Team Games - Rochdale Vipers Ten-pin Bowling Club
Rochdale Vipers Ten-pin Bowling Club
Rochdale VIpers Ten-Pin Bowling Club
c/o Rochdale Goalball Club
tel. 01706 343932
Email: info@rochdalegoalball.co.uk
Club Information
Membership of Rochdale VIpers Ten-Pin Bowling Club is open to all visually impaired persons, their families and friends. However, due to the criteria laid down by British Blind Sport, only those people with a visual impairment measured at B4 (registered partially-sighted) or below can actively participate in BBS ten-pin bowling competitions. Players must be willing to undergo a sight test to ratify this.
Membership is free but players must join British Blind Sport to represent the club in competition and be covered by insurance. There is no upper or lower age limit but players must be able to bowl a ball independently.
BBS winter league matches are scheduled to take place at fortnightly intervals during the season (November - April). Additional fun sessions are held at intervals during the close season. There is also a BBS summer pairs league for those interested.
Rochdale VIpers - A Brief History
Owing to a drop in the number of players competing in goalball nationally and a fall in the number of tournaments open to them, Rochdale Goalball Club decided to expand their repertoire and look for a new challenge to while away the long winter evenings. In Summer 2005, after much consideration and research, ten-pin bowling chosen. British Blind Sport was contacted for advice and it was discovered that there was a national league in operation. Rochdale Additional Needs Service was also contacted to see if any local youngsters with a visual impairment might be interested in taking part. In September, a joint taster session was held at Strike Ten, Sandbrook Park and thanks to a very promising turnout it was decided there and then to form a team to join the BBS league. The team now call themselves The Rochdale VIpers - short for Rochdale Visually Impaired Persons.
How does it work?
Matches are played fortnightly during the season. BBS schedule the
fixtures and opposing teams meet up at their respective local bowling
centres to play two games of ten-pin bowling. After the games are
finished, the computer generated scorecards are collected and sent
to the BBS Fixtures Secretary who compares the scores and declares
the result of the match, two points being awarded to the winner of
each game with two further points being awarded to the team with the
highest total score.
There are currently four divisions in the BBS winter league with
six teams in each (2006-7 season). At the end of the season the leading
teams in each division meet up at a neutral venue to play-off for
the National Championship.