Volunteers at Meersbrook Park Bowling Club teamed up with South Yorkshire County Crown Green Bowling Association (SYCCGBA) and Points Learning Network, one of the School Sport Partnerships in Sheffield, to put on a fun packed afternoon of coaching, games and competition for 40 local school children on 17th June.
The event was a huge success according to the staff and pupils from Meersbrook Bank Primary and Mundela Primary schools, none of whom had bowled before.
The afternoon got underway with coaching from Steve Hawksworth, a professional Crown Green Bowling Coach and Development Worker. Steve introduced the basic concepts of bowling, explaining the bias of the bowls. The children were then split into five groups of eight and took turns at different drills, targets and obstacles set up by Steve at five stations over the two greens. Each group was given guidance by volunteers from MPBC or from Points Learning Network. When each groups had spent time at each station, the children were then set up in smaller teams to participate in a competition.
All the children, who were aged from 7 to 10, were awarded a certificate and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their afternoon.
It is probably the most bowlers on our green at once in recent memory making it a full on afternoon for our nine volunteers – but all agreed it was well worth it! The youngsters were brilliantly behaved and many of them showed real improvement over the session. One of the accompanying teachers explained that she had selected pupils who “don’t normally enjoy or excel and sport” but that, “it was wonderful to see them enjoying and doing so well at a physical activity.”