Visually impaired bowlers take aim at Commonwealth Games gold

When it comes to his hunger for success, eight is enough for visually impaired bowler Herman Scholtz.

It has been eight long years since Scholtz teamed up with Gwen Nel and bowled his way to gold in the mixed pairs (B2/B3 category) on the immaculate greens of Kelvingrove, Glasgow, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

But he missed out on another shot at gold in Gold Coast, Australia at the 2018 version of the Games and is now expected to return to the UK for the 2022 Games in Birmingham, England.

Back surgery in late 2017 was the reason for him giving Gold Coast a miss. Looking back, he says: “I actually played with back pain for 30 years before I eventually went and saw a neurosurgeon who discovered a cyst on my spinal cord.

“The operation was 100% successful, but I took some time to get back to my old form. It wasn’t so much about playing and getting into physical shape, it was the mental thing that was toughest, and I was full of self-doubt, but I’m back now. Look, at 62 I may be past my absolute best but I’m still playing good bowls.”

Herman’s hunger is still there. “Man, I always say one must shoot for the stars, so let’s hope for gold. But any colour medal will be great to win for SA.”

Pretoria-based Scholtz (he bowls out of Pretoria Municipals) has never had proper vision, born with a condition called optic atrophy, and like so many visually impaired sportsmen and women is an eternal optimist. “I’ve never known what it’s like to have perfect sight. So, it’s a bit of an inconvenience but certainly not the end of the world and I’ve enjoyed life so far.”

It certainly looks that way — in his 35 years of competitive bowls he’s won 10 gold, seven silver and three bronze medals at different World Championships.

“But the big prize was still that Commonwealth Games gold. Everybody knows that bowls isn’t an Olympic sport but the Commonwealth Games is the equivalent of an Olympics for us lawn bowlers and the cream of the crop will be there.”

He expects the Birmingham greens to be a lot slower than the Gold Coast greens, “probably about five to eight seconds slower. It doesn’t sound a lot but it is.

“Everyone will have to adapt to the conditions, but that’s sport — the guys who adapt quickest usually take the spoils.”

A confirmed bachelor, Scholtz has a lifetime of service to his country behind him. “I’ve been a civil servant all my career, in various government departments, among them foreign affairs and health, but always in Pretoria.”

In visually impaired bowls it really does take two to tango and in Scotland it was fellow Pretoria bowler Annatjie van Rooyen who was Scholtz’s eyes and ears. Geoff Newcombe was teammate and Nel’s director in Glasgow.

“The director is my eyes,” says Scholtz. “She’s my communication with the marker at the other end of the green. She’ll give me my grass, let me know how much width I need to play with, and so on.

“A sighted person can take aim at the other side or halfway up the green. My point of aim is the director around 4m in front of me and I’ll aim at her.”

Like Scholtz, Van Rooyen is also Pretoria-based, playing out of CBC Old Boys Club.

Her progress into visually impaired sport was a natural one. “My mom was also partially sighted so I just became involved. The funny thing was that I only bowled my first wood seven years later.”

Their paths crossed intermittently from around 1997 before she became Scholtz’s personal director in 2008.

“Building a bond between director and bowler is so important. Understanding and trusting each other is so vital. I need to tell him the position of the bowls, how fast the greens are running. When we started playing together I’d stand about 4m in front of him and then he aims at my foot but I can also stand behind him and coach him. Before Glasgow we trained three times a week, but in the build-up to these Games it’s probably been about twice a week.”

She remembers the gold medal match like it was yesterday.

“The Scottish team were the big favourites but we were still so positive that we could make it. After all the practice we were in a good place, and before the finals we had really walked all over our opponents.”

But she says Scholtz had more than bowls on his mind in the final. “There was a suspended television camera moving in and out of his field of vision above the green and he became so nervous, it really affected his attention. If you know Herman and the way he played, he just ‘wasn’t there’.

“Luckily Gwen [Nel] came to the party with her drawing shots. He was playing under stress all final so we resorted to just playing a covering role.”

And that role was good enough for gold. But SA will be hoping a covering role turns into a starring role at the 2022 Games.