Prepare to be bowled over

Auckland Park Bowling Club is ready to bowl the youth over with an exciting inter-residence tournament to be held on 10 May.

Disabled bowler and tournament organiser Paul Jonck said the club will host 96 students from residences of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), who will bowl against each other.

“We are expecting no less than 350 people to attend the tournament, including the bowlers. Supported by the Johannesburg Bowls Association, it’s going to be huge,” Jonck reckoned.

The tournament is particularly exciting for club members as they have made it, their mandate to recruit younger bowlers.

“It is the first in South Africa but it’s certainly not going to be the last. We want to recruit young bowlers who will realise that bowling is as competitive as any other sport,” said the organiser. The teams will be assisted by U25 provincial Springbok bowlers who will also be present on every rink.

Jonck revealed that they have been working on a project for the past eight months to create bowls awareness and attract new blood to join the sport.

“A lot of people think it’s a dying sport. We don’t have TV coverage as we used to and a lot of bowling clubs are closing because the sport itself is not promoted enough.”

He described bowls as a perfect sport where everyone can compete against each other regardless of their age, gender and physical status.

“Hopefully looking forward, this will become an intervarsity sport.”

SABMiller’s Castle Lager will erect beer tents and a variety of DJs will provide music entertainment to accompany the action.

The ‘free for all’ tournament will be held at the Auckland Park Bowling Club facilities in Montgomery Park from 9am.

Details: Auckland Park Bowls Club 011 782 6795.