Man of the moment: David Holt

FORMER England international David Holt has not looked back since moving to Australia to play bowls 12 years ago.

But the last 12 months has, but the 48-year-old’s own admission, been ‘pretty special’, and he is now ranked number one in Australia and on track to be named the AeroBowls Player of the Year.

Sian Honnor caught up with David fresh from the World Champion of Champions event in New Zealand, where he finished third.

How did you get into bowls in the first place?

My dad was a crown green bowler in Eccles, Manchester, and I used to go along and mark his scorecard at competitions. Eventually I was allowed to play with the afternoon veterans and once I got started at around 12 years old I was hooked and would spend all my free time practicing.

Then they opened two indoor bowls rinks in Swinton Pool Hall near my house and my journey into flat green bowling began.

What were your early successes?

The first competition I won was a junior comp for local youths which I won at 13. I eventually went on to become Greater Manchester Under 18 Champion on the crown green and a regular in their county team.

My first flat green success was probably the 1986 Lancashire County Singles which I knocked off at my first attempt!

I remember losing to Danny Denison from Devon in my second game at the English Finals in Worthing but the next year I won the Lancashire singles and pairs and under the tutorship of ex England international Tommy Armstrong promptly collected both English singles and pairs titles.

I have a video tape somewhere of my 21-5 victory in the singles final against the then current World Champion Tony Allcock and my friend taping the game could be heard telling the locals I had to borrow white trousers for the event! It was a thrill also to be the youngest ever winner and go out and buy the Guinness Book of Records with my name in it.

How did you balance bowls and work in the UK?

I got a lucky break when I was offered the managers position at the Blackpool Borough Indoor Bowls Club back in 1991 when my indoor game got a whole lot better as I often let myself into the club outside hours and could even be practicing at 2am in the morning!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Blackpool and all the members were very supportive in pushing me to greater heights. I was also quite proud of the many major competitions that we held at the club and at some stage all the top stars in the game would have graced our green for our members to witness their skills.

It was a sad moment when I returned a couple years ago and the club had been totally demolished and all that was left was dirt.

The last three years before I ended up moving to Australia I was also working as a sales manager for Henselite bowls and travelled around the country visiting all the shops and clubs each week.

Suffice to say for as long as I can remember life has been very very busy but as they say when your following your dream it doesn’t really feel like work.

What made you decide to make the move Down Under?

I had decided I wanted to visit Australia many years ago when playing in the English international team. I remember teammates returning from a trip and saying the greens were way too fast and at the time I was playing on outdoor greens in Blackpool that it was very hard to get your bowls to even reach the other end of the green.

I set about asking everyone I met how I could make this happen and in the end probably one or two years later I was lucky when Cameron Curtis was representing Australia in the World Indoor Championships and offered to ask his club The Hills in Sydney if they would sponsor me to play in the 2002 NSW Premier League season with them.

It almost all fell apart however when I was selected to skip the fours in the 2002 Commonwealth Games as I was told that if I went to Australia I wouldn’t be allowed to play. Luckily in the end after much discussion we reached a compromise and I agreed to maintain all the fitness and psychology training over in Sydney and attend regular testing.

Of course I was pushing the fact I was going to be skipping in probably the strongest inter club competition in the world every week for the next three months.

What appeals to you about bowls as opposed to what it is like back home?

Everything haha. Seriously Australia has to be the best place in the world to play bowls. The greens are so quick and true and of course the weather is so much warmer and drier than Manchester.

Alongside that the clubs have so much more resources so there is pretty much a bowls competition taking place somewhere or other just about every week with often good prize money on offer.

Did it take you long to settle in?

I actually remember vividly the journey out to Sydney for the very first time sitting on a train at paddington railway station with long-time friend David Gourlay when we asked each other are we doing the right thing.

Funnily enough once I had been here for three days I immediately emailed back to England and told them to give someone else my job.

You have had much success since making the move, what are your highlights?

When I first arrived, in my usual style, I was determined to make a name for myself and winning the 2003 NSW State Singles against Aussie legend Steve Glasson was a big moment.

Unfortunately I went on to lose in the final of the Australian Singles the next year which was very annoying. More recently I’ve had a fantastic last 12 months winning both the Australian Champion of Champions Singles and Australian Indoor National Singles.

Having recently finished 3rd place at the World Champion of Champions representing Australia, I can’t wait to have a crack at the World Cup Indoor Singles at Warilla early next year.

You are now in the race to be crowned Aero Bowls Male Bowler of the Year, what would this mean to you?

It would be truly amazing to take out the Bowler of the Year but to be honest it is very satisfying to be ranked the current number one in the country at the moment.

When it seems the focus these days is all about the younger players taking over the game over here, one of my proudest achievements is my longevity to maintain a very high standard of play for well over the last 25 years.

What sacrifices have you had to make to get to the top?

Like every sportsman your have to make a lot of sacrifices to get to the top. My partner of the last eight years Ken has been known to ask me ‘what do you put first me or the bowls?’ and I usually try and avoid the answer as am pretty sure he wouldn’t like it!

I have a lot of expat friends now here in Sydney and it’s always unfortunate that whenever they’re going out for a meal or organising an amazing party I pretty much have always got a bowls match the next day.

What has played the biggest part in your success?

I think my mental make up is a very strong aspect to my game. I doubt there is anyone who hates to lose more than me but in addition when I am on a bowling green I am pretty cool, calm and focused bowling machine.

What have you yet to accomplish?

I must admit there are times when I consider retirement and taking a well earned rest from play, however, while I can still cut the grade in the big events I will keep going as I know I would miss the buzz of those big finals matches.

I still regard the World Indoor Singles at Potters as the pinnacle as a lawn bowler and although I haven’t played the Australian qualifiers for the last couple of years due to time constraints, I would love to make it back to the UK one last time.

Was the dream always to play for Australia?

Of course! Realistically though I have now put behind me any serious ambitions of playing for Australia.

It seems since I’ve been here there a very strong policy on pushing bowls as being dominated by the younger players. The usual marketing is that the Australian Bowls team is now younger than the Australian Cricket team! I would be very surprised to see any new players being selected over the age of about 35 anytime soon.

Will St Johns Park always be your home?

For the foreseeable future for sure. They must be one of the biggest bowls clubs in the world with amazing facilities and even a huge multi-storey car park.

Compared to the tiny Acton Bridge club I was a member of before I left the UK where the club house was a porta cabin like you see on building sites. Also the support they give me through their bowls programme makes it a whole lot easier to travel around the country and compete in all the major events each season.