Fast Lane
story first published in the Central Western Daily, 21 March, 2001
Deaf bowler David Hayward is preparing for the Pacific Coast Deaf Bowling tournament in Las Vegas in May.
David to take on the world in deaf bowling
By Sam Bartlett
AUSTRALIAN number one deaf bowler David Hayward is excited at the prospect of travelling to Las Vegas to contest the 60th Annual Pacific Coast Deaf Bowling tournament in May and at the chance of bringing home a portion of the $US120,000 prizemoney.
After Las Vegas he will travel to Rome in July for the 2001 World Deaf Championships, the first world competition for the Orange bowler.
Speaking through his nephew Josh Hayward using sign language, David said he was confident of being the best bowler at the world tournament for Australia and was interested in seeing the form of the American bowlers in Las Vegas whom he had never played against before.
�The world competition will be hard. There�s going to be some good bowlers there from Queensland and Victoria for Australia,� he said.
�It�s the first time bowling against American bowlers so I get to see what they are like and see if I can beat them, too.�
The talented bowler, who has been deaf since birth, can certainly hold his own to any other bowler, having bowled a near perfect game of 298 in June �98 in the Orange leagues against hearing players. He also played in a Central West team competition for Orange last year with other full-hearing players in which his team was victorious.
Hayward has been bowling competitively for 15 years and for the last 13 for NSW and Australia in deaf competitions. Successes include the 1993 NSW Deaf Championships, the 1998 New Zealand Deaf Championships in Auckland, 1998 Victorian Deaf State Championships and 2000 SA Deaf Championships.
Hayward has been a dominant competitor at the National Deaf Games since 1996 in the Masters and has retained the plaque each year since the games began in 1997.
He was selected in the Australian deaf side for the World Deaf Championships in 1993 in Brisbane which were later cancelled. After a seven-year wait Hayward is excited at the prospect of bowling for Australia in a world championship against world class players.
�One of the things I am looking forward to is meeting different people from all over the world in Rome and it is the first time I will play against bowlers from every country,� he said.
Hayward will compete in masters, handicap, teams, doubles, mixed and no-tap events in Las Vegas, and in singles and mixed events in Rome. He is the only Australian competitor in Rome.
He will also compete in the 19th Australian Deaf Championships in Launceston during the Easter long weekend.
