Dockers, normally i would see those kind of statements and ignore it, however, i feel you need to be put in your place.
Now, since you made the point to bring up Gio and Baker, allow me to explain to you how this team was put together (since you clearly have no idea). In 2011, TBA introduced the NTS (National Training Squad) to fall in line with most (if not all) major bowling countries. There was a specific "Skills Test" that all bowlers were required to pass. This included shooting at both corner pins, and a variety of spare combinations, as well as being able to hit a confident "pocket shot" on both Short AND Long lane conditions. The MINIMUM pass mark for this was 70% in ALL AREAS!
From all of the bowlers across the country who passed this test, TBA, along with the National Coach selected its pool of players in the Adult, Youth and Junior divisions. From this pool, and this pool only, is where ALL of our nationals teams are selected. Now, i know that Carol did not apply for this squad for her own personal reasons, and unsure about baker.
ALL members of this "pool" of players, attend throughout the year, a number of training camps in conjunction with nationals tournaments. This allows the national coach to track progress, find room for improvement etc. The coach then takes into consideration the dedication the players have, the effort in training, how well they have progressed, their ability to take advice from the coach, and most importantly, their tournament results over a period of time and on a variety of different conditions.
This years team was selected at the conclusion of the Australian Open/VIC 150 Tournaments in April. This gave the team members a total of approx. 4 months to come up with the money to pay for THEMSELVES to go overseas and represent their country. As the others above me have stated, Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Korea etc, have their governments pour hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of dollars into their bowling programs, we are not as lucky in Australia as we have many more sports where we have teams right at the top (cricket, soccer, rugby etc). So for these guys to be selected firstly is an achievement in itself as they have shown enough talent and persistence in the coaches eyes, as well as TBA to even be selected, then the hours of training come in, the costs to not only get to tournaments and compete, but also take the extra day off work as well (more lost income) for the training camps, then fundraise the money and save what they can to be able to afford to go away and represent their country, and THEN, take the 2 weeks off from work to be able to go, AND THEN, after not only qualifying for the World Championships in BOTH divisions, they ALSO qualify for the World Games AND have 2 members of the team qualify for the masters in fields stacked with people who do nothing but bowl 7 days a week for 6 hours + a day, have YOU say its not a good effort?
Please excuse my ignorance, but it sounds to me that you can do better, so here's a challenge for you, and im sure many people here would say the same thing to you. DOCKERS, make the effort to sign up to try out for the NTS this year. Go and complete your skills test (if you can), then make it into the squad, attend the number of tournaments these players go to (on average id say 5/8 per year), get selected for the World Championship team and the World Games team, find the money to go and get the time off work losing yourself as much money as these guys, and then get to the Worlds, and bowl well enough to make the masters final (you better collect yourself a medal or 2 on the way there as well since these guys didnt do well enough), and since its disgraceful for only one male and one female to make the masters cut, you should coach the team as well, since you must be that good!
You remind me of someone i keep reading about on Facebook, who continuously sends threatening letters to a young girl saying she isnt good enough to compete. I think the term being used in EVERY comment about this girl is "Tall Poppy Syndrome".
Just take a step back, and look at what this team has achieved. Be proud that they represented their country with pride, and did the job they set out to do, and that was to qualify for the World Championships.
Oh, and one more thing, just in case you dont know who i am, allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Matt Watson. And i'm D*** proud of what these guys have achieved and proud to be a friend to everyone of them.
