Lawn Bowling

Today we went out to North Sydney to experience Lawn Bowling.  At first it was raining pretty heavily, so we didn't think we would get to participate but luckily it ended up clearing up a little bit.  I haven't seen lawn bowling before, but I heard it was a little similar to bocce ball.

We were split into teams and were competing against each other for points.  It took a while for us to get used to the weighted bowls and how much they would curve when we tried to aim for the jack.  Some people picked it up rather quickly on my team and others had a much more difficult time with the aiming.  I didn't realize how much the weight of the bowl could affect the game and make it that much more difficult to do it well.   I also found that by changing how hard I threw the bowl by even just a little bit, it could completely change the distance and how much it curved by a lot.

After all of the teams played a few rounds, the points were tallied and we were split into a winner's bracket and a loser's bracket for the championship.  My team was in the loser's bracket, but we were all still pretty competitive and had a lot of fun.  I was really surprised at how fun lawn bowling was; at first, I didn't think it would be interesting, but it takes a lot of skill and practice to be good at it.  Most people tried out different throwing techniques, how far out we would aim to curve the bowl, and whether we wanted to aim left or right just to see what would happen.  Everyone that was at the facility seemed to really get into their teams and started cheering when someone placed a bowl close to the jack.  Lawn bowling seems like it is the perfect, relaxing team sport that anyone can play and enjoy.

Sport Internship

Last week was my first week at International Goalkeepers Academy, where I will be interning for the semester.  I thought it was appropriate to blog about it due to its sporting nature.  Although I’m working with the marketing of the company, I am around all of the training and coaching that goes on.  The Academy trains goalkeepers ranging from junior level to premier training.  The facility has a specialized gym, with equipment specifically designed to better train keepers.

I believe the Academy has found a niche market to try and capture because they only focus on keepers in a sport where there are very few players in the position, but the keepers have one of the most important tasks on the team.  The Academy specialized a unique program that uses the most effective techniques, training, and facilities to tailor to the needs of the keepers and they have been extremely successful in doing so.  Many keepers that went through the Academy have progressed on to professional levels of play, and those that haven’t have come away with a unique set of skills that help them master their potential as a goalkeeper.  I’m looking forward to working here throughout the semester and I hope that my marketing skills, as well as my knowledge of goalkeeping will increase.

Maroubra Beach Trip

This weekend was our first trip out to Maroubra Beach to learn about the Nippers, as well as the Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club.  I was surprised at how many parents were helping out in order to teach these kids about beach and water safety; it’s amazing how many people are willing to donate time and money.  I’ve never seen a program run like this, and I think it’s a great idea; I teach swim lessons to children at home in the summer, but it’s not nearly as popular as the Nippers.  It seems to be a great community outlet at such a young age for kids to be social, learn, and stay physically active.

The Surf Living Saving Club also seems to be a great organization.  Being that the age range is young teenagers on up, there are a lot of people that participate and join the club for a variety of reasons.  I found it understandable that most of the younger kids join as a social outlet, because I would probably have joined for the same reason.  It was also interesting hearing how much a sense of community is felt after longer periods of time, and that’s why people continue to join, year after year.  The members may pay a small fee, but the atmosphere and sense of belonging that they get is worth the price.

Seeing both Nippers and Surf Living Saving Club enforced that being around the beach and participating in sport is not only for social interaction, but for a stable, supportive environment for both kids and adults.