Rapid rise to top for Goddard

Selina Goddard
Selina Goddard
At 23 years old, defending national women’s singles champion Selina Goddard (Auckland) is one of the new faces of bowls in New Zealand, and a possible contender for selection for a second Commonwealth Games.

Introduced to bowls as a child through her parents’ involvement, Goddard did not take a competitive approach to the sport until she was 14, while attending Howick College in Auckland.

She has has since became one of the many success stories emerging from a secondary school  programme introduced by Bowls New Zealand about the turn of the century.

"It was intercollegiate bowls and obviously I knew the game so I gave it a go and it’s gone from there," she said.

Her earliest success on the national stage came when she won the women’s title at the under-18 national singles  at the Pakuranga Bowling Club as a 17-year-old.

The next next major achievement was the 2014 national fours title in Dunedin  with Mandy Boyd (Burnside), Gemma Watts (United) and pairs partner at this year’s national championships Amy McIlroy (Nelson).

Goddard was then selected for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she celebrated her 20th birthday as part of the large New Zealand team behind the flag at the opening ceremony. Days later, she won a bronze medal as a member of the women’s fours with Boyd, McIlroy and Val Smith. Goddard was also a member of the women’s triples, along with McIlroy and Boyd, that progressed to the quarterfinals.

Since then, Goddard has continued to be very much part of the national scene and, as a member of successful national teams in transtasman competition. It was with this in mind her Carlton Cornwall Bowls Club offered her the role of club director, a position she will take up on her return to Auckland after the national championships.

Goddard, who arrived in Dunedin on Thursday, coming off months of training and early-season centre and club events in Auckland that culminated in a bronze medal at the Champion of Champion world singles in Sydney in November, said she put all her eggs in the singles basket last year after discovering McIlroy was unavailable to join her in pairs or fours competition.

"Some people were saying maybe the keys to success was to just go ahead in one event," she said of comments made of her winning the singles title last year.

"But it was just what happened last year, and it was great because I was also able to combine it with a holiday in Taranaki."

With McIlroy back in action this year, Goddard has combined her singles defence with reuniting with her in pairs competition and the two have combined with past Blackjack squad members Sandra Keith and Serena Matthews, also a past world champion, to form a very formidable team to contest the fours.

McIlroy, in reuniting her pairs association with Goddard, comes into the championships with two Nelson Centre wins in pairs and mixed pairs competition to her credit already this season.

"So now it’s going to be national pairs, is it?" Goddard joked, ushering a response from McIlroy.

Now in her 10th season, it has been a rapid rise through the ranks of women’s bowls in New Zealand for Goddard.

"I’m please with how I’ve gone so far. The achievements I’ve had and the opportunities I’ve had to travel for bowls, so I’m looking forward to what’s coming up in the next 10 years."

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