Come and try ... tenpin bowling at Bridge Bowl

“Come and Try” aims to promote fitness and wellbeing in the Murraylands – and it could promote your business, too. Murray Bridge News is seeking an ongoing sponsor for this fortnightly feature. Call Peri on 0419 827 124 or email peri@murraybridge.news.

Pop music pumps in the background, conversations hum and punctuating it all is the occasional, unmistakable clatter of wooden pins.

It’s a Tuesday night at Murray Bridge’s tenpin bowling alley, and the Bridge Bowl Bombers are about to start.

The league is one of 10 which operates year-round at the alley.

Competitive games are played here four mornings and five evenings per week, and about 200 players are on the books.

Some of them have been bowling regularly since the alley opened in 1990.

More recently returned to the game is Nadine Haig.

When did you first start bowling?

I’ve been bowling since 2014 and just came back after having a baby. I’ve been back about 10 weeks.

What do you get out of it?

I do it to make friends and as a social outlet. Being at home on leave with two children, it’s an outing for me and time out for me as a mum … Our team is called Bahumbug. Every time we miss the pins or get a spare or something like that we go “bah, humbug”, which is another word for “get stuffed” … I just bowl to have fun.

What has been the greatest achievement of your bowling career so far?

My biggest moment was when I bowled a 213 in Bunyips a couple of years ago. That was my proudest moment. Bunyips is a touring league. You go around to different alleys and play different teams home and away.

How are you going this season?

We’re coming towards the end of the season. We’re towards the bottom of the ladder because we came in halfway through. But the ladder can change at any time. You get four points for a win and it can go either way. (The season) is all year round, roughly 24 weeks a season.

What do you hope to achieve as a bowler?

To have a good time, make new friends and hopefully bring other people who don’t know much about bowling to the league. For people with a disability we even have a disability league, which not many people know.

Why should people come tenpin bowling?

There’s so many different varieties of bowlers. Some are new, some have been here a long time, but there’s no expectations. You can just turn up. And bowling just grows on you. You can’t get worse, you can only get better. It’s a way of meeting the community and building up a small, independent business, and keeping money within the community. Come and give it a go. The more people come, the more leagues we can get going. If there’s someone looking for a team, a player can always jump in. That’s how you learn and grow.

• More information: Visit www.bridgebowl.com.au/teambowling.htm or call 8531 0022.

“Come and Try” aims to promote fitness and wellbeing in the Murraylands – and it could promote your business, too. Murray Bridge News is seeking an ongoing sponsor for this fortnightly feature. Call Peri on 0419 827 124 or email peri@murraybridge.news.