When Sonya Woodrow tried playing bowls, she was assured she had ability.
The Dunedin woman could not know for herself, as she is blind, and the encouraging message came from volunteer Kimberly Carraher at a have-a-go day.
"I thought she was just being nice and telling me I was good, you know, just to make me feel better," Miss Woodrow said.
"So it didn’t actually click that it was a sport I was good at. I just enjoyed it."
She is now much more inclined to take Mrs Carraher at her word, because this is the person offering advice about angle and distance.
Miss Woodrow took a break after her initial give-bowls-a-go efforts and she has really been playing the sport for just a year.
Now she has independent proof of her ability — in the form of a national title.
Last month, Miss Woodrow, directed by Mrs Carraher, won the B1 category at the NZ Blind Bowls nationals in Cambridge, representing the Forbury Park Bowling Club.
Visual impairment classes range from B1 to B4 and Miss Woodrow is totally blind, placing her in the highest impairment category.
She won all her singles games.
Coincidentally, another Dunedin bowler — the North East Valley club’s Kerrin Wheeler, directed by his father Colin Wheeler — won the B3 singles.
Mr Wheeler and Miss Woodrow will team up at the National Open Disability Pairs in Canterbury next month.
Miss Woodrow became blind as an adult. Her vision was never great, but it was good enough for her to obtain a driver’s licence. She lost that when her eyesight deteriorated and she was then pronounced legally blind.
She has cone-rod dystrophy, a genetic eye disorder that leads to progressive vision loss.
"It’s a very lonely life, losing your eyesight," Miss Woodrow said.
"You lose friends, but you also gain a lot of new friends."
Bowls introduced her to a new group of people.
"They’ve been wonderful," she said.
"A big thing for me was I wanted the public to see that I am capable of playing, even though I have a disability."
Also welcomed, and evidently comfortable at the Forbury Park club, was Vesna, Miss Woodrow’s guide dog.
"My dog comes with me to each game, so she’s got into a good routine. When we’re out on the green, she’ll just lie down and go to sleep."
Miss Woodrow said when she first started playing, she wanted to know where every bowl was.
Mrs Carraher converted a kitchen chopping board into a physical representation. It had 100 holes.
"I put a marble where the jack goes," Mrs Carraher said.
"Then I have long and shorter sticks, and we place them where bowls land.
"She can feel exactly how the head’s playing out."
Miss Woodrow said she now felt less of a need to know where the bowls were.
"I’ve just got to put my trust in Kimberly and do what she says. And I just need to know the end result, really.
"So we work well together, and I think our partnership is good, because we’ve got to know each other well."
Mrs Carraher, the 2025 Bowls New Zealand Club Person of the Year, said she saw potential in Miss Woodrow straight away
and offered to give her some coaching.
"Sonya was here waiting at the gate 15 minutes before I arrived.
"It just started from there. And then she’s just blown everybody away with how talented she is as a bowler."
She was also hungry for knowledge.
"I’m still new to the sport," Miss Woodrow said.
"I’m still learning and my goal is just to get better and better and better. I want to see how far the sport will take me."
