Sports Community Training a success
Sixteen clubs attended a very informative series of club training sessions run by the Sports Community group last week. Over three nights topics included Planning & Goal setting, Social Media and the power to build membership and Variations of the Game to involve, attract and retain new members.
On each of the evenings a guest was invited to speak of the programs at their own club and to share their experiences. Brian Lucas (Sorrento) detailed the extensive planning being undertaken in their Sorrento 2020 plans, Steve Lay (Bayswater) described the power social media can provide clubs, with a remarkable turnaround from a club ready to close its doors to one with a strong direction for the future. Bowls Australia Regional Bowls Manager Clive Adams rounded out the third night with the many offerings available to clubs, such as Jack Attack and Jnr Jack Attack and how they can be utilised to successfully introduce people to the sport.
Rockingham Club President John Lethlean attended the sessions and saw plenty of opportunities for his club.
“I found the workshop most beneficial and my thanks go to Bowls WA for conducting them.” remarked John.
“It was most alarming to learn of the trend of bowling clubs throughout Australia and this was again highlighted in the presentation by Pieter Harris on pennant participation.” These statistics on pennant participation were shown at the Bowls WA President’s Forum on Monday.
“It was made evident that unless bowling clubs change their attitude as to the make up of their membership many clubs will struggle to survive in the future. We have to change our methods of seeking membership and concentrate more on a family atmosphere within our clubs with a view to becoming part of the local community. In doing this we can only then hope that these family members aspire to become players. It is most imperative that clubs develop strategies and plans for the future. This can be achieved by engaging all the local bodies in the administration of our clubs – shire councils, members of government and Bowls WA.”
“There is a large amount that we have to implement that the club does not have at the moment.” said John speaking about his own club Rockingham.
“We do not have a strategic plan for the future, we under utilise our computer system (Bowls Connect) for record keeping, we have to identify personnel whose present or past expertise would benefit the club, we have to better communicate with everybody via social media, we have to restructure our membership categories and possibly establish committees outside the executive committee to handle membership and volunteers.
I hope that over time we will put all of the above into operation although I think it will be a slow process.
For clubs to survive Bowls WA must continue to offer clubs assistance like these workshops.”
Further training sessions are already being planned by Bowls WA to assist clubs in improving their sustainability in the months ahead. Thank you to the clubs who attended and we look forward to working with more clubs shortly.
If your club would like additional assistance now please contact:
Clive Adams | Regional Bowls Manager (Perth)
p: 0408 136 831 | e: cadams@bowlsaustralia.com.au
