FROM EIGHT TO EIGHTY - LAWN BOWLS IS FOR ALL AGES

By: John Westbury

Photos: John Westbury

When visiting some bowls clubs it is great to see some very young kids playing bowls, but, not very many. I have been asked by friends several times why the younger set seem to be not interested, and, in my opinion there are a few reasons.

Firstly, I hav e to point out it is not the fault of our lawn bowls organisation who make every effort possible to attract younger players. I have been present when school groups visit clubs, and, while the kids are always respectful to older folk present, many of them look on it as escape time away from the classroom. There are other sports clubs which attract quite a lot of young kids, such as soccer, cricket, basketball and football, and nearly all these are full to capacity with players. Many young kids have dreams of becoming a sports star, and when they see how some of their sports idols started, you can’t blame them. You only have to look where some, such as Ash Barty started and you can understand their dream of “one day I will be a champion”.

So, let us look at a couple of age differences, and firstly I introduce young Maverick Katz and his Dad Tim who I met up with both recently while playing a pennant match at Kooweerup south east of Melbourne. Maverick is about to turn eight and this is his first season and he has played 90-percent of matches as a lead. I played against him as lead in our team from Yamala Park and his dad was skip, and I have to admit that there were times he was on the jack whereas I simply wasn’t. That did not worry me as I was pleased to see a young and upcoming lawn bowler doing so well. Tim says Maverick enjoys his bowls and looks forward to each game he plays. Other members of the club give him a lot of encouragement and are always helpful. “He started playing bowls this year as I would often head down for a practice or barefoot bowls and he is quite sporty and outdoorsy so said he may like to play. I encouraged him a bit to have a go as he would just sit at trainings getting bored so just got him up and gave him a go. He just enjoys being active. I think with a younger crop of players coming through he will be even more comfortable. We may have another young bloke about 6-7 who has turned up recently whom sounds keen to play as likes to be involved in sport, but is scared of contact so he really enjoyed bowls . Hopefully another junior chap in the making”, Tim told me.

Tim has been a member of Kooweerup for 3 years and is currently Vice President and has played a total of about five years. He was two years at South Oakleigh bowls club then left the game and went back to baseball for around 10-years, but due to injury and not being able to run came back to lawn bowls three years ago.

From eight to over eighty, meet John Legg from Yamala Park Bowls Club at Frankston South in Melbourne, a friendly club in similar size to Kooweerup where he has been playing pennant and social lawn bowls for 15-years.

John, who turns 84 this year has been playing lawn bowls for 25- years, and started after his retirement in 1998 at Broken Hill Associated Smelters Bowling Club, known as BHAS in Port Pirie South Australia where he was also President. Since joining Yamala Park Bowls Club John has achieved various awards including Yamala Park Midweek PDLA Division 3 Pennant Premiers

2010/11,Yamala Park Saturday Pennant Premiers

Division 4 2012/13 and Mixed Pairs Champions Yamala Park 2016/17.

He served a year as club President and loves playing lawn bowls as it keeps him active and involved in a competitive sport. He thoroughly enjoys barefoot bowls evenings where he gets to meet people of all ages and enjoys teaching them all he has learned about the sport over the years.

Like me John is hopeful that more young ones such as Maverick will come into the game and one day we all might see them as champions on the green.