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Bowls is a sport that is played and followed
by millions throughout the world. It is a game of skill and
precision rather than physical fitness and has therefore often
been associated as a game for the older generation. However,
many of the upcoming champions are becoming increasingly younger
and the sport has spent recent years making its competitions
quicker and more colourful to encourage followers.
Bowls can be played indoors or outdoors, and
the rules are the same for both. Put simply, the aim of the
game is to get your bowls as close as possible to a small
white ball called the 'jack'.
In the singles competition, one of the two
opponents flips a coin and begins a segment of the competition
by placing the mat and rolling the jack to the other end of
the green to serve as a target. Once it has come to rest,
the jack is aligned to the canter of the rink and the players
take turns to roll their bowls from the mat towards the jack.
When all the bowls have been played, a competitor
or team gets one point for each of their bowls that is closer
to the jack than the opponent's closest bowl.
After all the bowls have been played, the
direction is reversed which signals the end of an end.
In group games, the team captain always plays
last and has a key role in directing the team's shots and
tactics.
Although it sounds easy, the fact that the
bowls are not completely round and do not therefore travel
in a straight line, means there is a great level of skill
and tactics involved to win a match.
The game of Bowls has a distinctive history,
dating all the way back to the Egyptians. Based on artefacts
found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C, it appears that the
Egyptians used to enjoy playing a version of skittles using
round stones.
Different versions of this form of game then
spread throughout the world and can be seen in the many types
of bowls games played today. In Italy the game Bocce developed,
which is a precision sport closely related to bowls with a
common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire.
In France the famous game of Boules arose
from Bowls. This is a game that is played using metal balls,
often on unusual and challenging terrain such as sand. The
aim of the game is to get your large, heavy balls as close
as possible to the small, white 'jack'.
The traditional game of bowls, also known
as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, has particularly developed
popularity throughout England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and more recently, Denmark. The oldest recorded bowls green
is in Southampton, England, which dates back to 1299.
There are also many famous bowling fans throughout
English history. Perhaps one of the most infamous in bowls
folklore is Sir Francis Drake who, according to legend, insisted
on completing his game of bowls in Plymouth before setting
sail to confront the Spanish Armada in 1588.
King Henry VIII and King James I were also
said to be keen lawn bowlers and even introduced bowling legislation
for their subjects!
In 1903, the English Bowling Association was
officially founded and began to organise and direct clubs
and competitions. Previously competitions had always taken
place but for the first time an extensive league and organised
contests sprang up.
Indoor variations of the bowls game also appeared,
largely due to the problem of the English winter stopping
outdoor play. Indoor Bowls is simply the indoor version of
Lawn Bowls, which is played on strips of artificial green
a similar length to Lawn Bowls rinks.
All versions of the sport have now grown enormously
and there is a wealth of leagues, clubs, amateur and professional
bowling leagues and competitions throughout the world.
World Bowls grew out of the Commonwealth Games
when it was first held 70 years ago (then known as the Empire
Games). It was originally intended that only athletics would
form part of the games but bowlers successfully convinced
the organisers to have bowling included and it has been played
at the games ever since. Top stars from both indoor and outdoor
formats now come together to play lawn bowls at the Commonwealth
Games.
One of the largest bowling event organisers
today, is the World Bowls Tour (WBT) - a limited company formed
in September 1996 by the Professional Bowls Association, and
the two major governing bodies for world flat green bowls,
World Bowls Ltd and the World Indoor Bowls Council (WIBC).
The primary object of WBT is to set up a series
of premier bowls events at which the top players in the world
can play.
One of the most exciting competitions in the
UK World Bowls Tour calendar is the World Indoor Bowls Championships
that take place at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton, Norfolk.
The event has been hosted at Potters for the last eight years
(since 1999) and 2007 will see the event take place there
once again for the ninth year running.
As on other previous years, 2007 will see
professional players come together from throughout the world,
to take part in televised matches including singles, pairs
and mixed pairs.
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