WA team bowls them over

WA’s Ladies State Bowls team has taken out the silver medal in this year’s Australian Side Bowls Series held in Queanbeyan, with most of the team coming from regional WA.

Held from March 31 to April 3 and hosted by the Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Side Series is Australia’s annual national bowling competition.

Of the 12 players selected to represent WA, seven came from regions such as Dowerin, Northam, Merredin and Pingelly.

According to team member Denise Kelly from Meckering, this year’s result was a significant improvement on the seventh place the team achieved last year.

She said many of the players in the team had learnt their craft in small rural bowling clubs.

“There are still five of us living in rural WA, and we all value our local community clubs where we have spent countless hours improving our game,” she said.

The team won five of its six games, losing only to NSW, which took out the gold medal.

“Given that 10 out of the 12 players in the NSW team are Australian level players, we weren’t that disappointed,” she said.

According to Bowls WA chief executive officer Ken Pride, there are currently 16,000 registered bowls players in the State as members of 208 clubs, of which 142 are based in regional WA.

“For decades the bowling club has been the social centre of the country town and with 142 country clubs spread throughout regional WA, this has never been more the case,” he said.

“The reputation of the bowling club as a safe, welcoming environment remains true with people of all ages and walks of life involved in the game.”