Shannon Mcilroy reckons he plays pretty well if his wife Amy is watching, so her inclusion in the New Zealand lawn bowls squad for the Commonwealth Games might just be his secret advantage.
“I always look over and she does a sign or starts giggling. She’ll do something to make me get an extra five or ten per cent,” he says.
Both Shannon and Amy will be competing in Glasgow, the first time the husband and wife duo have gone together to a major event, after Shannon represented New Zealand in Delhi in 2010. “It’ll be pretty cool if I’m playing on a green and Amy is playing on the other and I can look over and see how she’s going,” he says.
Coach Dave Edwards sat the pair down at the same time when announcing the team for Glasgow, and Shannon and Amy say that was the biggest giveaway that they would both be going. “Well, it was either we’re both going or neither of us are,” says Amy.
She says it seems “unreal”, considering they both met through lawn bowls years ago. “Now we’re married and going to the Commonwealth Games, I did not picture that happening at all.”
Shannon, who plays for the Stoke Bowling Club, has been selected in the singles and triples. In the latter he will be joined by Ali Forsyth, who is originally from Nelson, and Tony Grantham. “We had a hit out against Australia a couple of months ago and never lost a game, so we’re pretty stoked with how things are going. Ali is a bit of a class act. If he’s on form you’re in with a chance of winning.”
Amy, who plays for the United Bowling Club, will be in the triples and fours. At 23 years old she is the “old duck” in the triples, and will play alongside Nelson’s Val Smith in the fours.
Amy says she’d love to hear the national anthem playing at the Commonwealth Games, which is just an alternative way of saying she wants to win a gold medal. But Shannon admits the competition is going to be tough for them both. “We’re going into unknown territory really. If the Commonwealth Games was here in New Zealand we’d be a realistic chance of winning gold but now, if we play well, we’ll be an outside chance of medalling.”
When asked what she was looking forward to most in Glasgow, Amy says she just wants to make her family proud, and would be thinking of her late uncle and poppa when competing with the silver fern on. “My biggest thing is definitely doing this for my family, and my mum and dad are coming over to watch.”
Even though they’re husband and wife, there will be no rooming together in the athletes’ village. “We’re not allowed. We’re there to play bowls, not hugs and cuddles,” says Shannon.
