Vivian Berkeley - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Vivian Berkeley is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

blind lawn bowler

Bowls

Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...

, 1996 Paralympic

Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...

silver medalist. Berkeley is the #1 ranked women's singles B1 blind lawn bowler in the world.

Career

Berkeleys' Lawn Bowling career began almost 25 years ago. She started off playing at the Rockway Lawn Bowling Club in Kitchener, Ontario

Kitchener, Ontario

The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

. However this club closed it's doors in the late 1990's to make room for the expansion of its golf course. The following year, a new local Lawn Bowling Club, Heritage Greens, opened! Vivian started off her career by competing on the Provincial and National levels for several years, then successfully qualified and finally competed on the International level at such prestigious events as the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, USA

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games

2002 Commonwealth Games

The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...

in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. She has continuously competed in International Blind Lawn Bowling events since then and has earned the ranking of the World's #1 Female Total Blind Lawn Bowler on several occasions. Berkeley continues to lawn bowl and won the gold medal in the Women's B1 (completely blind) Singles at the 2008 and again at the 2009 Blind Bowls Association of Canada (BBAC) Nationals in Windsor, Ontario

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

. Berkeley returned with a silver medal from an International Lawn Bowling Tournament in Sydney, Australia and attended an International Lawn Bowling Competition for the Blind and Physically Disabled in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

in May 2010, coming home with the silver medal. Also, Berkeley recently attended an International Bowls for All Disabilities Tournament in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

in 2011, where she added to her impressive medal collection with a silver. Vivians' next tournament will be the Nationals in Kitchener, Ontario

Kitchener, Ontario

this July 2011, where she hopes to qualify for her next International event! She credits a lot of her success to her lawn bowling countless volunteers, coaches and directors, specifically Don Mayne and Jean Brumwell-McCron, who have helped Vivian achieve her goals over these many years!!

Personal life

Berkeley was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia

Glace Bay, Nova Scotia

Glace Bay is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton....

. She received her primary and secondary schooling at Sir Frederick Fraser School for the blind in Halifax, where she graduated in the mid 1950's. She is married to Richard, has 2 children (Laura and Michael), and one grandchild.

Berkeley participates on several boards/committees within the region of Waterloo including: Block Parents, Fire and Safety Committee, The Royal Canadian Legion, Lions Club of Canada, Lioness Club of Canada, Canadian Council of the Blind, and Blind Bowls Association of Canada (created by Berkeley for blind lawn bowlers in Canada). In May 2009, she was elected to the International Blind Bowls Association World Executive.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.