A lifelong passion and involvement in bowling for Williams Lake resident Heward Smedley is being passed down to his great granddaughter.
Smedley, who turns 80 later this year, has taken his great granddaughter, Harmony Lycett, 12, under his wing and has been sharing his knowledge and love for the sport with her since she was three.
Harmony competes in Williams Lake as a participant in Youth Bowl Canada (YBC), and has seen success at the local and provincial level in the sport. Smedley can be seen by her side giving tips and advice on Monday evenings during the group’s weekly play session.
Smedley first laced up his bowling shoes at the age of 11 in Vancouver setting pins at a lane where his mother bowled in a league.
“They let us set pins at my age,” Smedley said. “We didn’t get paid. We just set the pins. Then when there was spare time we got to bowl.”
After a break from bowling and upon moving to Kamloops, Smedley settled back into the sport for a four-year stint before, again, making another move to Prince George while working for BC Tel.
“I got on a BC Tel team, and spent another eight years there bowling, before I moved to Williams Lake in 1978 and started bowling here that September.”
Now, it’s been almost 40 years and, while he still competes in leagues in the city, Smedley is shifting his focus to Harmony.
“I got Harmony started because my love for bowling and I started her when she was three,” Smedley said.
Harmony said she immediately got hooked on the sport, thanks in part to Smedley’s tutelage.
“I really liked it when I started,” she said. “It was really fun, and it was exciting. It was totally new compared to what I usually do.”
Following a short break, Harmony started back up again when she was seven with Smedley as her YBC coach.
“She’s been bowling steady with me since,” Smedley said, adding she’s been quite receptive to his coaching, aside from a few normal hiccups along the way.
“Right from the beginning the only problem I found was when she was first getting started she’d have a problem, I’d tell her what to do and she’d throw one ball and it didn’t work so she’d tell me I told her wrong. So this is my challenge for coaching was to not tell her wrong.”
Harmony said she really enjoys having her great grandpa as her coach, and added she thinks he’s also a great help to any young bowlers looking for advice in the city.
“He’s [good] at telling everyone what to do and can really help them advance,” she said.
Heward, meanwhile, said his time spent coaching Harmony has been nothing but enjoyable.
“The greatest thing I’ve enjoyed about coaching was two years ago when Harmony was last year in bantams when she won the singles title here in Williams Lake and she went to provincials in Chase,” Smedley said. “It was a really new experience for her.
“There’s one other boy here who came to me who asked for help. His bowling improved from a 150 average to about a 175 average in about two weeks.”
Harmony was in action this past Sunday at Cariboo Bowling Lanes in Williams Lake competing in the YBC Four Steps competition for zone eight as a member of the local team. Smedley was there throughout offering support and words of encouragement but, he said, the trick now at her age is to not overdo it.
“Once they’re this age there’s only a few things I can say to them,” he said.
“They know what they’re doing, and they know what they’re doing wrong.”
For video of Harmony and Smedley visit www.wltribune.com.
