We here at Shaftesbury are fortunate in that we have 2 of those talented young people – Will and Ryan Scammell. This year (2022) they have had an outstanding year for the club and for the County. They are currently the Dorset County Under 25 Pairs Champions and represented the County at Royal Leamington Spa in the English National Finals.
Bowls started for them in 2018 when Will was 16 and Ryan 15 and they came along with their younger brother and sister to children’s bowling session at the Shaftesbury Bowling Club. They were waiting around and someone suggested they had a go on the green themselves with their dad Andy and grandad John. Well, it seems they took to it immediately and showed some real flare for the game at that very first session. In 2018 they continued to play at the club coming for roll-ups with John. In 2019 they entered Club and County competitions and in the County Under 25Pairs they beat our own Adrian Welsh and Kurt Murray. In 2019 they joined a larger group of young bowlers in the Dorset Bowls Academy run by Syd and Joy Steele.
2020 was a lean year for everyone playing bowls due to the COVID 19 pandemic but in 2021 their talent really began to shine on the green. They played for Shaftesbury in a range of league games. Will reached the semi final of the County U25 Singles competition and in the County Pairs they lost in the final to Alex Dillan and Connar Joyce. Will won the Shaftesbury Men’s Pairs competition with Ken Barrett and also won the Internal Triples league competition with Phil Tobin, Kevin Jones and Ron Williams.
In 2022 both Will and Ryan have played regularly in the Shaftesbury Men’s teams in the Championship Division of the Dorset league. Will has again won the club Pairs competition this time with Colin Darcy. But the crowning glory has been their appearance representing the County at the National Finals at Leamington Spa. To get there they beat Chai Steadman and Ollie Kenway in the final at Dorchester. At Leamington Will and Ryan played Matt Murphy and Josh Dukes from Hertfordshire and got off to a cracking start reaching 9 – 0 after 4 ends. Then the Hertfordshire pair got a run of good fortune with some major ‘wicks’ and Will and Ryan ended up losing 14 – 19. It was, however, a tremendous effort and very good experience for them for future years.
For the future they will be playing at the Dolphin Indoor Bowling Club over the winter and taking part in the National Indoor competitions and then next year, hopefully, playing for Shaftesbury again. The club is very, very proud of Will and Ryan’s achievements since they started in 2018 and, as I have been told on a number of occasions, it couldn’t have happened to 2 nicer lads. Well done.
