Lawn bowls a mental and physical challenge

V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR

Bowls Singapore organised a Fun Festival on Aug 28 and 29 to popularise lawn bowls, which fetched Singapore a gold at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.

About 120 members of the public tried their hand at a sport which is considered cerebral compared to 10-pin bowling, which is hugely popular in the country.

The two-day festival at the Singapore Sports Hub's Lawn Bowls Green in Kallang featured a number of events, including a coaching session for beginners, a demonstration game by the national Paralympic team and a celebrity game involving Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah, who is also the patron of Bowls Singapore.

"We have a real desire to take lawn bowls to the community as it is massively inclusive, easy to learn and a challenge to play," said Bowls Singapore president and national team coach Rodger Kimpton.

"It's a terrific sport and suits our Asian structure as you don't need extra muscles to play it.

"Anybody can play it. It's all skill and everyone has an equal chance. It's a great game to play together whether you are disabled, able-bodied, old or young."

Many may think of lawn bowls as a sport for seniors, but Mr Krimpton said: "People think you don't have to be super strong to do this sport and that it's only for senior citizens but it requires a lot of technique, strategy and consistency. It's also a game of endurance, so you need to be mentally fit."

In lawn bowls, players roll a bowl - a ball-like spherical object - to a white ball, or jack. The aim is to get it as close to the jack as possible.

Points are awarded according to the number of bowls a player has that are closest to the jack.

The sport's history in Singapore dates back to more than 100 years. Currently about 120 players actively play it at four venues - Sports Hub Lawn Bowls Green, Kallang Lawn Bowl, Singapore Cricket Club and Tanglin Club.

"It's not very expensive to play the sport," said Mr Krimpton. "It costs about $200,000 to build a venue. But for individuals, it costs only about $700 to buy a set of four balls and the shoes and dress come to another $300. The equipment cost of about $1,000 can last you for five or six years. The green fees is about $200 a month."

Bowls Singapore is building a small green at Tanjong Pagar Community Club to enable more people to play the sport. In future it will also build similar greens across the island.

"Just playing one game, you walk about three kilometres," said Mr Kimpton.

"It can be three hours long. While playing, you are bending, standing, every part of your body is moving. You are active all the time.

"Another beauty of the game is you start young and you don't have to stop."

santosh@sph.com.sg

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