We take bowls to the Royal Children’s Hospital
In the sporting world we celebrate success by recognising the gold medals and world championships that are run and won, and for good reason.
Athletes dedicate their entire lives to their chosen sports so at the end of the day – win, lose or draw – they deserve to be celebrated.
Sometimes however, we aren’t so good at recognising other things that make sport so great. It’s often these other aspects such as the volunteers, grassroots participation and the various health benefits that can be attributed with participation in sport, that go somewhat unnoticed.
Bowls Victoria’s Peter Loe and Scott Nicholas facilitated an hour of modified bowls activities with children at the Royal Children’s Hospital this week and introduced some new participants to the sport.
The children were of various age and ability levels, and were all involved in the program for different reasons; however the individual benefits for their participation were the same as anyone.
All the children took part in an active and engaging session, exposing them to a new opportunity to be physically active. This is something that can sometime be difficult, particularly for people who are affected by varying health issues, but with the modified Junior Jack Attack games being used during the sessions; participants, parents and nurses alike were kept on their toes.
The focus of the session was to be social and have a bit of fun, and this helped highlight to nurses and parents the fun opportunities now associated with bowls, with one parent remarking: “I didn’t think bowls would be relevant for my son, I thought this was just for old people.”
The session was part of the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service sports program run in conjunction with Disability Sport & Recreation. The program provides children and adolescents who, as a result of injury, medical/surgical intervention or functional impairment, would benefit from developmentally appropriate rehabilitation and give them the opportunity to try a range of different sports; including gymnastics, basketball, and bowls.
As an organisation, Bowls Victoria understand how fortunate we are to have such an inclusive and accessible sport at our disposal. Unlike a lot of sports, bowls can involve anyone within the community and have them participate together; regardless of age, gender, background or ability.
We’re now seeing more and more clubs undertake programs and initiatives to engage various groups within the community, and as we know participation in the sport continues to grow as a result.
If your club is undertaking some great work in the community and engaging new participants, let us know … we’d love to help celebrate your success!
