Jack Attack brings new faces to Caulfield Park
The Caulfield Park Sports Club bowls section’s club recognising action was required to address the imbalance in male to female participation numbers, looked to use a ladies only Jack Attack bubbles and bowls evenings as an opportunity to try bowls in a relaxed and social setting.
The club’s Bowls Director Neil Stacey settled on a Wednesday evening time slot and set about a marketing campaign using promotion to the local community through club members, social media, bowls events at the club and the creation of its own pamphlet.
The campaign saw the Jack Attack program launched in January 2024 and saw35 new bowlers take part, some already with a connection to the club through partners, but the majority being new bowlers and new to the club itself.
The Wednesday night program was well supported by club volunteers, with five club coaches providing support and each night finishing with a barbecue and great social atmosphere.
The Jack Attack group has also taken to Whatsapp to communicate and converse following each session, providing another important point of connection.
25 of the participants quickly became social members of the club, and many of the new bowlers commenced turning up to the clubs regular Sunday coaching sessions.
By season’s end, social members had started to convert to full members and the club was able to increase its number of winter pennant teams to three with a new side made up predominantly of new female full members.
An unexpected bonus has been the attendance at club functions of the new bowlers with the ladies bringing along their partners, with some now taking to the green themselves.
Once again, Jack Attack has proven to be a great vehicle for building participation at a club.
In this instance, with a focus on both on and off green social connection, it has provided a welcoming, safe and non-judgmental environment to grow female participation at the club.
The success of this program highlights that if new participants feel welcome, they join, and if they feel included, they stay.