Meet Caysee Wilson
Caysee (17) started playing bowls in 2010 after her mum (who worked at a country club in Tin Can Bay) said that the bowls coach was desperate for new bowlers. “My sisters wanted to play and I was going along just to watch as I was only six: however, I ended up having a go myself and immediately loved it.”
Caysee plays two to three hours of bowls per week. Being a part of the State team means that she has to travel within Queensland and interstate. Her most memorable bowls moment was in 2018 at her first Nationals, where she skipped the fours and triples. “We came away with seven out of eight wins and I played the best games of bowls that I had ever played before,” she said. “It was not only the highlight of my bowls career, but also my family’s. That was the proudest moment I believe I’ve had in the 11 years I’ve been playing.”
Ian Schuback is Caysee’s bowls hero. “He was my coach for roughly two years; I think he impacted the way I bowled and taught me very valuable life lessons. He is my hero in bowls as if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have gotten as far as I have.”
“Jimmy Tatum and Jacqui Hineman have been kind enough to recently coach me at Glasshouse Mountains. My original coaches, Kelvin and Erica Young, are the reason I got into bowls in the first place and I still remember the small sayings like ‘there is no such word as can’t’ that I think about when playing an important game.”
Caysee finds that being Year 12 with “a million assignments”, as well as having a job and playing bowls is hard. “However, I’m able to manage my time well; I dedicate every Tuesday afternoon to bowls. This means that I’m able to get on the green at least once a week but still have the rest of the week to make up for everything else.”
As a junior, she finds that there will always be older people that won’t like it when you beat them. “It personally gives me more motivation to win, but for others it’s extremely disheartening when someone older than you expects so little of you.”
She says that the other side of bowls are the friendships that you can make. “There are so many more juniors that you probably haven’t met yet but will soon make a difference to your game of bowls.” Her advice to young bowlers is that bowls isn’t always about the bowls. “Sure, that’s 85% of the time but the other 15% is your attitude towards the game. You may hear people say it all the time, but if you believe that you will have a bad game before you play it or think that you’re going to lose, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
