After yet another stellar season, Selina Goddard has been named Female Player of the Year for 2025.
While New Zealand fans have become used to the 31-year-old delivering remarkable performances year after year, Selina has also established herself as a regular on the international scene. She divides her time between her home clubs of Cabra Bowls in southwest Sydney and Takapuna Bowling Club on Auckland’s North Shore.
In November last year, Selina and Briar Atkinson claimed bronze in the Pairs at the Hong Kong International Bowls Classic.
In March, she made history at the Victorian Open in Australia, sweeping all three major titles with wins in the Singles, the Pairs (with Cassandra Millerick) and the Triples (with Melanie Allen and Kelly McKeriken).
Then in June, she teamed up with Chloe Stewart to win the Women’s Pairs title at the Australian Open.
On top of that, her performances at Cabramatta saw her reach a Singles final and contribute to the club’s State Pennants title.
Despite her growing success overseas, Selina continues to represent New Zealand, as she has since 2014, most recently competing with the Black Jacks in the Trans-Tasman Series earlier this year.
Her impressive career achievements keep building.
Selina began playing bowls as a 14-year-old at Howick College in Auckland. She was first selected for the New Zealand Under 18 team in 2013, then joined the Development Team in 2014, which won the Trans-Tasman development competition.
She represented New Zealand at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, winning bronze in the Fours with Mandy Boyd, Amy McIlroy and Val Smith. At the 2022 Games in Birmingham, she secured two more bronze medals, in the Pairs (with Katelyn Inch) and the Fours (with Val Smith, Nicole Toomey and Tayla Bruce).
Selina made her World Outdoor Championships debut in 2023 on the Gold Coast, competing in both the Pairs and the Fours. The team won the Taylor Trophy for the best-performed women’s side at the event.
She also won bronze at the World Champion of Champions Singles in Sydney in 2017, and has been a fixture in the Trans-Tasman team since 2015, including the victorious women’s side in Christchurch in 2016. That same year, she also earned bronze in the Triples and Fours at the Multi-Nations, and in 2023 she teamed up with Katelyn Inch to win the Pairs title on the Gold Coast.
At home, Selina has claimed six national titles at the New Zealand National Bowls Championships:
- Fours in 2014 (with Mandy Boyd, Amy McIlroy and Gemma Watts)
- Singles in 2017
- Pairs in 2020 (with Katelyn Inch)
- Fours in 2020 (with Tayla Bruce, Clare Hendra and Sandra Keith)
- Singles in 2023
- Mixed Pairs in 2024 (with Sheldon Bagrie-Howley)
In July this year, she was ranked Number 5 in the world.
“Her bowls have continued to develop across all areas of her game, to a consistent world standard,” observes North Harbour administrator and Selina’s coach and mentor, Graham Dorreen.
“Selina the person has also developed and grown,” he adds. “She willingly talks and listens … and has a real ability to take on board those things that can help her game.”
“She’s also found an ideal career mix … playing bowls for four months in Australia as well as playing all the premium events in New Zealand. In particular, playing in Australia this past 12 months (courtesy of a great sponsorship package with a corporate group) has meant playing at the highest level on a variety of greens and competing with some of the world’s best … and winning!”
“She’s got a huge future. She’s a more than worthy recipient of Bowls New Zealand’s Female Player of the Year.”