Lorraine setting her sights for Birmingham

LORRAINE Dowson, a renowned bowls official who has earned selection to the Commonwealth Games, has been busy getting herself ready for the milestone event.

Lorraine will split her time between umpiring, acting as a marker on the green, a timekeeper, a versatile ‘rover’ filling in where needed, and as Chief Technical Officer.

With the games coming up in just three weeks’ time, the Sentinel-Times checked in on Lorraine about what she is most looking forward to at her second Commonwealth Games. 

“I did the 2018 games in Queensland and that was my first Commonwealth Games, so I was a bit tentative, so I think I’ll go in more confident in these games,” she said. 

“It’ll be great to re-kindle some of the friendships I made from last games, we had people come out from England, Wales and Hong Kong, it’ll be great to catch up with them over there.
“We all work as a team, it’s good to be able to have other people to rely on.”

“I’m looking forward to the weather, it’s about 23 degrees over there at the moment and also going to Leamington, I haven’t been there before, and staying with family after the games.”

Officiating the games is a great achievement, as only those accredited as International Technical Officials by World Bowls are in contention to do so.

Being selected is a competitive process, although since Lorraine has been picked,  we asked her how she is preparing for Birmingham 2022. 

“I’ve just been at the Australian Open, I got the top job there, the marquee event for the Australian Open is the Men’s Final, and I was the marker for that,” she said. 

“So that’s a pretty good achievement not just for me but for women as well.” 

The Inverloch Bowls Club member is no stranger to the big stage, becoming the first woman to be the marker at an Australian Open Men’s Final and Men’s Premier League Final.
 
The Wonthaggi local gave her insight into the Games, what she expects and how Australia will shape up. 

“I think this year’s games will be interesting because the UK greens are very slow, so it’ll be interesting to see which teams adapt quickest,” she said. 

“The Australian team went over there last month to trial, and they leave again on the 10th, so they’ll be doing lots of practise and I’m sure lots of other countries are already making their way over there.

“I think they (Australia) will be competitive, we’ve had quite an interesting selection, two of our top players are unavailable, it’s given the Australian selectors a chance to bring in some new players.”
Lorraine also explained the secret that has allowed her to forge such a decorated career in officiating bowls. 

“My biggest thing has been my mentors, I’ve been very lucky to have so many wonderful people look after me,” she said. 
Lorraine’s talents don’t just lie in the officiating department, she is also an accomplished player herself.

“I play pennant too, Inverloch is my home club, but I trialled for Dandenong last year and got selected for their top side, so I travelled twice a week to Dandenong to play bowls, I love it.” 

“We had three paid coaches at Dandenong so what I’ve learned over the last twelve months is invaluable as far as bowls is concerned and they’ve actually also looked after me with umpiring as well.”
Lorraine also encourages anyone who is looking to get into bowls or bowls umpiring to give it a go.

“I grew up just over the road from the bowls club in Wonthaggi and I thought I’ll never be going over there they’re so old fashioned but now it’s become much more of a modern game.”

Lorraine will now find herself on the greens at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, kicking off with the opening ceremony, on July 28 in Birmingham through to August 8, and can be viewed on the seven networks.