HAMILTON teenager, Rylan Pech is the latest in a long line of local sportsmen and women to have earned a Victorian Championship in their sports with Pech claiming the Under-18 Junior Boys Victorian Indoor Bowls Championships singles title at Warrnambool recently without being defeated.

“Luckily it wasn’t too far to travel for the event, but I’m really happy about winning the championships and getting to go to nationals,” Pech said.

“I ran third last year in the Under-18 junior boys last year but have taken it more seriously this year and have played in every state championship this year in both junior and senior events.”

As the name of the sport suggests, the game is played indoors on rolled out mats of felt or synthetic material, with the mats measuring nine metres by three metres which is far smaller than a lawn bowling green.

The players use a much smaller bowl than in the outdoor version, but the bias on the bowls is far greater than that of its larger cousins.

Every mat and venue have its own variances that players must quickly adapt to if they are to succeed as no two surfaces are the same unless the event is being held in larger centres.

Pech will play on new style mats at the nationals which are much faster compared to the older style felt mats here in Hamilton, so touch and technique is imperative.

The youngster was introduced to the sport by his grandfather, Norm Pech when Rylan was only 10 years old, and his love of the sport was nurtured by both his grandfather and father, Barry Pech.

“Pop got me into the sport and took me along to Patterson Park each week and he taught me the game,” Pech said.

“The local competition has four teams with eight players in each team, and while it isn’t as big as Warrnambool in terms of players, it’s still a good standard.

“I also play in Warrnambool each week so I’m playing four days a week which is really helping my game.”

The Warrnambool event had two days of play with Rylan joining with his dad to compete in the men’s pairs section, but it wasn’t to be for the father-son combination.

“Unfortunately, Dad and I were beaten in the first round, so that was disappointing.” he said.

“It was part of a weekend where on the Saturday I played in the senior men’s pairs event with my dad and then fronted up on Sunday for the boy’s event.

“There was no lead-in tournaments for the championships, but rather it was a field of six players who played each other in a round robin competition, and I was fortunate enough to defeat all of them and finish first.

With his playing four days a week, Pech feels that his game play between now and the nationals will be enough to fine tune his skills without having to practice.

“I’ve noticed inconsistencies in my technique that I have to rid from my game if I’m going to be successful, so I’ll be working on that between now and the nationals,” The newly crowned champion said.

The national titles will be held in Tanunda in South Australia at the end of August.