By JOLENE OGLE
GONE are the days of lawn bowls as an “old person’s sport”, with Sunshine Beach State High School students taking to the greens to bring bowling back.
Twice a week for the past nine weeks, over 50 students from Sunshine Beach SHS and volunteers from Tewantin Noosa Bowls Club have come together to enjoy an hour of bowls.
Program founder and volunteer leader David Muir said it is all about getting young people out onto the green and playing the game.
“When you look at bowls, most of the champions are in their twenties,” he said.
“It’s all about sharing bowls with youth.”
Mr Muir applied to Queensland Bowls in 2014 for a grant to help buy 15 sets of bowls for the students. After receiving the funds, the bowls program launched with 25 Year-11 students taking up the challenge.
This year, the numbers have more than doubled with over 50 students learning the skill of bowls from experienced volunteers and current players Mr Muir, Bernie Smith, Dennis Coulter and Evelyn Coghlan.
Mr Muir said he hopes the success of the program will encourage more schools to get involved and create an inter-school competition.
“The local schools attending have shown we have talent in our local area of Noosa and with the desire to continue bowls, the students could achieve results for our local youth,” he said.
“We are committed to support any local schools to keep our youth involved in another form of outdoor sport.”
Physical Education teacher Bree Attard said the program was a good chance for the students to learn the art of bowls from older community members, while also learning to respect and appreciate the efforts from the volunteers.
“It’s interesting to see how the students grow throughout the bowls course,” she said.
“For the boys, they will leave this course as young gentlemen after being with the older men.
“It’s great interaction between the boys and older men.”
