LAWN bowls is a sport which is all about touch and feel. That all makes it something of an obstacle to be overcome then when, like Mike Nicoll, you are suffering from a condition which affects the nerve endings in your fingers and means you most hold the bowl in the palm of your hand.
If the jovial big Jedburgh para bowler was making light of such difficulties after being named in the second tranche of athletes selected for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in April, that was mainly due to the fact he was still overjoyed at his remarkable progression in the 18 months since he first saw an advert on Facebook and decided to get in contact. Nicoll is a sufferer from Conditional Neuropathy, which also affects his balance and causes him to bowl with the aid of a stick, but he was as surprised as anyone to find out that he was classified as a B6 and thus eligible to represent his country on the other side of the world.
“I used to bowl with the normal bowlers then I discovered about a couple of years ago about the para bowls on Facebook!” said Nicoll. “I saw an advert and thought I’ll maybe have a look at it. Before I knew where I was, I was competing for Scotland and playing out at the multi-nations event in Broadbeach!
“I could have done this a lot earlier,” he added. “I wish I had, maybe. When I first got assessed I didn’t think I would have much of a chance. But it is all down to balance – I have got what they call Conditional Neuropathy which is a condition affecting the nerve endings in your legs, and your fingers - I don’t have a lot of feeling in my fingers so I can’t hold my bowl like a normal person. I don’t have very good balance either. I used to bowl without a stick and it has taken me a few years to get used to it. Over the years my fingers have got worse so now in terms of grip the bowl just needs to sit in the palm of my hand.”
Having endorsed his credentials for inclusion at the multi-nations warm-up event in Broadbeach, Nicoll hopes the para bowlers can weigh in with a gold medal of their own this time as Scotland’s bowlers again are asked to do some of the heavy lifting for Team Scotland. “Before I was classed as a para bowler, I used to win the championship at most of the clubs that I played with,” said Nicoll. “So I am not a bad bowler. I have played against ‘Tattie’ [Alex Marshall] and used to play at the same club as Darren Burnett. I would say these guys are a wee bit better than me but at the multi-nations I was watching some of their bowls and thinking I could have given them a game!”
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