Toronto-bound bowler puts fitness first

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 16

Toronto-bound bowler puts fitness first

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

Lex Kimber, Christchurch's sole playing mem- ~ ber of the New Zealand women’s bowls team for the world championships in Toronto in August, has packed J her bowls away for the time being. "’ After a fairly busy summer — during which she won. her Christchurch centre gold star and finished second in the national fours — Mrs Kimber believes it best that she has a month or two away from the game. She plans to start playing again in preparation for the championships in June and her Linwood club has undertaken to make an outdoor rink available to her for practice. Morgan. Moffat, Linwood’s male national representative, has promised to assist Mrs Kimber with her preparation.

In the meantime, however. Mrs Kimber is not resting entirely on her laurels. Like other members of the team she is conscious of the demands that will be made on stamina at Toronto. On some days there will be three games, the starting times being 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. “Fitness is going to be very important; there is no doubt about that,” said Mrs Kimber, who will play No. 2 in both the four and the triple. “There are going to be some long days in what is likely to be hot weather and it could well be a survival or the fittest.”

To maintain her summer fitness. Mrs Kimber is giving a good deal of time at present to a walking and swimming programme. She takes long walks on the sand near her North Beach home and attends the Queen Elizabeth II Park pool three mornings a week, swimming about 14 lengths at a time. Mrs Kimber did some swimming in her younger days and she believes it is a great sport to develop and maintain over-all physical fitness. Mrs Kimber knows little of the conditions the team is likely to encounter in Toronto, although she has heard that the greens there run at

between nine and 11 seconds. This is a good deal slower than New Zealand greens, but it should be close to what Linwood will be like in midwinter. "I am looking forward to the trip very much, but I don’t expect it to be any picnic. New Zealand has a reputation to uphold and I think we have a team capable of doing this. I just want to be quite sure that when we leave New Zealand on July 17 lack of fitness is not a problem. "Unce we get to Toronto there will be nearly two weeks to get used to the greens before the tournament starts, so I don’t think it is necessary to spend that much time in practice in' New Zealand,” said Mrs Kimber.