Lawn bowls: a game for everyone
Lawn bowls is 'the most equalising sport in the world', Josh Thornton, Bowls Queensland's sport development officer, says with real authority.
Josh was a state junior champion—despite a physical disability since birth. He plays pennant level for a suburban club and played in disability competition for the first time in Queensland’s multi-disability state championships in September 2011.
'The game is the same for everyone—and played the same for most. Blind bowls is a little different,' says Josh.
'It's a precision sport. The aim is to roll a ball—called a bowl—closest to a smaller yellow or white ball, called a "jack".
'I started playing when I was 13. My Pop (grandfather) played and invited me. I’d just had some surgery on one of my legs and couldn’t keep playing the sports that I’d loved so I was open to try something new.
'I've always been competitive. When I tried out for the school side and missed out, I was so annoyed; I became determined to get better.'
Queensland's first multi-disability state championships attracted 60 bowlers from the 4 disability bowls associations: Blind Bowlers, Deaf Bowlers, Lifestream (intellectual disability) and Sporting Wheelies (physical disability).
Kaytlyn Smith, 20, of Cairns, was introduced to the sport as a teenager. She plays at least 3 times a week and is both a state and Australian representative in the sport.
But it's the social aspect of the sport she likes most.
'I like meeting people and making new friends of all ages,' she says.
'I just wish more young people would have a go! That's all it takes: come along and have a go. There's no exclusion.'
John Vance, from Mount Tamborine, agrees with Kaytlyn. 'I am totally accepted as a full member of my club and as a person of value in the club,' says the retired paediatrician, who is national president of Australian Blind Bowlers Association.
Blind bowls has 2 key differences:
- markers on the green provide players who cannot see the kitty (the target at the other end of the green) or who lack depth perception with a gauge for distance
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blind bowlers play with a 'director' a sighted person who provides verbal cues about where the bowls are, the distance, the speed of the green and angles.
More information
The Bowls Queensland website can help you locate a lawn bowls club near you.
For disability-specific lawn bowls—whether social or competitive—contact:
