Milika Nathan, or Millie as she is better known, has two attributes which make it easy to understand why in just three years in the sport she has become one of North Harbour bowls’ hottest prospects.
One is that having started the game in her 20s she has the advantage of youth. And the other is her considerable background in other sports, in her case basketball especially.
“I played a lot of sports at school but only took basketball seriously,” she says. She represented North Harbour from various age groups through to the senior representatives, Harbour Breeze, and made national under 16 and under 19 teams and played for the Junior Tall Ferns.
A family tragedy, the death of her beloved mum soon after she had returned from an OE stint in the United Kingdom, helped lead her into bowls. At the time she and her rugby-playing brother Chad spent a lot of the time with their dad, Peter, and started accompanying him to mid-week roll-ups at the Birkenhead club.
She took to the game almost instantly and says: “Bowls gave me a competitive outlet I haven’t been able to fulfil since I stopped playing basketball. I enjoy being able to play in the same tournaments with my dad and brother. This is something we can share.”
The influence of Peter, a centre singles champion in 2014 and an accomplished player in his own right, has been another beneficial factor in her rise. So, too, has been the maturity she has gained in other aspects of her life.
As well as teaching at Northcote Intermediate School for the past three years she has been responsible for assuming a role in running the Nathan family household.
Her bowling CV for such a short span in the game has been remarkable. She has amassed a stack of club titles, both at junior and open levels, was a key figure in Birkenhead winning Harbour’s one-to-five-year inter-club title. She has already represented Harbour in the open grade and was to have been travelling reserve in the cancelled inter-centre championship in Wellington.
And she has a centre open title to her credit, winning last season’s Harbour 2-4-2 mixed championship with Peter, beating two redoubtable players in Black Jack Wendy Jensen and Adam Haywood. “That would be one of the most memorable games I’ve had,” she says.
Though she has a modest, likeable demeanour, Millie has set herself some lofty goals in the sport. “It wasn’t until recently I started considering a future in bowls,” she says. “Now with more opportunities in a competitive environment with experienced bowlers my goals have become more ambitious. I want to focus on improving my skills sets and consistency and cementing a position in the North Harbour women’s open team. My ultimate goal is to eventually represent New Zealand.”
Many a sound bowling judge within North Harbour and beyond might agree given her natural talent and calm temperament that the latter goal is not unrealistic.
