A shining light – Bowls Sunraysia Division
Victoria’s a big place, and with over 150,000 annual participants and 523 clubs state-wide, bowls is a big sport too.
Taking this into account there is a lot of work to be done to grow, develop and support the sport of bowls, and Regions and Divisions play a pivotal role in this, as they act as the key link between Bowls Victoria and clubs.
With two-thirds of Victoria’s bowls clubs located in regional areas, the importance of the links between Regions, Divisions and Bowls Victoria is highlighted even more, and a great example of this was seen recently in the far north-west of the state through work between Bowls Victoria and the Bowls Sunraysia Division.
As part of the roll-out of the National Officiating Accreditation Scheme and new umpiring pathway, Bowls Victoria was in Ouyen to work with Region and Division umpiring committee members across the Murray Mallee BR and facilitate two days of Presenter and Assessor training.
Through the support of Rob Jay and others, the course saw nine people complete the training, and will now enable courses to be facilitated in the region, by people local to that area.
Along with this there was an opportunity to deliver some coach training and through discussions between Bowls Victoria and Bowls Sunraysia Coaching Co-ordinator Wayne Gardner.
The Introductory Coach course assisted new coaches to look at how to encourage and support new bowlers into the club, and ways to ensure their experience in bowls is safe and enjoyable.
What made this course so successful was the communication between the division and Bowls Victoria in the lead-up. A need for a course was identified. Dates and a location were agreed upon. The Division supported the promotion of the course, and was able to encourage participants to come along. Without this support from the division, the course would not have happened.
Following on from the Intro Coach course, Bowls Sunraysia hope to generate enough interest to host a Club Coach course, to assist interested coach’s progress along the coaching pathway and gain valuable knowledge and experience to take back to their clubs. Again, the support of the division is crucial for this to happen, to ensure there is enough interest to warrant a course to be run.
Bowls Victoria look to put in place and offer a number of different programs and initiatives to bowlers and clubs, but without support at the local level through Victoria’s 16 regions and 26 divisions, much of this work would not be possible.
Bowls Victoria has been contacting Regions and Divisions to get information on Region and Division coaching contacts to assist in the development of a state-wide coaching Advisory Panel, to assist the Coaching and Coach Development Committee. These contacts will also be important in implementing coaching initiatives around the state.
We’d love to speak to more Regions and Divisions about opportunities in their areas. Some more great work is happening across Gippsland with Coaching Co-ordinators from North Gippsland and East Gippsland Bowls Divisions active in getting a Club Coach course running at Sale later this month.
For more information on how to get a course happening in your Region, please contact Scott Nicholas on (03) 9861 7100 or scottn@bowlsvic.org.au.
For details on upcoming coaching courses, click here
To find out more about coaching accreditation, reaccreditation, or presenter and assessor training, click here
