By JARROD POTTER
EVERYONE is welcome at Noble Park Bowls Club with the new bowls season about to roll into action.
Noble Park will have three-and-a-half teams in Divisions 3, 4, 5 and 8 in the upcoming Bowls Victoria Metropolitan season and hope to expand the club’s membership to younger players, through schools programs, and especially players from a multicultural background.
With the City of Greater Dandenong serving as one of Australia’s most diverse populations – as around 60 per cent of the population was born in another country – Noble Park Bowls Club chairperson Reg Vernon said it was up to bowls clubs to adapt to the new arrivals and entice them into the whites and take up the sport.
“We’re going to try and encourage other cultures to take up lawn bowls,” Vernon said.
“We’ve dropped probably from about 180 to 110 players in the last few years – there are all sorts of reasons for that.
“Some people go to other clubs, some people die of course, we’ve got a few younger players too, but we want to encourage younger players and players from other cultures to come down.
“We’re trying to make it more affordable, but we want to encourage people from other cultures to take it up as well as it’s a very friendly place here.”
Barefoot bowls will also become a weekly feature of the club as well, as the summer months take hold.
A Noble Park bowls membership costs $30 and free coaching and use of club equipment is available for new players. Contact the club via its accredited coaches – Lyn on 9551 5935 or Marj on 9547 3860 – for more information on free lessons. You can also visit the club website www.bowls.clubnoble.com.au.
The club – located on Moodemere Street, Noble Park next to the football oval – will host two open days on Wednesday 10 September and Sunday 14 September from 12 to 5pm.
