BOWLS WA REPORTS - BOWLS MANAGEMENT The Bowls m a n a g e m e n t committee and staff of Bowls WA must be congratulated on steering through such a crazy time. Abandoned games of bowls due to inclement weather, multiple lock downs from Covid, requiring rescheduling of games and fixtures.
State. Some of the key issues identified included, Declining Membership/Participation, Byes/ Forfeits in lower divisions, format and structure of games Heat / Weather impacts, Condensed/Busy calendar and new competitions. Marc Abonnel
Part of the process was to survey players and potential players in three different categories: Existing players, social bowlers and nonbowlers.
The Bowls management committee is where Tailoring questions of each of the three target all the committees that keep bowls in WA groups. The intent of the survey was to collect running join as one. views on the current structures and formats Umpires Committee – The rules of the game of the game and to test the suitability of this and the all the great volunteer umpires. They into the future. While the views of the existing have been very busy running extra umpires players are valuable to the current situation, it is the views of the social and non-bowlers and marking courses all over WA. that provide guidance as to the direction the Fixtures & Events committee, Greens & game of bowls should take into the future. Infrastructure, Country committee, High Performance & Coaching have all undertaken A total of 1753 responses were received, major projects this year. The Bowls Blitz for equating to about 10% of the current playing the high performance players, juniors and membership. development squad has been highly praised The outcomes and recommendations from as a great innovation for the sport. this survey are currently being reviewed and Another area is the Innovations Committee assessed by the various committees and that was created by the Bowls WA Board with board. the main principle for the Committee was to Thanking all the volunteers and staff for ensure the sustainability of the sport at both their dedication, commitment and continued Club and Association level. support. The future of Bowls looks very bright Since the mid-1980s the primary form of the and promising. game in WA, pennant bowls, has continued to decline year on year. Other sports, such as cricket, have recognised that traditional forms of their game have similarly diminished, but have acted to develop alternatives in order to maintain membership numbers.
The main purpose of the Innovations Committee was to review the current structures and formats of the game in this BOWLS MANAGEMENT
Marc Abonnell
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