Taster and Training Day Report – Sunday 28th February 2016

Sunday 28th February saw the first DBE combined Taster and Training Day held at Gedling IBC, Carlton, Nottingham.

There were 18 bowlers in total attended the day from as far north as Sunderland and as far south as London. The group covered a whole range of disabilities and consisted of both experienced and novice bowlers. It was particularly encouraging to see several new faces on the day and we hope that these bowlers will continue to attend and enjoy future events.

The day was run by Mo Monkton, the DBE Performance and Development Officer along with the help of two very experienced Coaches and a few volunteers.

The two coaches did ‘Reading the Head’ exercises with a group of 4 bowlers each whilst on the rest of the green, 4 different bowling skills were set up and marked by the volunteers. Each of the bowlers completed the circuit accruing points as they went around.

After lunch, the bowlers were split into two teams and played a 2 hour match, North versus South, the South being the eventual winner.

Small ‘fun’ prizes were awarded to the bowlers who scored the most points in the skills and a large Easter egg to the overall winner.

At the end of the day, Mo asked for feedback from the group. Many people have responded and all in a positive way. The general comments were how much they had all enjoyed the combination of the skills and the match and that the format of the day worked. There were also many comments from the new members as to how friendly the whole group was and how they were made to feel welcome.

Due to the success of the day, we now intend to repeat the day in 4 regions, the north, midlands, south east and south west. This should help with the cost of travel for members but anyone wishing to is more than welcome to attend days out of their region. The dates and venues will be posted on the website as soon as they are booked.

We were a little disappointed that we didn’t have any non-bowlers attending to try the game out, but maybe at future days we will make some headway on that front.

We welcome member’s comments and ideas for future days and look forward to meeting more of you at future events.

Margaret Smith, DBE Sec.

[Taster and Training Day photo gallery]