MICK Swan has capped off one of his biggest bowling years to date, as he recently returned from Tasmania with a gold medal around his neck for winning the Australian Bowling Arm Championships with team Victoria.

The Heywood Bowling Club member has had a stellar year on the green, winning the State Bowling Arm Pairs with Simon Cullinane earlier this year which earned him selection into the 17-person Victorian squad for the Championships.

It was an action-packed tournament hosted in Devonport where the best bowling arm players, competitors who use an artificial device to assist in delivering the bowl, from across the country attended to battle it out across five days for the championship.

“We had a squad of 17 across the tournament, every day we had 15 players play in the morning and then 15 play again in the afternoon,” he said.

“We played one state every day across the five days – they were some very big days.”

In the morning sessions there was three rinks which had three games of singles and three rinks which had three games of fours.

In the afternoon sessions it was three rinks of pairs and three rinks of triples.

While shifting between the formats posed a challenge of its own, the side also had to overcome a change of rink which altered game play dramatically.

“On Monday and Tuesday, we played at Devonport, and it was running very slow, eventually it got washed out so we had to play on the indoor eight-rink carpet green and the format was changed too, to make sure we got through all of the games,” Swan said.

“We went from a nine-second green to an 18-second green, it was a lot faster and changed the whole dynamic.”

Despite the shift, team Victoria didn’t drop a day to any of their opponents, winning all five days against each of the other states.

“Each day there was a shield on offer between the states and then one at the end of the tournament for the overall winner,” Swan said.

“We managed to win every shield – New South Wales was our toughest opponent and we played them on Wednesday and ended up overcoming them eight to four.

“We sat there on Friday at the presentations, and we were pretty happy.”

Swan was a huge contributor to the squad, with his performance seeing him ranked in sixth place across the entire competition by the end of the tournament while his pairs partner Simon Cullinane was ranked fourth.

“The whole team had a really good week. At the end of the tournament, they rank players based on their play and Victoria had 12 players in the top 20 and were all of the top six,” he said.

Winning was just the cherry on top for Swan who said it was one of the best bowling weeks of his life.

“It was very enjoyable and one of the best bowling experiences I’ve ever had,” he said.

“The whole squad travelled together for the whole time. The actual facility where we played was out of town, so we were in and out on buses and we all gelled really well together and got along.

“It’s definitely the highest level I’ve played with the bowling arm and this experience surpasses anything else I’ve done.”

Swan is now gearing up for the regional pennant season which will begin on October 7.