Women’s Pairs Challenge – Battle of the Bays
Bowls Victoria celebrates and highlights the important role women and girls play in our game, not just this International Women’s Day (March 8th 2025), but every day.
From a randomly selected round in the 2024/25 Metropolitan Pennant Season, of the 1,792 players across all Sections from Premier League to Division 2, only 11.5% were female, and of that group just 2.18% were playing in either Third or Skip roles. While many women may prefer to play Lead or Second, these numbers highlight both the lack of opportunity women receive to play back end roles, but also the lack of development prospects for female players in our game.
In this article, we explore some of the initiatives Victorian Clubs are implementing that bring women and girls to the fore.
On 26th February, Middle Park Bowling Club hosted a Women’s Pairs Challenge, with their ‘Sharkettes’ taking on the women of St Kilda Bowls Club. This event was the culmination of a six-week training and development program arranged by Middle Park for their female members. Over the six weeks, members were provided opportunities to undertake group coaching with current Victorian Indoor Singles Champion and Canadian International Representative, Kelly McKerihen, in addition to playing games of varying formats. The sessions focused on improving all aspects of the player’s games, from head reading and shot calling to leadership skills and shot making.
As a member of the Bowls Victoria Women in Bowls Taskforce, Middle Park member Kumari Mangos was the key driver of the program. When asked what being part of the Women’s Pairs Challenge meant to her, Kumari commented, “I think this was an opportunity for our women to come together, to be playing together, to build a connection with each other. It’s the end of a six-week program for us which was about building confidence, so this was a great, friendly hit-out for us to show what skills we’ve learnt and bring us together as a group”.
Middle Park President, Nate Zeeno, also shared his sentiments on the evening, “It makes me very proud to be showcasing an event like this and getting all our females together. It’s huge for the Club, it’s huge for our ladies, it shows a great deal of respect for them. We love it, we’re super proud of our ‘Sharkettes’ and we’re going to continue this for years to come”.
While the focus of the evening was on participation, camaraderie, and development, there still had to be a winner, and at the end of the Challenge, the St Kilda Women came out on top after a hard-fought contest.
Speaking on how St Kilda built their own successful women’s program, President Tommy Hunter-Fisher expressed, “It’s all about the culture, whether you’ve got two female members or ten or one hundred, just listen. You’ve got to make it inclusive. Each year since I’ve been President we’ve had a wine and cheese night with just the female members and we brainstorm around how can we make the club more inclusive”.
Bowls Victoria commends both Middle Park and St Kilda for their commitment to supporting their female members and creating bespoke programs, and they aren’t the only clubs going the extra mile though.
On International Women’s Day 2025, we congratulate the following clubs and individuals who’ve shown great initiative to better support female members:
- Alphington Bowls Club – for undertaking a gender equity action plan and providing education opportunities for female board members.
- Ballarat Highlands Bowls Region – ran a 7-week Spring Series pre-season women’s development competition.
- Carol Protopapas – ran a 5-week coaching and networking program for novice bowlers across the Eastern Ranges Bowls Region.
- Colac Bowling Club – run a monthly “Ladies Social Bowls” competition.
- Dandenong Club & Brunswick Bowling Club – both conduct annual ‘This Girl Can’ events supporting women in sport.
- Eastwood Golf Bowls Club – ran a women-only Jack Attack competition.
- Ouyen Bowling Club – as part of a facilities update, transitioned a lounge area into a families, breastfeeding and baby change room space.
- St Kilda Bowling Club – hold a ‘Ladies who Lunch’ regular event for current and past players.
If your Club has a program running that could be featured by Bowls Victoria, or you’d like to share information to create case studies to assist other clubs to implement similar programs, please reach out to glen@bowlsvic.org.au with your story. Bowls Victoria will co-promote suitable programs with you Club’s consent, via the Keep Active platform, which will greatly raise the profile of Club initiatives and get the word out.
