Jack Attack rocks Central Australia
Jack Attack is helping change people’s perception of lawn bowls in Central Australia after a seven week competition attracted a green full of enthusiastic participants each week.
Businesses in Alice Springs entered teams of three to take part in the Memorial Bowling Clubs Jack Attack program with employees being introduced to the sport for the first time, and loving it!
Alice Springs’ Memorial Bowling Club was running barefoot bowls prior to converting to Jack Attack and whilst there was some resistance at first, the new improved formula became a hit and their numbers quickly doubled for the fast paced Jack Attack revolution.
Memorial Bowling Club left no stone unturned ensuring they had done everything to make their first season of Jack Attack a success.
“Prior to running our first Jack Attack evening we held four open nights where anyone could come down to our club and have a go for free,” Memorial Bowls Club Secretary David Knight said.
“We have many great sponsors and business relationships in town with Roger Oakden from Prime Cut Meats donating BBQ sausages each week; a sausage sizzle was ready every week as the players arrived at 6pm for a 6.30pm start.”
As many clubs are finding in this day and age the best form of advertisement is Facebook, the free social media tool was perfect for Alice Springs to spread the word about Jack Attack and its clubs facilities.
By tagging friends in posts about Jack Attack the word was starting to spread; they also created FAQ flyers on their website and actively promoted on local radio station 8HA and local newspaper, the Centralian Advocate, to publish articles, photos and scores.
When starting a new competition there is always the element of trial and error and for Alice Springs they found that one game of Jack Attack, two sets and a tie-break as opposed to two games a night was more than enough for most and for those that wanted to keep playing would complete the night with a good old corner to corner competition.
David Knight says he is confident the Memorial Bowls Club will get new members from Jack Attack because of the wonderful experience the new bowlers have had over the season.
“Jack Attack has changed barefoot bowls in Alice Springs.”
“We have seen people dancing, laughing and enjoying their bowls experience mostly due to the game being fast paced and the constant music creating a party atmosphere has made a great night out in Alice Springs for all the participants; we are confident they are ready to take the next step and come on a Saturday for a formal game of bowls and join the club.”
Jack Attack is the happy medium between one off barefoot bowlers and full time pennant playing bowling members; Jack Attack participants only need an hour a week to participant over a 6-8 week period, however, the Memorial Bowling Club has gone one step further in creating opportunities to help Jack Attack participant’s transition into becoming full bowling members.
The Memorial Bowling Club have committed to try a Jack Attack Pro-Am, where members of the club will team up with new bowlers before launching them into playing socially in a full game of bowls among other members of the club.
Inspired by the recent story on the Bowls Australia website, ‘girls on the green’ at Castlemaine Bowling Club, Memorial Bowls Club will be running ladies only Friday afternoons from 4pm-6pm, starting out on a monthly basis and progressing to weekly pending the success of the afternoons.
The Memorial Bowling Club is the last remaining bowling club in Alice Springs so the importance of running a successful Jack Attack program means more than just gaining new members; the survival of the sport in Central Australia depends on the work these wonderful volunteers are doing promoting lawn bowls.
