THE "WHO" OF ORGANIZED BOWLING
It's probably safe to say
that every California bowler is
familiar with how his/her club is organized. Most LBC's are located in
public parks,
while others are one of the activity features of a private/gated
community. None the less, each club has a set of elected officers and
appointed committees who conduct the everyday business and
organization of club activities.
Beyond the confines of individual clubs there are regional and national
associations. In Southern California, men and women bowlers are
organized in gender
groups. Both are members of the United States Lawn Bowls
Association. USLBA men are affiliated with the World Bowling Board, and
USLBA
women are affiliated with the Women's International Bowling Board,
the international federations for lawn bowling.
The USLBA consists of seven regional "Divisions". Our Southern
California lawn bowling
community belongs to the Southwest Division, the largest, by
participation, in the
country. The SW Division men's and women's groups each employ its own
membership
policy. For Southwest men, membership in the Division is mandatory, but
national
USLBA membership is voluntary.
Although all seven of the USLBA Divisions were once governed by
separate men's
and women's organizations, six of the Divisions have merged into single
units, leaving the
Southwest the only region still operating with gender-based men's and
women's groups.
The primary objectives of all organized lawn bowling groups is
promotion of the
sport and development of new membership.
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This article is from the summer 2004 edition of "The Green Jack", the
Southwest Division's new bi-monthly newsletter.