Gwen Lawson: Bowls NZ chief executive visit; next season's venues; Centre prizegiving

The Centre prizegiving and awards will be held on Sunday, August 29, at Kamo Bowling Club starting at 1pm. Photo / NZME

BOWLS CHAT:

There was good representation of Northland Centre bowling clubs in attendance at the visit of the Bowls NZ chief executive on Tuesday evening.

He gave a well informed run down of New Zealand run fixtures and congratulated the Centre on having 12 medals for national success brought back to Northland by our players.

It was interesting to note that there was a 7.2 per cent increase in full playing membership in the past year.

Next season they hope to have more bowls live on television with negotiations under way for a two nights a week bowling calendar to be screened.

National tournaments for next season will be played at the following venues:

Inter Centre – North Harbour

Inter Club 7s – Wellington

National Fours and Mixed Pairs – Taranaki

National Singles and Pairs – Christchurch.

At a local level, NZ would like to see businesshouse played on the Bowls3Five format. This is a short format of the game and people with busy lives would not have to commit to an all day event.

They can get 'hooked' on the short game and then choose to become involved on the competitive side.

Incentives can be provided by BNZ for you to change the way you play businesshouse events at your club. Contact Bowls NZ for further information.

Coaching: The Association AGM will be held next Sunday at Kensington Club starting at 10am. Love to have all current coaches, trainees and those interested attend.

Reminder: Centre prizegiving and awards will be held on Sunday, August 29, at Kamo Bowling Club starting at 1pm. Prizegiving will be followed by the opening of the new season.

These will be preceded by a mini-tournament starting at 9.20am. Entry is free. The event is any combination fours. I have four vacancies if you wish to enter a team. Contact Gwen Lawson please.

Entries have already started to come in for the Centre Mixed Pairs. Players for this event may be from different clubs. Enter on the Centre website.