
Twenty-five lucky students from Cooper Plains State School near Brisbane, Queensland have had a ball learning to bowl in Term 1 2023
The schools’ Health & Physical Education Teacher, Cath Peak applied for Sporting Schools funding at the end of 2022, to be able to use in Term 1 2023.
Together with tenpin bowling, the school is also running a rugby league program on the oval outside after school, with many other free sports options for students to enjoy. There was a waitlist for students to join the learn to bowl program, numbers capped to ensure those who attended enjoyed maximum use of the equipment.

With the support of Tenpin Bowling Association of Queensland’s ‘Roll n Strike’ initiative, the school was able to hire for free, five portable lane sets from nearby Zone Tenpin Bowling, Mount Gravatt. In addition, the school has utilized its funding to have a qualified Tenpin Bowling Australia coach travel and run the one-our afterschool session each week.
Teacher Cath Peak advised, “as a team, we already commit to delivering 6 different outside school hours’ sport in our own time. Therefore, when it comes to the Sporting Schools funding, …we would prefer a coach to deliver the program.”
Tenpin Bowling Australia’s Diversity & Inclusion Programs Manager, Emily Rennes dropped by to check on how the students’ skills were developing. “You can tell this is a school community who value active recreation. It’s great to see parents/carers, together with the schools’ staff, supporting a diverse range of students to enjoy learning new and different sports.”
TBAQ’s Development Officer, Kane Dean-Eddy added “For Roll ‘n Strike, the program is designed to be self-sufficient and does not require external support. With Roll ‘n Strike the teachers are aware that they will need to instruct the session and we provide all the resources necessary to teach a class even with minimal Tenpin Bowling experience.”
Learn more about Sporting Schools https://www.sportaus.gov.au/schools
Or TBAQ’s Roll ‘n Strike https://tbaq.org.au/roll-n-strike/
Tenpin Bowling Australia’s Sporting Schools https://www.tenpin.org.au/programs/sporting-schools/
or Tenpin Bowling Australia’s Participation Manager, Sean O’Kane via [email protected] or 0406 007 832.