REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY
The first regional development day was held at Church Gresley IBC on Sun 4th Nov and hailed as a great success.
20 DBE players from the region signed up for the coaching sessions lead by Ellen Falkner & John McGuinness, aided by Level 2 coaches Yvonne & John Poulton & Alan Hemsley. Split into 2 groups the players went through a series of skills and exercises on the green as well as attending a workshop covering issues such as mental approach, fitness & diet, anti doping, practice and preparation.
Development Officer Lee Smith led the “Working with Disabled People in Bowls” Coaching module and after the 6 attendees had gone through the theory work had the opportunity to try out the various bowling aids.
Club officials were able to pick up leaflets and discuss how their own club can become more inclusive and work towards achieving the Disability Bowls Kite Mark.
Steve Bacon, Development Officer for Bowls Leicester attended to find out more and was encouraged that the coaches had signed up for the Disability Module. He felt clubs could do more to help retain members that develop a disability and to recruit new members and hoped to work on this in the coming year.
The event finished with Paul Brown DBE Chairman, Bob Love, DBE player and Geoff Bennett Church Gresley President hosting a Q&A session.
Overall, new members and volunteers were signed up and the day not only helped raise awareness in the region but certainly helped the players develop their skills.