Director's Profile

Hello, my name is Shirley Ahern and I am Ron's director for lawn bowling. I started bowling way back in 1981 and had what I feel was a good playing career. I loved the game from day one and I guess did well in it as I teamed up with my friend Helen and we won our 1st Provincial Pairs Championship in 1985. This was followed by 2 more wins in 1988 and 1990 and then I played lead for Joan MacKay in 1991 and we won a Canadian Bronze Medal. All in all I won 5 Provincial Championships, all in pairs.

During this time I qualified as a Level 1 Coach and Provincial, then National Umpire. In 1997 I was certified as a Level 2 Coach and in 1998 became a Coaching Co-Coordinator eligible to teach Level 1 Technical to prospective new coaches.

In 1993 Joan MacKay talked me into helping her coach blind bowlers and I went to Westmount Lawn Bowling Club every Monday night. I coached several bowlers before I connected with Ron. We started together in 1994 and have done exceptionally well together ever since.

I have done a lot of jobs in bowling over the years, including President of the now defunct Quebec Ladies Lawn Bowling Assoc., President and Secretary of my own St. Lambert Lawn Bowling Club, and I am now the Quebec Provincial Coaching Coordinator. Although my active bowling career is finished, due to arthritis, I enjoy coaching both sighted and blind bowlers and am also still able to umpire. Currently I'm Secretary for the Quebec Blind Lawn Bowling Association and hope to continue as long as I can.

Over the years Ron and I have traveled extensively in our sport and in June 2004 we will be competing in the International Paralympic Committee's Lawn Bowls Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.