Inclusion at the heart of TBA

Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) is proud to have inclusion at the heart of everything we do.

Ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March, with the 2022 theme being #BreaktheBias, TBA aims to continue playing a pivotal role in providing an inclusive, safe, and equal environment for women and girls.

IWD has been celebrated for well over a century and is a global day celebrating the achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality in bringing about a more inclusive society.

With membership numbers trending towards a 50/50 split, TBA Chief Executive Officer Rohan O’Neill says increasing female participation in the sport is a key initiative.

“Growing participation and performance for women and girls across the country is a key aspect to this inclusion agenda,” O’Neill said.

“With 42 per cent of our membership base female, we aim to increase this to reflect the balance in the community. We believe this will be achieved with a long-term outlook and approach that focuses on growing junior participation in schools and then connecting them to tenpin bowling via programs such as Bowl Patrol,” he added.

TBA is proud to be a sport that is committed to equality by offering opportunities for everyone to participate in various capacities whether that is through our learn to bowl program Bowl Patrol, Bowl Abilities or in a local league at a registered centre.

Last year, for the first time in national championship history, Strike 3 Bowling implemented equal prize money for men and women at the 2021 Australian National Championships.

Alongside membership growth, TBA is also looking at opportunities to grow female coaching participation, with 48 per cent of Level 1 coaches being female while only 25 per cent of our highest accredited coaches (silver) are women.

O’Neill is keen to see more elite woman coaches moving through the coaching ranks in the future.

“Everyone knows how inclusive the sport is on the lanes, it doesn’t matter if you are five- or 95-years-old, tenpin bowling is a sport for all.  However, we also know how important it is to have the coaches and role models who reflect the community,” O’Neill said. “Coaches particularly play a pivotal role in sport, and we are encouraging women to progress further with their coaching and to transition our top athletes into elite-level coaches.  We are certainly building momentum as a sport and having a greater percentage of female coaches is an area we are keen to see improvement.”

TBA continues to measure and assess the success of key initiatives through a culture of regular reporting on key metrics including girls and women involvement in membership, participation, and coaching.

To maintain our commitment to #breakingthebias and improve women’s equality in our sport, we welcome suggestions and ideas from the community for consideration. Please email [email protected] to share your ideas with us.