A chance encounter has opened up a world of opportunities for Joel Jensen.
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Jensen was born blind but has taken up lawn bowls after bumping into Kevin Smith at the Wagga RSL Club a couple of months ago.
The pair had been working together to give the 19-year-old a grasp of the game.
Smith, who has been working with vision-impaired bowlers for over a decade, believes the Wagga teen has plenty of potential in the sport.
He's even talking about the prospect of competing for national and world championships.
Besides an attempt at go kart racing, it is the first time Jensen has been able to participate in sport.
He's really enjoying trying something different.
"I'm just the sort of person who likes to try new things all the time," Jensen said.
"It's been good fun.
"I'm loving it."
Jensen, who was born with two rare eye conditions, Aniridia and Peter's Anomaly, has blurred vision of about six feet in front of him.
It's something that is diminishing, but it still enables him to use cues from Smith to see what to aim at but the speed and length is completely up to him.
He rates trying to be consistent was the biggest challenge with the sport, something all bowlers can relate to.
There are four blind bowls divisions, each with their own titles at a state, national and world level, and pair need to work in partnership to deliver results.
"It's about communication, about sharing information, about working together and about trust," Smith said.
It's not just on the greens that Jensen is taking big steps.
He is also a budding artist plus does yard work for his father's company.
Smith believes it's a courageous step for Jensen to open himself up to a something completely different.
He's been thrilled not only with the promise his latest protege is showing but by how well he's been received by players in the Sunday morning social competition.
"He acquits himself well and people make him very welcome," Smith said.
Smith is open to helping any other vision impaired people take up the sport and anyone interest can contact the club.
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