Veterans bowls day a big success at Worrigee
Veterans around Australia continue to have opportunities to get involved in bowls thanks to an ongoing partnership between Invictus Australia and Bowls Australia, with the latest success coming out of Worrigee.
About 30 Australian sailors and their families came out to Worrigee Sports, near Nowra on NSW’s south coast, to learn about the sport of bowls and the bowling community in mid-February.
Organised by Invictus Australia, the main organisation that looks after veteran sport, the day involved some coaching, Rookie Rollers games for the kids and a traditional sausage sizzle.
Regional Bowls Manager Ben Krikstolaitis, a navy veteran himself, spoke before the games and impressed upon the servicemen and women about the nature of a club as the centre of a community.
He also spoke about what being a member of a club has meant to him as an ex-sailor and how important the support of the bowls community has been in his transition away from the ADF.
“What they found is a club that was eager to teach them how to play and just as eager to invite them into the fold,” he said.
At the end of the day, after a short competition between the participants, the club gained a whole group of new members and some really eager playing recruits.
Ben praised the club for their work in bringing bowls to the serving members, with their hard work nearly immediately paying off, with the club signing on three members at the time.
