Mary Wilson has had jungle training and the psychiatric nurse has also seen service in the British Army in theatres like Belise, Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Germany and she ended her career in the services in Afghanistan.
Now, she enters another battlefield, this time armed only with a bowling ball.
The Edinburgh-based athlete is set to make her Commonwealth Games debut for Team Scotland in Glasgow only three years after making her first appearance for the Tartan Team in bowling.
However, this talented athlete also has 55 caps for her country in badminton and has won lots of medals in many countries, including the pinnacle of two golds in Uganda. An arm injury suffered during 20 years of service in the Army stopped her continuing and a total shoulder replacement was completed two years ago.
The Dudley Bowling Club member’s focus now is on performing in Glasgow in the Para women’s pairs.
Looking back, she first delivered a bowl when she was seven, but stopped to play “lots of other sports”.
Mary eventually returned to bowling and it has been a swift rise to prominence for the athlete who admitted to concentrating on bowls around four years ago thanks to her father.
The local green was handy, just over the garden wall, in fact, and she became hooked and she quickly established herself on the international stage as a former winner of the Scottish outdoor pairs title. She was a beaten finalist in the European Championship.
Being picked for Glasgow is special for Mary who said: “You know what, in front of a home crowd it is going to be absolutely rocking. It gives me goose bumps thinking about it now.
“This is something amazing and unique to me and I can’t wait, although I am a apprehensive and really excited as well.”
Livingston’s popular indoor rink was the platform for media day and this is a facility she knows well as she practices there. Currently, Mary is playing five times a week in two leagues and she also practices three times.
Her partner is Pauline Wilson from Milngavie who plays for Willowbank Bowing Club and is in her second Games having won gold in Birmingham and a world championship silver in 2023.
The pair gel well.
Mary said: “Indoors, and it does not matter how strong you are, it is all about skill. It is very much a level playing field. I will take very game as it comes and every bowl that I play will be my best bowl.
“We have already started doing homework. We are getting videos (of the opposition) and there will be no stone left unturned.”
SET FOR ACTION: Mary Wilson prepares for the Commonwealth Games from July 23 ro August 2. Picture courtesy of Team Scotland.
