you can face a set number of ends, a shot clock, double points, and a tiebreaker end. Bowls3Five aims to fit into busy lifestyles of those finding themselves short on time but still wish to compete in sport and those who are stepping up to accept the challenge of the shorter format.

Bowls3Five offers three levels of competition – a social format for twilight competitions, a nationwide interclub competition and the inaugural Bowls3Five televised six-team league. It will be broadcast live on SKY Sport on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for six weeks From October 23 to November 28, 2018 at the New Lynn Bowling Club in Auckland.  Specifically for television, the games will be played in one direction with two sets of five ends.  If each team has won a set or both sets are drawn there will be a tie-break end to decide the winner of the game.  The televised league starts with a double round-robin draw, all teams playing each other twice over the first five weeks.  The six teams will then be ranked heading into the finals which are played in week six

For more information:  visit http://www.bowls3five.co.nz or contact Bowls3Five media manager Brenton Vannisselroy on 021 039 0471