Penrith Bowling Club slows down for Jackaroos
As the Right at Home Jackaroos look to hone their skills on the heavy greens of Royal Leamington Spa in Birmingham, clubs on home soil have been assisting the national squad by curating their own greens to replicate the speeds in the northern hemisphere.
One of those Clubs is the Penrith Bowling Club in Sydney’s greater west, who are assisting the likes of Ben Twist and Carl Healey in their preparation for the Commonwealth Games commencing in late July.
The rink has been available to the Jackaroos since November last year, which the players have been utilising to acclimatise for the current UK tour as well as the Games.
The speed of the lush rink sits between 10 and 11 seconds, which club General Manager Julie Smith honoured to be able to help the Australian team in any way possible.
“Penrith Bowling and Recreation Club are honoured to have part of the Australian Jackaroos squad utilising our greens for training for their upcoming tour of the UK,” she said.
“Having slower greens in the northern hemisphere, Penrith Bowling Club especially prepared a rink for the Jackaroos to practice on that replicated the greens they will be playing upon, we want to try and give our Aussies every chance of success.
“Having our home grown Penrith player, Carl Healey in the squad, adds to the excitement of having our Club hopefully play a small part in the Jackaroos impending success overseas.“
Penrith Head Greenkeeper Craig Colman explained his tricky process in curating the green and how he managed to reach the optimal speed required.
“The only change of preparation for the Birmingham rink was an increase of cutting height from two to six millimetres,” Colman said.
“As a consequence the rink showed significantly less disease infection during the waterlogged summer.
“Frequency of cut and fertilising remained the same, it’s an honour to assist in some small way for our home grown talent to feature on the world stage.”
Healey is immensely appreciative of the club for undertaking such a task to assist the team as it looks to make history by acquiring a maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal above the Equator.
“Ben Twist and myself are extremely grateful for Penrith Bowling Club’s assistance in our preparation for the UK Tour,” he said.
“Personally, having been previously employed by them for 14 years, I know that this club goes above and beyond, and assists players, staff and bowlers all in achieving their full potential.”
