JIM FAGAN
Tewantin bowlers are taking their sport to Noosa’s schools and they have $8000 from Queensland Bowls to help them do it.
“We want to show the youngsters that lawn bowls is not an old people’s game but one you can enjoy at any age. Some of our current Australian champions are in their late teens,” David Muir of Tewantin-Noosa Bowls Club told Noosa Today yesterday David is a member of the club’s match committee and he was watching 24 Year 11 and 12 students from Sunshine Beach State High School get tips on terms like “bias” and a “jack” from three of the club’s coaches, as well as the etiquette of the game. “For a variety of reasons local bowls clubs like Peregian Beach, Noosa Heads and Cooroy have closed or about to close but we are fighting back to keep our club and encouraging these kids is one way to do it. “We asked Queensland Bowls for a grant of $8000 to buy 15 sets of smaller bowls for school students to use. We were successful and right now we‘re preparing a proposal to try and develop a schools’ competition. So far we have identified eight schools in the Noosa area. They are: Pacific Lutheran College, St Andrews Anglican College, Sunshine Christian College, Sunshine Beach State High School, Noosaville High School, Noosa District State School, Good Shepherd Lutheran College and Noosa Christian College. “We have trained coaches and instruction will be free. We hope to get the whole thing up and running in a month but in the meantime the kids can come here and get on with enjoying the game. It’s very exciting.” The school’s sports master, Steven Steel, said the pupils did think it was an old men’s sport to start with but “once they get the hang of it they enjoy it. We try to do a variety of sports and activities so that when they leave school they have experience with different sports. We go out to the Par 3 to play golf, we play tennis and we join up with Noosa Heads Lifesaving Club. We’ve been to Noosa Heads Bowls Club in the past and it’s nice to get the chance to go lawn bowling today.”
