THE Maleny Bowls Club has been hosting a term long competition for 20-25 Maleny High School students as part of their curricular studies.
Year 11 students have been participating, and as well as being able to learn how to play bowls and the skill behind it, they have also learnt about the history of lawn bowls, which they have been graded on their knowledge.
Maleny Bowls Club secretary Brett Gillis said it has been another successful school program for the club, bringing out the best in the students, including their friendly competitive side.
“Everyone is loving the competition, all the kids just get their bowls, set up and really don’t need any supervision, we have our bowls coach checking in on each team but other than that they are independent,” he said.
“There’s one kid in the program who wears headphones for his ADHD to help him focus, but throughout the competition he has taken them off to talk to his classmates and is coming out of his shell.”
From the program, several students have inquired about joining the Maleny Bowls Club to continue to play the game outside of school.
“We’ve got at least one kid from grade 11 who is wanting to join the club as a junior member, and we have two kids from grade eight who want to join too,” he said.
“We are hoping to attract more grade 11 kids but as they get older, they tend to have more full-on lives, whereas local primary school kids have a lot more time to learn and play a new sport.
“At the moment, juniors can join for free, and we are currently in the process of raising money to buy junior sized lawn bowl kits for junior members to use for free.”
The club is planning to launch a junior bowls initiative in the next few weeks to push junior membership, to allow both kids and parents to discover what the sport is all about.
However, the date for this launch day has not been confirmed yet by the Maleny Bowls Club.