Deer Park young gun Harry Coleman claimed a gold medal in the boys fours lawn bowls event at the Australian under-18 Championships in Devonport last weekend.
Coleman was part of the Victorian team that won gold in the fours alongside Goulburn Valley pair Jacob Cartwright and Charlie Boswood and Winchelsea’s Max Heaton-Harris.
He also won bronze in the Boys Triples event.
Coleman, 15, who lives in Inverleigh, just outside Geelong, made the move to Deer Park last season to play in the state’s best competition.
Harry said the move to Deer Park had “improved my game massively”.
He is currently part of the Parkers side that is competing in the Bowls Victoria metro pennant premier division at just 15-years-old.
The Parkers have played off in the past three grand finals.
“When you look at who’s on the coaching panel at Deer Park, you’ve got Mark Casey, who’s done everything in bowls,” Coleman said. “Then you’ve got former Geelong player Nathan Bush.
“So it was pretty hard to say no when we saw the Youth Academy was starting.”
Coleman started getting interested in bowls when he was three-years-old, watching his parents Mark and Suzy play.
The family moved from Sydney to Inverleigh and Harry began playing there in division 11 before crossing to City of Geelong’s premier pennant side and now plays in the top flight in the state for Deer Park.
Suzy also plays at Deer Park and Mark crossed from Hoppers to Geelong’s Eastern Park as coach this season.
Harry has had a stunning 2025 with numerous medals and awards. He was a member of Traralgon Lyrebirds’ Victorian Bowls League winning side.
“They (Traralgon) picked me because one of their players pulled out,” he said.
“They contacted Dad and said, ‘would Harry like to play?’ and Dad said, ‘yeah, he’d love to’. That was probably one of my most memorable achievements.”
