Bowls’ flagship event opens its door to the community
Bowls Australia has joined forces with the Western Bulldogs (AFL) through its Community Engagement program, CALDplay in a unique partnership for the upcoming 2014 Australian Open, which begins on Sunday and runs through to Thursday, 20 February.
Bowls Australia recently announced that in 2014, the Australian Open would have a greater emphasis placed on engaging and involving various groups within the bowls and non-bowls communities to attend and enjoy the best that the sport of bowls has to offer at the country’s richest event, the $140,000 Australian Open.
Through CALDplay, the Western Bulldogs Football Club has helped over 2,500 migrants and refugees from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds to engage with their new community through sporting activities including athletics, badminton, lawn bowls, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, water polo and Australian Rules.
CALDplay began working with newly arrived young people aged 18–25, who were studying English at Footscray Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES), in late 2007. In the space of four years, the program has grown to include multiple language centres across the West, with adults up to the age of 65 participating.
The visitors are taking part in a five week program, The Western Bulldogs CALDplay Sports Program, exposing migrants to unfamiliar sports – beginning with lawn bowls.
The migrants, many of whom will have never seen lawn bowls before, will not only watch some of the best bowlers in the world battle it out for the sport’s most prestigious title but will also get the chance to have a try themselves and meet some of the stars of the sport face-to-face.
Over 120 members of the CALDplay group will attend Thursday’s final day of the Australian Open when the men’s and women’s singles champions will be crowned.
The first AFL player of Taiwanese descent, 20-year-old Lin Jong of the Western Bulldogs, was on hand to launch the partnership between Bowls Australia and the CALDplay Sports Program at Victoria University Whitten Oval on Wednesday alongside members of the CALDplay program and Wayne Roberts from the Yarraville/Footscray Bowling Club who has qualified for the main draw of the 2014 Australian Open.
Click here for all the information about the 2014 Australian Open
Click here for more information about CALDplay
