3 minute read
Bowling Sub-Committee
Reported by: MS DOROTHY TAY Convenor
INTRODUCTION
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With the growth of our bowling community since I first took over as bowling Convenor in 2018, we were looking to continue the momentum from a successful 2019, but unfortunately, bowling facilities were one of the first casualties for closure due to COVID-19. It took a herculean effort to bring bowlers back on lane, and with Singapore Bowling Federation (SBF) initiatives, we ended 2020 with much optimism.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
The bowling season barely got underway before it got cut short by the growing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic from February 2020, cumulating in the closure of 12 Lanes in late March 2020. Our annual activities like the Halloween Bowl (which had grown quite popular among the adults and kids) and our Christmas Bowl had to be cancelled. While the Section could not do much during circuit breaker other than to stay safe, our Bowling Academy Centre of Excellence (COE) coach Clara was still hard at work, planning out drills for our trainees and monitoring them over digital means. This kept our trainees in good touch with bowling and ready to resume training when the Club reopened.
It was an uphill task to get bowlers back into action when 12 Lanes resumed operation with a much-reduced capacity and safe distancing restriction. Our operator also suffered severe loss in income due to COVID-19 but the Club was kind enough to support the operator through difficult times with rebates. After much persuasion and with the new normal becoming an accepted way of life, more people resumed their bowling routine.
The bowling fraternity came back to life in August 2020 with the lead of SBF organising the first-ever Own Time Virtual Tournament (OTVT) and our 12 Lanes being nominated as one of the eight sanctioned Bowling Centres to host the bowlers. This gave us the impetus to hold our very own Virtual Tournament in November 2020 for our Section members with an encouraging number of participants. SBF then coordinated a 2nd edition of the OTVT in December 2020 with an expanded repertoire of categories, which attracted even more patrons to 12 Lanes. I am pleased to report that comments from bowlers (including the national bowlers and coaches) are that the lane conditions at 12 lanes are one of the favourites among the bowlers. The event itself also helped us made a tidy surplus.
As our Academy COE had lost a lot of training time, our coach diligently provided extra training lessons every week to allow our trainees to make up for lost time. The trainees despite the odds finished the syllabus at year-end and completed and passed the Annual Skills Assessment by SBF. We also successfully commenced two classes of Learn-to-Bowl in December 2020 for kids between 6 to 12 years old and they are now continuing with their Level 1 classes. My wish is to grow the bowling fraternity with more classes to cater to the different levels of skills and to groom our very own young bowlers to represent the Club and someday our country.
Small scale Section activities in a safe environment will be able to resume as we enter Phase 3. We look forward to growing our Academy COE, which is into its 3rd year and build up our Learn-to-Bowl classes to groom our young bowlers and also to use it as a pipeline to the Academy.
I am very fortunate to have a supportive Management Committee and the Sports & Games Committee without whom a lot of things would not have been possible. Thank you for keeping our Academy training affordable so as to attract more trainees and give the Academy an opportunity to grow. I would also like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Coach Clara for her enthusiasm to grow our Academy COE and Learn-to-Bowl Programme. Thank you Clara for your dedication. Finally, thank you to my fellow Sub-Committee members, Jick Sern and Helena and Section members for your unwavering support towards our Club’s bowling activities. Without you, nothing would be possible!
