2026 School Super Series
On the first day of Spring, 11 of the best school bowls teams from across the state gathered at Victoria’s home of junior bowls, Deer Park Club, for the 2026 School Super Series tournament, an event that is now in it’s 9th year.
The event, akin to an all-schools Champion of Champions, had a field comprised of high placing teams from various school association competitions conducted earlier in the 2026 school year. All qualifiers either won their competition and gained two entries (if their local association is a multi-rink sides competition) or the winner and runner-up from competitions where schools enter just one rink.
2026 Qualifiers
- Associated Catholic Colleges (ACC): Mazenod College, Winner. St Joseph’s College Ferntree Gully, Runner Up.
- Associated Grammar Schools Victoria (AGSV): Camberwell Grammar, Winner and Runner Up.
- Associated Public Schools (APS): St Kevin’s College, Winner (6-a-side competition allows for 2 entries into Super Schools)
- Ballarat Associated Schools (BAS): Phoenix College, Winner (6-a-side competition allows for 2 entries into Super Schools)
- Souther Independent Schools (SIS): Balcombe Grammar*, Winner. Padua College, Runner Up.
- School Sports Victoria (SSV) Senior (10-12): Kyabram P-12 College, Winner. Mount Clear College, Runner Up.
- SSV Junior (7-9): Cobram Secondary College*, Winner. Vermont Secondary College*, Runner Up.
- Association of Co-educational Schools (ACS): Westbourne Grammar*, Winner (large sides competition allows for 2 entries into Super Schools)
*Unable to attend
The format involved two sections playing five x 7-end rounds. First place in each section would play off in the final and the section runners-up would play a 3rd place decider. Sectional rounds were tightly contested with 16 of the 25 round-robin games still undecided entering their last end. School Sports Victoria Senior Champion Kyabram P-12 College and Ballarat Associated Schools Champion Phoenix College Gold showed their dominance by going undefeated in their sections.
The fight for second place in each section remained tight though, with an interesting matchup in Section 2 where Mazenod College and Mount Clear College were equal on wins with only two shots separating them heading into round five. The equation was simple, win and get into the 3rd place playoff. In another match that was decided right at the end, Mount Clear were only able to secure one shot on the last end, meaning Mazenod emerged victorious by the barest of margins 8-7.
After both finishing undefeated and with well over 40 shots up each, the final was to be played between the aforementioned Phoenix Gold and Kyabram teams, with the 3rd place playoff between Mazenod and Phoenix Purple.
Heads were tight in the major final, as to be expected given the quality of players, with three of the six in the rink having recently represented Victoria in the Under 18 Tri-Series. A bowl for bowl match-up saw Micah Oswin trying to trail a jack for two on the last end to force an extra end against the Jacob Cartwright skipped rink. However after grazing the shot bowl he missed by mere centimetres, resulting in Kyabram emerging victorious. The match for third was also tight, however some controlled heads and sound risk management saw the Mazenod side sneak a close win too. A spectacular result having only just launched their School Bowls Academy.
Deer Park Head of Bowls Operations and Under 18 Victorian State Coach, Mark Casey said, “it’s great to have so many students competing at our facility and representing their schools proudly, the talent level is clear”.
Winners: Kyabram P-12 College – Jacob Cartwright, Liam McInnes, James McKeown
Runners Up: Phoenix College Gold – Jagger Dark, Oscar Denisske, Billie Lennecke, Micah Oswin
3rd Place: Mazenod College – Cooper Bartlett, Jai Bowen, Marco Colalillo, Kobie Plant, Owen Pereira (team manager)
4th Place: Phoenix College Purple – Jackson Christie, Nathan Dubberly, Oska Dye, Jack Lennecke
