Sport
17 October, 2024
Josh Barry wins gold, bronze at national para bowls championships
Wimmera's Josh Barry claims dual medals at para bowls nationals.
Warracknabeal lawn bowls legend Josh Barry recently added two more medals to his collection after a successful showing at the national para bowls championships.
Winning gold in the open pairs and bronze in the singles, Barry continues to build on his impressive career.
With a busy summer ahead, he's aiming to maintain his spot on the Australian squad for upcoming international competitions.
"I'm pretty happy with the medals," he said.
"Hopefully this is just the start of a solid summer of representative bowls."
The Wimmera bowls champion, representing Victoria, was paired with Barry Brennan; in the grand final, they defeated South Australia 16-11.
Barry is no stranger to accolades: in 2019, he was named the National Bowler with a Disability of the Year and toured the UK with the Jackaroos; and in 2023, he won gold in the para singles at the National Development Series.
When he is not showcasing his skills on the lawn bowls rink, Barry can be found playing for Horsham and the Wimmera in basketball and football.
He admits his recovery process is vital to playing multiple sporting events each week.
"I've got compression boots and I'm in the pool or spa after each day," Barry said.
"Luckily, the football is only every three weeks, so I have some time to recover.
"When I played the Gary Bird tournament, it took me a week to cover.
"You get used to it after a while."
Driven to succeed at all levels
This summer Barry will rejoin the ranks of the Metro Premier Division, playing for Clayton Bowls Club.
It will mark his second season to tier side, following stints with Sebastopol and Deer Park.
"There's a bit more traveling this year," Barry said.
"It used to take me five hours to get the Deer Park, so what's a couple of extra hours to get to Clayton.
"I started off going down in Ballarat 11 years ago, and played there for three years at Sebastopol.
"I ended up travelling to Deer Park with another bloke for about six years. Last year I got an offer from Clayton to play with them."
While in the Gold Coast he was playing against players with various points of disabilities, Barry competes against players of all abilities in the Wimmera and Melbourne.
It's that high calibre competition that drives him to play at his best.
"Most of the top para bowlers play mainstream comps," he said.
"We're playing against international players too. I was leading for Ryan Bester, he's the world champion at the moment."
Barry cites Kelvin Kerkow OAM as a role model.
"He could play in the parabowls but he wouldn't. He didn't want to get classified in there so he played mainstream bowls for Australia.
"He's one of my old coaches. He said he's already done that, so let someone else have a go."
Looking beyond local lawn bowls, Barry hopes to pull on the green and gold and represent Australia again in the future.
"I'm focused on keeping my spot in the Australian squad," he said.
"I think they're picking the squad in November. Hopefully I get picked to go to Trans-Tasman games in New Zealand in the January.
"Then hopefully it's the Commonwealth Games... if they have it."