The Canterbury Bowling Club has gone all out to win over future members by putting on learn-to-bowl sessions for local school pupils and offering free tuition and morning tea in the clubhouse.
The six-week programme at the Woolston-based club saw more than 150 children given personal instruction by older club members, and some young players are seriously considering a future in the sport.
Eve, who attends nearby St Anne’s Catholic School, said she was keen to add bowls to the list of sports she plays outside of school.
“At first, I thought it was going to be kind of boring,” she said, “but now I find it really fun.”
Senior club members who volunteered to tutor the youngsters are bowled over by the talent that’s shone through, especially given that none of the children who attended had bowled a lawn bowl previously.
Helper Kath Eiffe volunteered at every session and remembers the first one vividly.
“They were doing anything bar bowling โ dancing, that sort of thing.”
Organiser Marge Wong said many of the children thought it was like ten-pin bowling, “so we had a lot of bowls that were hitting the backboard.”
When Seven Sharp filmed the programme’s final session, the improvement in skill level was evident, as the young players quickly formed teams to challenge each other and their teachers.
Te Waka Unua School principal Janeane Reid said, “We weren’t too sure how our kids would take to it because most of them wouldn’t have seen it as a sport they could take part in.”
Six weeks on, she’s delighted with how the youngsters have embraced the opportunity and how the sport has proven suitable for all children.
“This has been something everyone can participate in. It’s in our kids’ community, and they wouldn’t have thought about having access to it, so some doors have been opened.”
The club is within walking distance of all three schools that attended and is so embedded in the community that one of the club members volunteering her time is also the mother of St Anne’s principal Dallas Wichman.
Wichman said bowling offers children a different sporting opportunity.
“We’re used to doing summer sports, winter port, going to cross country … so coming here is really nice.”
The facility will look even nicer in a year or two as the Canterbury Bowling Club โ formed in 2017 as a post-quake merger of the Canterbury, Edgeware, and Richmond clubs โ begins a significant renovation project. This project will see the addition of a third covered green suitable for international fixtures.
By then, there may be a whole new membership waiting to take advantage of the quality facilities in their neighbourhood.
“They may not want to play right now because they’ve got all these other choices of sport,” said Wong, “but they’ll always know this is their club, and they can come back.”