Lawn Bowls: a placid sport and one with no age limit

Lawn Bowls is one of the oldest sports in the western world and its earliest records date back to the mid 16th century in England. At SPAC, it arrived early. About 130 years ago, when the English club was founded, the first Bowls of Brazil green was set up, using the tradition of the sport at its origin and serving the local British community.

It is on a green lawn, 40 metres long and 35 metres wide, always very well trimmed and treated daily, and where the bowlers get into position for the game.

Practised individually, in doubles, trios or quartets, the game begins with the positioning of the rubber mat for the launch of the jack, the small white ball, which is then the parameter for the players to throw their woods. Woods are the balls of eccentric configuration, with flattened sides, which give the objects a non-conventional curved movement and are unique to the practice of Bowls. They weigh around 1,5kg and are of 12 to 14,5cm diameter. In order to get as close as possible to the small white ball – jack– the players make their shots, as each of the four moves is called.

With its low impact and preservation of the joints, practising Bowls is an exercise that requires concentration, enhances the ability to plan and can be practised by people of all ages.

Annete Conradi