Milestones come and go and they get celebrated accordingly but very rarely does a player get recognised for 1000 games.
Ocean Grove Bowling Club’s Norm Thomas reached that feat on Saturday October 28.
What makes it even more remarkable is that Norm had only ever played with Ocean Grove.
Norm commenced playing bowls for Ocean Grove as a 32 year old and has been playing for 52 years.
“A group of mates used to play cricket across the road on a vacant block and we would sometimes hit the ball across the road onto the bowling greens, the bowlers would simply throw it back without any complaints and we all thought they seemed like a good bunch of blokes,” Norm said.
Norm has amassed 942 games as a Saturday Pennant player while only a few years ago made the decision to play Midweek Pennant on a Tuesday where he has played 58 games to reach the milestone of 1000 matches.
Premierships are hard to come by in any sport but for Norm it’s more than that.
“I have been involved in four premierships with the club, the last one was Division 2 in 2015-16, but the game is far more than just premierships, it’s about the people you play alongside each week and the friends you make along the journey,” he said.
Norm’s clubmates and visitors from Bell Post Hill, Eastern Park, Belmont and Lara Bowls Clubs took part in a guard of honour prior to Norm’s 1000th match as he entered the venue.
After the opening round one match, which Norm was a part of a 31-11 rink win, he was presented with a framed picture recognising an amazing journey as an Ocean Grove Pennant player. He was saluted with a standing ovation.
