Club Development

The Club Development Committee (CDC) is responsible for providing support and assistance to clubs and their members, in whatever form that may take.

The continued focus areas were:

Vince Del Prete

• Governance: Strategic, Operational, Risk

Management Plans and strategies; • Financial viability: Sound and accountable financial management, Cash flow and investment management; • Membership recruitment: management and marketing, retention targets and strategies; • Club environment: Activities and events, Member surveys and Volunteer

Management Plan; • Promotion and development: Strategies (community bowls, Jack Attack, attractive events); and • Compliance: with Associations

Incorporations Act; Liquor Control Act and Club Constitution.

The CDC works within a tight budget to achieve its objectives along with promoting the sport on behalf of clubs to the public of Western Australia. The impacts of COVID-19 on Clubs have meant volunteers and staff within the club environment have been required to be agile and react quickly to changing circumstances, as such the Club Development and planning focus was lessoned from a club point of view. The CDC recognises that Clubs have been stretched both in terms of resources and financially with the Regional Bowls Managers support in these times proving extremely valuable. What COVID-19 has taught us is that those who plan well, have strong governance and good leadership will always survive in trying times and we are proud to say that as a sport together we have done this extremely well. Over the last 12 months the CDC has continued to expand on several programs and initiatives developed in prior years. This is assisting the sport to be viewed as accessible to all ages and demographics aligning to the Bowls WA Vision for Bowls to be recognised as a sport of choice. GOTTA LOVE THE BOWLO

The Gotta Love the Bowlo moved into its fourth year of implementation with a radio campaign split over two periods. These were targeted in the peak times of bowls season from October to November 2020 and from January to February 2021 specifically designed to attract people to Clubs regardless of whether they are social members, casual participants, or competitors. The more we promote our Clubs to the wider communities the healthier the sport becomes and increases the strengths of Clubland. The decision to partner with our National body Bowls Australia’s media partner SEN proved a fruitful one as the campaign delivered $5,730 worth of bonus advertising. The CDC will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this campaign with the prospect of using targeted digital marketing in the coming season as a priority. BOWLS WA AMBASSADOR

Complementing the Gotta Love the Bowlo campaign, the re-appointment of Brad Hogg as an advocate for our sport is proving important in changing the image of bowls. Brad’s profile as a former International Cricketer continues to give us opportunities to promote bowls to a more mainstream audience as he appeared on several radio stations and country television throughout the year. Brad’s role in creating video content highlighting the people and Clubs within our sport continues to showcase what we have to offer for all.

The CDC is keen to continue to work with Brad into the 2021/22 season with further promotional activities planned. WINNING DRIVE

After successfully delivering club development programs across the previous two years, Bowls WA has been successful in receiving funding for a further two years under the Every Club Grants program via the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. Initially a trainee as part of the Winning Drive program, Kaitlin Tyrrell has now been employed as a permanent staff member with her primary role to help deliver club development opportunities to clubs.

The Winning Drive program saw a new course added this year with an Embracing Technology series offered in partnership with Pacmentality Consulting to Club members. This workshop series was designed to ensure the people within our clubs and their communities have the knowhow to adapt to the ever-changing world of online and digital technology. It contained seven separate sessions from the very basics of the internet right up to maximising the effectiveness of club website and social media.

Regional and country visits are currently scheduled with presentations around Membership, Volunteers and Grants plus an introduction to a new club planning tool called Game Plan, which has been developed by the Australian Sports Commission.

I urge Clubs to attend these courses so that your Club Committee can further upskill and gain valuable knowledge in key areas of club development. BOWLS LINK

Following the launch of Bowls Link in recent years the system has undergone continual improvement through state, club, and individual feedback. It is a system that will continue to grow and change supporting the ever-increasing technology requirements of the sport. Led by Operations Manager Aaron Delaporte, the Bowls WA staff should be commended for the work they have put into this project and support provided to the Clubs. I would like to congratulate the clubs, volunteers andstaffwhohaveembracedthissystemtobring our sport into line with more modern practises, which only augur well for attracting and retaining participants from all backgrounds in the sport. CLUB INFORMATION CONFERENCE

A combined effort of the Bowls WA Operational Committees saw the inaugural Club Information Conference held with great success in early March 2020 and the good news is that another conference is currently being planned for September 2021. Further details will be made available shortly however we hope Clubs and members will take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about whatever it is within bowls that is important to them - rest assured plenty of subjects will be covered with expert information available to helps clubs on these matters. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CDC members consisting of Deborah Capper, Lee Bunney, Simon Alden, Jeff Bessant and Hailey Packer for their solid contribution throughout the year, who provide a wealth of knowledge from their Club experiences. Personal thank you to Deborah Capper, who has advised that she is not continuing, for her contribution. To the Bowls Australia Regional Bowls Managers Clive Adams and Steven Unsworth, you do a great job in being the conduit between the Clubs and Bowls WA in ensuring Club needs are understood and addressed in a timely fashion. Never have they been more important than now to Clubs given the COVID-19 challenges, so please take advantage of their services. Finally, to Aaron Delaporte and Kaitlin Tyrrell at Bowls WA thank you for your commitment and professionalism in the important role you play and for the ongoing support provided to the Clubs and CDC throughout the year. I look forward to another year of continuing to provide Clubs our support in the 2021/2022 season.