Auckland's Teri Anderson (18) heads the field of 29 young indoor bowlers who have won their way through to play in the national final of the 35^th New Zealand Indoor Bowls Junior Singles competition next Saturday, 1^st September 2012 at the North Wellington Indoor Bowls Association Hall, Onepoto Domain, Titahi Bay, North Wellington commencing at 10.00am.

Anderson is a North Island representative and won the women's singles Inter-Island medal in the annual North versus South Test Match recently and was a reserve for the New Zealand team last year. She has two national championship titles from the pairs in 2008 and triples in 2010. She has won the Cliff Thompson Trophy which is awarded to the best junior player in the singles at the national championships for the past five years. This is her last year in the junior ranks. She won the Junior Singles in 2009 and was runner-up last year. She is a member of the Auckland Team that won the Paterson Trophy in zone one and will compete in the Welch Trophy.

There are only ten other players in the final that competed last year including Alanna Preddy, South Otago (18) who finished third equal. The others who have experienced the final atmosphere are Tianna White, Hawkes Bay (14), Ryan Eggers, Nelson (18), Colin Williams, North Harbour (17), Jacob Rameka, North Wellington (15), Trevor Burgess, Southland (15), Anjela Frost, Taranaki (16), Chiquita Hill, Upper Hutt Valley (16), Dylan Taylor, Wairarapa (14) and Stephanie Bellis, West Coast (16).

Frost combined with Anderson in the Northern Zone pairs, Williams led in the Northern Zone fours while Preddy skipped the Southern Zone triples with Eggers the three in the fours.

The youngest player in the field is 10 year old Samuel Anderson from Horowhenua.

With a new crop of juniors competing this year for the first time it will be interesting to see who rises to the challenge and if they can cause any upsets along the way.

A plate event will be held for the non-qualifiers in the main championship for the seventh year.

To qualify for the championships players must be under the age of 18 years of age on 1^st March 2012 and have won their district junior singles competition 29 of the 35 districts have entered. The West Coast sends one contestant.

The competitors are: Caitlyn Bassett (Ashburton), Teri Anderson (Auckland), Josh Mills (Bay of Plenty), Blair Cosgrove (Canterbury), Tianna White (Central Otago), Jakeb White (Counties), Samuel Anderson (Horowhenua), Colleen Moffat (Hutt Valley), Natasha Linn (Manawatu), Blair Clemett (Marlborough), Ryan Eggers (Nelson), Stefan Robb (North Otago), Colin Williams (North Harbour), Ashleigh Shotter (North Taranaki), Jacob Rameka (North Wellington), Jayden Tunstall (Northland), Brandon Williams (Otago), Journey Hihi (Poverty Bay), Adam Sowerby-Parlane (Roskill and Districts), Matthew Blissett (South Canterbury); Alanna Preddy (South Otago), Trevor Burgess (Southland), Anjela Frost (Taranaki), Samantha Jacobs (Tauranga), (Thames Valley), Chiquita Hill (Upper Hutt Valley), Sam Gilchrist (Waikato), Dylan Taylor (Wairarapa), Taylor Broughton (Wanganui), Stephanie Bellis (West Coast).

Northern versus Southern Zones

At the conclusion of the singles tournament the Northern and Southern Zone junior teams will be named.

They will compete in the 18^th Northern versus Southern Zone competition for the McLachlan Junior Challenge Trophy that was won by the North Island in 1995 to 1998 and then the Northern Zone 1999 to 2001. The Northern Zone won in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011. The Southern Zone has won the Trophy six times in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

The Southern Zone includes the greater Wellington districts. Each zone is represented by nine players selected as one pair, a triple and a fours team.