Update from Sydney RBM – March 2016

Hi there,

Well, it’s an exciting time of year for many Clubs …Pennants Season! Most Clubs have now started their State Pennants competitions - hopefully all your players are looking forward to another fun and competitive season. For those that aren’t playing Pennants, it’s still a great time of year to enjoy some great social bowls, especially now that the heat has (almost) gone – if only the humidity could ease off as well. Plenty of bowls news follows in this month’s update and a couple of light hearted-items as well.

Please remember that I am a FREE resource for your Club to call on – help me help you …by sending a return email or calling 0408 798 272 to arrange a meeting.

It’s a Jack Attack Across Sydney

Jack Attack, the new fast-paced fun version of bowls, was launched nationwide last November …and over 70 Clubs around Australia have signed on for the program, including 7 Clubs

in Sydney (Grandviews, Avalon Beach, Mount Lewis, The Hills, Artarmon, Cabramatta & Lane Cove). Jack Attack is the nationally branded program designed to attract bowlers into your Club by providing all bowlers (experienced and first-timers) an opportunity to compete in a structured short-game format. It is a 60-75 minute game that is played in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

If you’d like to see what all the fuss is about, Artarmon BC are playing a new Jack Attack comp during Thursday evenings in March (from 6pm-7:15pm) – it’s not too late to get a team of 3 (or more) together to play on a tiffy green under the trees at Artarmon - a generous sponsor is offering $1,000 in prize money and a free BBQ is included with the $5pp entry fee – call 9419 5353 to register a team.

Club Grandviews are just about to finish their first season of Jack Attack and by all accounts, all the teams of new corporate bowlers are ready to sign up for another season.
Other comps are still running at Mount Lewis (Thurs evenings), The Hills (Wed evenings) and Avalon Beach (Fri evenings). To register to play, please contact any of those Clubs directly.

If your Club is interested in running a Jack Attack program, then please drop me a line. If you would like more information in the meantime, please visit www.jackattack.com.au

Club Health Check

Would you like a free assessment of your Club’s health? The Club Health Check is an online self-assessment tool aimed at helping clubs examine how they are operating. The checklist looks at a number of different factors that are crucial to success at club level and together these factors are used to build an overall picture of the way your club carries out its operations. The Club Health Check takes no longer than 30 minutes to complete and should be completed every two years for an optimal assessment – if you have performed one in the past, it could be time to see if you have improved your operations. Please contact me to organise a free Club Health Check.

Issues with Attracting/Retaining Members?

One of the ongoing challenges for our sport (and many others) is attracting new members and/or retaining current members. In some circumstances, it could be that we (as Clubs) are not always providing a format that the customer (i.e. potential new member) wants to play …and/or that we are trying to communicate with the customer in ways that they don’t always communicate anymore (e.g. via letterbox drops/newsletters versus social media). Happy to visit your Club and discuss this notion further and provide examples of Clubs that are growing or maintaining their memberships by exploring new ideas.

Sydney Social Bowls Calendar

This calendar is almost complete – there are only 10 Clubs whose details of their weekly social bowls schedule is missing as of today. I plan to drop into these Clubs shortly so that by this time next month, there will be a reference point for when all Sydney Clubs play their social bowls each week.

Australian Open (June 13 to 25) – Entries Close in One Month

Another reminder that entries are open for the richest event in world bowls, the 2015 Australian Open with $225,000 in prize money. There’s no need to partake in an arduous qualifying tournament any more - simply enter online or through the manual entry process and you’ll be guaranteed a place in the main draw. Disciplines include men’s and women’s singles, pairs and fours, Under-18 boys’ and girls’ singles, bowlers with a disability singles and pairs. ENTRIES CLOSE APRIL 13. Visit the Australian Open website for more information… http://www.australianopen.bowlsaustralia.com.au/

Bowls NSW Awards Night

The annual Bowls NSW Players Awards night was staged in February and the winners were…
Volunteer Award – John Smith, for 16 years of service on the State Match Committee
Hall of Fame Inductees - Leif Selby, Charlie Frost.
Senior Bowler of the Year - Crawford Linton (Belrose)
Junior Bowler of the Year – Jono Davis (Dubbo Railway)
Most Improved Bowler of the Year - Lennon Scott (Raymond Terrace)
Best Performed Club – Taren Point
Best Performed Country Club - Warilla
Bowler of the Year – Craig Donaldson (Taren Point), a member of both the winning Grade 1 State Pennant and Gold Club Challenge sides, a City team representative and the Taren Point Major Singles Champion

2015 Women’s Under 25 Singles Championship

The 2015 Women’s Under 25 Singles Championship entry form is now available online. Bowlers must be over 18 and under 25 years of age. Players can only choose to qualify at one venue if applicable and the quarters, semis and finals will be played at Cabramatta Bowling Club on June 26. Entries for this event close April 24.
http://www.womensbowlsnsw.org/Events/Entry-Forms

Upcoming Courses

Here are some details about upcoming courses in the metro area…

Club Coaching Course: April 9 & 10 at Castle Hill BC, from 9am each day
Selection Module: April 18 at Western Suburbs BC
If you would like to attend a course, please contact Declan Kelly (Bowls NSW) at declan@rnswba.org.au or Kate Wingrove (Women’s Bowls NSW) at admin@womensbowlsnsw.org.

If these dates do not suit and if you have members that would like to attend courses in the future, please advise Declan or Kate and they can help co-ordinate new courses or advise about upcoming courses.Use of stretching weight - Men, sometime, use stretching weight generic cialis usa to grow their organ and this method requires them to wear weight for many hours. Oodles of folks around the world have hypothyroidism (low thyroid). levitra pharmacy New lowest price viagra thicker cells are produced. These adverse effects generic cialis canada are not long term in nature.

NSW take it to the VICs

Our NSW State teams (Men and Women) played Test Series against Victoria earlier this month and came away with bragging rights in both Open disciplines.
Our Men’s team won their Test series 2-1 (Under 25 Men lost 1-2) and the Women’s team clean swept their series 3-0 (Under 25 Women lost 0-3).

Congrats to the Sydney players who formed part of each team:
Women: Kelsey Cottrell, Anne Johns, Kay Moran, Karen Murphy, Beth Quinlan, Claire Turley, Katrina Wright
Men: Matt Miles, Andrew Howie, Ray Pearse, Mat Pietersen, Mark Berghofer, Wayne Turley, Carl Healey, Ben Twist
Well done also to Merrylands bowler, Paul Webb on being named Under 25 Player of the Series.

The Men’s team have been rewarded for their consistency with the State selectors announcing an unchanged team to represent NSW in the National Sides Championship to be held in Perth next month.

Help on Power Bills

Looking for a favour… Bowls Australia are currently looking at a nationwide solar power deal that could help Clubs reduce their power costs. However, to do so, we need some information from some Clubs about their current power usage and expense. If your Club would be able to forward a copy of your latest power bill (or how much you pay per annum), it will help us construct a case that your Club could benefit from – that is, reduced power costs or improved opportunities for grants.

Women’s Qualifying for Australian Indoor Singles

Entries for the 2015 WBNSW Qualifying for Indoor Singles close on March 20. The event is hosted and sponsored by Warilla Bowling Club and takes place May 3 - 7, 2015. Successful qualifiers proceed to Australian Indoor 24 - 27 August 2015 at Tweed Heads. Click on the following link for the entry form… http://www.womensbowlsnsw.org/Events/Entry-Forms

Mandatory Working With Children Checks – From April 1st

Due to legislation amendments in 2013, it will soon be a requirement for all people working or volunteering with children under the age of 18 to have a working with children check. The Working with Children Check provides a unique number (the WWC number) to a person who has been cleared to work with children. The WWCC application process involves a national police check and a review of findings of workplace misconduct. The result is either a clearance to work with children for five years, or a bar against working with children. All new applicants for child-related work such as Coaches must provide a WWC application or clearance number to their club. This number must be verified online by the club or board managing the club before they can start work. For existing employees and volunteers there is now a legislated phase in for people who work in sports between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016. For more useful information on this topic, please refer to the following Women’s Bowls NSW webpage… http://www.womensbowlsnsw.org/News/mandatory-working-with-children-checks-163176

New Officiating Structure /Official Educators

The new National Officiating Structure came into effect on January 1. The new structure brings with it new procedures for the accreditation and reaccreditation of Officials (Umpires) for the sport of Lawn Bowls.

For the Men - Leo Finn, Chairman of the Bowls NSW State Umpires Committee, and members of the Bowls NSW Development Team will be conducting evening seminars followed by a morning training update for Zone and District Educators in the following areas:
Cabramatta (Zone 12) Info seminar - 17 March (evening) Educator training - 18 March (morning)
Nepean (Zone 5) Info seminar - 13 April (evening) Educator training - 14 April (morning)
Sessions in Men’s Zones 9, 10, 11 & 13 have already been held.

For the Women - District Umpire Sub Committees have been disbanded and replaced by Regional Official Educators. Bowls Australia Accredited Regional Educators are:
Region 13 – (Sutherland) Sandra Jowett
Region 14 – (Lansdowne) Kathy Chatillon & Maureen Randell, (City West) Wendy Herbert
Region 15 – (Manly Warringah) Helen Edwards, (North Shore) Billie Maas
Region 16 – (Northern Suburbs) Mollie Rayner, (Macquarie) Dawn Frawley

Junior Jack Attack Kits – over 450 kits sold nationally

A Junior Jack Attack kit is the perfect resource to use with school activities, barefoot bowls groups, open days and any other activity where children may be trying the sport of bowls. In each Junior Jack Attack kit are: 32 small-sized kid-friendly bowls (16 green & 16 gold), 50 cones, 8 mats, 8 jacks, 1 target mat, activity cards and a wheelie bag to put them all in …all this for less than the cost of one new set of bowls - just $400 (incl. GST) – freight is additional. Why not ask a Club sponsor to purchase a kit for your Club? – their business name can always be transposed across the side of the large kit bag. Junior Jack Attack kits can be purchased directly from Bowls Australia’s E-Store via the following link… https://shopdesq.imgstg.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main&OrgID=16084
If you would like a closer look at the kit, then please let me know and I will happily visit your Club to demonstrate.

A Bit of Fun to Finish…

Some young musicians have been using a couple Sydney Bowling Clubs recently as their backdrop to their music videos. I will warn that you may want to watch the clips with the volume down (or on mute). Good to see that these Bowling Clubs opened their doors for a bit of light hearted fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_YOGgZaE9g – Tiesto & Moti, Blow Your Mind music video – filmed at Lane Cove Bowling Club – video has over 1.6 million views (since late January, no less)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-v28Pdjjv0 – Songtourage, Wrecking Ball music video – filmed at Balmain Bowling Club – over 21,000 views

For those on Twitter, you can tweet bowls stories/promotions to my twitter handle… @chriswallace73

Have fun on the greens,

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