Jacob Brighton poses with all the hardware he won at The Nationals in Perth.
Teenage bowlers don’t usually have to deal with the stress of flight delays before they hit the greens.
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Unless you were Jacob Brighton on the way to The Nationals last week.
“He had a school camp which took him to France and Belgium, so he was gone for nearly the whole school holiday period,” mum Sarah said.
“It was a history tour, a lot of the war cemeteries and museums and things of that nature.
“But they had some flight delays coming home, so he was starting to panic that he wasn't going to get back in time.”
An overseas return to Australia brings jet-lag challenges and particularly when you’re going straight to arguably its most inconvenient time zone — Perth.
“He only got home from Europe on Friday night and then had to fly to Perth on the Sunday,” Sarah said.
It’s exhausting just reading the journey.
But it didn’t affect young Jacob in the slightest.
He was a part of a Victorian trio which won the boys’ triples at Mount Lawley Bowling Club.
Brighton, alongside Kyabram duo Jacob Cartwright and Charlie Boswood, rolled their way to a perfect six wins to top the round-robin tournament.
No other side came close to them.
Next best NSW ended 4-2 and its points differential was inferior by 26 shots.
The young trio has taken major strides in the past 12 months — and Sarah doesn’t hide the joy talking about the role her young bowling star has played in it.
“Over the years we've only seen an improvement in his bowling and his maturity on the green,” she said.
“It's amazing to see how much he has changed over the years, and we're just so proud of him, and we were happy to go over and support him in his last Nationals.
“It’s his last Nationals because he ages out next year.
“It was nice that he came home with an individual medal this time and two team medals.”
If the triples win wasn’t enough, Victoria was best overall in the boys. And best overall for boys and girls combined.
Brighton (centre-left) alongside Kyabram trio Jacob Cartwright, Stephanie Locke and Charlie Boswood.
Brighton’s expertise in the team game was also shown in the fours — Victoria placing a respectable fourth after a 3-3 record.
The tournament is all about competition, pitting the best junior bowlers in the country against each other.
Competitors don’t have much downtime.
Each day sees them wake up, head down to the greens, and by the time play is over, it’s time to head back.
But players like Brighton, who have been to numerous competitions of such scale, often come across the same opponents.
It creates the opportunity to become friendly, a paradox when bowlers are pitted against one another.
“He certainly enjoys getting to go to these tournaments, having new experiences and being able to catch up with friends he has at other states,” Sarah said.
“When you go to the Australian Open and the Golden Nugget, that's where you get to make these friendships, and then you get to catch up with all the same kids that go to all of these tournaments like Nationals.
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