Give bowls a go in Leongatha

NOW’S the time to try your hand at bowls.

Leongatha Bowls Club is hosting Come and Try sessions on Sunday, November 19 and 26.

The sessions will be run by club members Jeff Pendergast and Sue Symmons, and people of all ages are welcomed to come along.

“We’ve run these (sessions) before and they have been very successful,” the club’s John O’Connor said.

“We are going to make it fairly easy – all they’ve got to do it turn up in a pair of flat soled shoes. We are going to supply the bowls and equipment. We are also going to have quite a few Leongatha bowlers available to give people a hand to get started.”

Jeff said he hoped to see participants get a bit of coaching, encouragement and enjoyment out of the first session, so they return for another go the following Sunday.

A sausage sizzle will be provided.

Sue said people of all ages are encouraged to get involved.

“Bowls is for all ages. People have got this mindset that its for old people, but you’ve got to be reasonably fit to play,” she said.

“It’s like doing 80 lunges a day. All the top bowlers are the young ones.”

Currently, Leongatha Bowls Club’s youngest player is 11-years-old and is welcoming more members to join.

“At our last Come and Try day, we got around 10 new bowlers out of it, and we’ve got five still playing. If we can get five members to stay out of these sessions, that would be great,” Sue said.

“We’ve had excellent feedback from our business bowls, so we hope they might in turn come to these days.”

There will be plenty of opportunities for new bowlers to hone their skills after the Come and Try days. 

Leongatha Bowls Club usually practices on a Monday morning, with a coach or two on hand to help with technique.

“People usually turn up around 10am if they are having any issues, have a roll and have a cuppa. Bowls is very social,” Sue said.

The club also runs social bowls on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, as well as competing in two lots of pennant throughout the week.

Bowls are available at the club and the members are happy to help those who do not have their own equipment. 

Come along to find out what the sport is all about and make some new friendships along the way. 

For more information, contact Jeff Pendergast on 0417 522 080 or Sue Symmons on 0409 165 064.