Inclusive Practices

It has certainly been another challenging year for our Clubs. Once again, COVID has tested our resolve, our agility and our patience as it has reared its head again through season 2020/21. But we have come through – our wonderful volunteers and staff at our Clubs have been outstanding, and we were blessed with was a relatively uninterrupted season of bowls.

Clive Adams

It isn’t to say there weren’t challenges. In the areas closest to Perth, we played two pennant matches with masks on, and outside of Perth we had cyclones and other weather phenomena that certainly tested even the best of us. Congratulations to everyone for the way we have come through this, and we have fingers crossed that the 2021/22 season will finally see us return to some normality. OUR AWARD WINNERS

We know that not every club and every volunteer can be honored through Bowls WA’s awards, but the sheer number of submissions for this year’s awards shows there are some great people out there, doing so much for our sport. There were some deserved award winners at the recent Bowls WA Awards Night, starting with Joondalup and Mount Lawley as our respective Metropolitan Club and Small Club of the Year. Boulder and Tammin were awarded our Country Club awards, with Tammin taking the small club award and Boulder the open award.

These four clubs are shining examples of what can be achieved through the hard work of our club volunteers. Each has achieved in different areas – some have refurbished club facilities, others have focused on junior development pathways or the community, but all are well managed and continue to work hard recruiting new members.

The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Graeme Jacques from

Steven Unsworth Maylands this year, while Club Coach of the Year went the way of Geoff Stevenson from Joondalup. Both have exhibited tireless efforts in representing their clubs to make our sport and their club better for it.

Congratulations and thank you to all our club volunteers. Whether you do one small thing, or you are at your club every day, you are appreciated and the things you do make the load a little lighter for everyone else. You are the lifeblood of our clubs.

BOWLS AUSTRALIA PROGRAMS

We have once again seen some great programs offered by Bowls Australia. The Jack Attack Lite program was offered to clubs to run programs in the latter part of 2020 – while some clubs took the offer and had great success, we did expect more would take the opportunity to look at something different at very low risk to the Club. Jack Attack Plus provided additional incentives to Clubs that already had a licence and it was pleasing to see some clubs re-invigorate their programs using these incentives. ROOKIE ROLLERS & SPORTING SCHOOLS

Jr Jack Attack was re-branded to Rookie Rollers in an effort to take the wonderful portable bowls product to a wider audience. Initially designed for school children to experience bowls for the first time, the Rookie Rollers equipment is ideally suited to provide anyone the portable bowls experience, with age really having no relevance. The Sporting Schools program which sits alongside Rookie Rollers continues to be

popular within schools, with the opportunity for them to obtain free sporting equipment to keep within their school. Coaches attend and assist with the training sessions, allowing school children to experience our sport for the first time, all while in the controlled environment of their school.

In the Wanneroo area recently, bowls, using the Rookie Rollers equipment, was added to the Winter Carnival Interschool Sports Day. It was fantastic to see bowls right there alongside Football, Rugby, Netball etc, offering the students a choice perhaps they haven’t had before. Sincere thanks to the Wanneroo Sports and Social Club for its assistance making this day a success. ROLL BACK THE CLOCK

North Beach has been a standout in hosting Roll Back the Clock sessions where our Over 60s members of our clubs, and within our community, can exercise in the safe haven that is our clubs, with attendees performing light exercise as well as gaining vital educational information around growing older in a safe and healthy manner. We would love to see more clubs get involved in this very beneficial program, not only from an exercise perspective, but also from a social perspective. GRANTS & FACILITIES

Well done to all clubs that have received Grants in the past 12 months. We’ve seen some marvelous projects come together. We’ve also seen some wonderful new clubhouses spring up, and others take advantage of COVID shutdowns to spruce their existing facilities up just a little. The CSRFF grants are available once more, where Clubs can access one third of the cost of a project, and excitingly, this year, the State Government has added a specific section for lighting projects. If you’ve been planning a new synthetic green, or to upgrade your lighting to LED, this and other grants are there to assist. Finally, all clubs should have a plan around their facilities and operations. While planning can be mundane, it is crucial in accessing the vital funding needed to achieve the best outcomes. We also saw many clubs able to access to government funding in the lead-up to the last State election and would expect similar opportunities to be available when the Federal election comes up in the coming months – planning and being aware of opportunities is paramount. When was the last time you tried something different? Asking this question might get you thinking. We know that it is getting more and more difficult to retain members, and encourage new people into our clubs. Do we need to do something different? We encourage you, this year, to think about one program that you might try that will offer something different to the public or your members. It might be a Jack Attack Program, or Roll Back the Clock or it might be something different again – give it a go, and we will be there to help. Who knows…it just might work? USE YOUR RBM

All too often it is the Regional Bowls Managers making an approach to the clubs for meetings rather than the other way around. Our role works much more effectively if you call us when you have a need – we will be there to assist, or at least be able to point you in the right direction for assistance. We certainly look forward to hearing from you!

Clive Adams Steven Unsworth

WA RBM - North/East WA RBM - South

cadams@bowls.com.au sunsworth@bowls.com.au 0408 136 831 0418 890 680