Greening a grassy sport

An ancient sport is seeking young blood.

The Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling Club will open its greens to the public in hopes of recruiting new, youthful members, said Jan Hargraves, an active club member who has lawn bowled for eight years.

“The best kept secret in town” will soon be out in the open, due to new marketing efforts.

Hargraves said the sport has long been associated with the elderly community, and the club is currently comprised of only 100 members, most of whom fall into this older demographic.

“This is unfortunate,” she said. “It’s a very competitive game, and one that should be enjoyed by young people.”

Hargraves said World Bowls, the top organization which brings bowlers together in competition from all over the world, is working hard to enter the sport into the Olympics. To get there, the game will need a more fast-paced, highly competitive edge that encourages media coverage.

The Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling Club, in addition to some of the other 27 clubs in the U.S. Southwest Division, will host its first Visitor’s Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 10, which Gov. Schwarzeneggerhas declared “Lawn Bowls Day.”

The Southwest Division, the largest of six divisions in the country, is comprised of approximately 1,600 lawn bowlers.

Club members will show videos, host a hot dog lunch and instruct newcomers how to lawn bowl. Anyone who signs up to be a member on this day will receive a year-long membership for $125 – a $50 reduction from the normal cost. Charlie Herbert, one of the younger club members, said the sport often draws many onlookers.

“The open house [Visitor’s Day] will give us the opportunity to hand people a bowl and encourage them to play,” he said.

Herbert and his wife began playing two years ago, when recruited to an open house at a different club. He thinks others will develop a love for the game the way he has, if given the opportunity to play.

He agrees that the sport is not just for older folks.

“We’re all going to get here one day. We might as well start now,” he said.

Lawn Bowling originated in England in 1299, and remains a tremendously popular sport in the U.K. for all ages.

English colonists brought the game to America,according to Bowls America.

It remained a fashionable sport until the period following the American Revolution, when newly-independent citizens veered from the activities and likes of their former governors. It wasn’t revived again until the 19th century, when Scottish immigrants started lawn bowl clubs.

From that point forward, the sport grew more popular from coast-to-coast, and the American Lawn Bowls Assn. was founded in 1915.

The Laguna Beach club was established in 1931, shortly after H.G. Heislerdonated the land to the city, which dedicated the land to a bowling green. The grounds remain under the city’s ownership, while the clubhouse operates on funds from membership fees.

The club also received a large donation from Marcellus L. Joslyn, who created trusts for many of the Southwest Division clubs before his death in 1963.

For more information, call (949) 494-1811 or visit www.lagunabeachlawn bowling.com.