Winnipeg lawn bowler preparing for Commonwealth Games

Lawn bowler heading to Commonwealth Games Winnipeg lawn bowler Robert Law is heading to the Commonwealth Games this fall. CTV's Joey Slattery reports.

Introduced to lawn bowling by his grandmother as a child, the sport has since taken Winnipeg's Robert Law from coast to coast and around the world as he's bowled his way to the top of the national ranks.

Next month he's heading to England to compete at the Commonwealth Games -- the first of what he hopes will be many.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

From the moment Law first took to the green, it was clear his future in lawn bowling was bright.

“I started playing about 16 years ago now. My first experience was just across the street at Dakota Lawn Bowling,” Law explained.

“My grandma took me out to a buddy day there, and then I started playing competitively at the Junior National level at age 12. Then I kind of never stopped from then on.”

Law has competed in tournaments across the country and has represented Canada internationally on numerous occasions with the Junior National Lawn Bowling program.

However, competition came to a halt just as he was finding his stride with the men's national team after making the jump from the junior ranks.

“I started with the men’s team in 2019. We made a pretty good run at the Asia Pacific (Championship), brought home two bronze medals there,’ he said.

“Then I competed in November 2019 at the Multination Championship, getting ready for World Bowls in May 2020. Obviously, COVID kind of took that away, so this is kind of the first time back since then.”

After more than two years away from international play, Law is preparing to represent Canada in two separate events at his first Commonwealth Games taking place next month in England.

“This is kind of the first multi-sport event that I’ve ever played at so a mega event in a sense,” he said,

“World Bowls would have been the other big event for lawn bowls at least. So this is my first go at something larger on the men’s side.”

Law said getting the chance to represent his country never gets old.

He said he’s grateful he gets to live out his childhood dream.

“When I was younger, I wrote a speech for my school and it was talking about how I wanted to play at the national level, just kind of competing for Manitoba like my grandma had done,” he said.

“I never could have imagined that I’d be playing for Canada at the Commonwealth Games.”

A recent law school graduate, Law is now chasing another dream as he hopes to be called to the bar next year.

However, he doesn't plan on letting his career aspirations get in the way of his lawn bowling ones.

“I would love to play for as long as I can,” Law said.

“Looking down the road, I’d love to be here another decade from now, but obviously right now just take it one year at a time.”