| What are FAQs? | Frequently Asked Questions
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| Is there a list of FAQs? | You're looking at it
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| How does an answer get onto this list? | A member asks a question like that one
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| Why wasn't this list here 3 years ago, when I joined? | You didn't ask before
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| Why so many FAQs? | It's a complicated organization
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| Why do you make so many announcements before the game? | Because members don't read the notice board
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| Are all those notices important? | Yes. There's a test at the Annual Banquet!
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| What's an annual banquet? | You're new here...it's a sit-down meal at the end of September
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| Is it expensive? | It's free for members. Guests pay, however. (I was kidding about a test!)
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| What's the catch? | There's an AGM afterwards--it's our way of getting a quorum.
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| I'll bite! What's a quorum? | Enough members to hold a meeting.
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| Is a Bowls club the same as a Lawn Bowling Club? | Yes, but bowls can also be played indoors on a mat. Short mat is another name for indoor bowls. In the UK, Bowls is the more common name.
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| Is it a business? | No, we don't make a profit. We do have a constitution and by-laws, however.
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| Are we a charitable institution? | No. Nothing is deductible.
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| Do we pay our workers? | Just the Greenkeeper.
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| Who's the greenkeeper? | He’s invisible, of course; but I can reveal that he has his own key and shows up when nobody is looking and does stuff like cutting the grass, watering it, adding sand and fertilizer, aerating, plowing...that sort of thing. (OK, I’m kidding about the plowing.)
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| Who makes up these terms? | People with too much spare time, I guess.
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| Are there expectations of members, beyond turning up to bowl? | Of some members more than others, yes, but mainly we need you to learn to bowl so you can help others.
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| What is a duty person? | Likely a compulsive volunteer who is always here early, doesn’t mind being depended on, and is capable of remembering to bring his/her key.
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| Then what is the 'clubhouse duty list' for? | Most members are put on the list in their second and later years to test if they can read. (Not! It’s to ask them to help keep the clubhouse tidy by sharing the job by vacuuming the carpet once a year.)
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| What other duties are there, besides opening the gate and setting up the green? | Making the draw involves deciding in which position each person will play—since it is a volunteer task, you can’t sue if they make a mistake!
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| What's a jitney? | It’s just a name for the draw whereby skips are randomly assigned a team.
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| What's a Committee Member? | Someone who would rather not have to write her name on the constant sign-up sheets. (Instead, we’ll call her when we need help!) |
| How long must one be a member before serving on a committee? | We welcome a member at any time who wishes to join a committee. After a year trying it, you can offer to chair the committee. We love volunteers! |
| What Committees are there? | Social – provides cakes, tea, coffee, cookies at various events; Cards – sends greetings and condolences to members; Phone – contacts new members by email or phone with ongoing events list and general members with special reminders. |
| If I sign up to help with a tournament, will I be on a committee? | No. We don’t have a committee for that but you’ll certainly be appreciated and learn a lot more about the game if you do. |
| Does a committee member get paid? | You missed the first one! No. But they do get to eat cookies more often! |
| What about the Executive. What's their story? | Compulsive volunteers who commit to long-term membership in order to take the blame if anything goes wrong. |
| How do I become 'in charge' of something? | Just start helping. If nobody is doing it already, ask if YOU can. People water flowers, pick up trash, remove weeds, get out chairs, mostly because they like doing so. |
| If I don't come to play regularly, how do I know what's going on? | One committee is assigned ‘phoning’ duties. We’ll call or email you to let you know of special upcoming events. (We’d prefer you come regularly, of course; and check the notices.) |
| What am I missing by choosing Recreational membership? | That’s almost like asking what’s the meaning of life. We are a social club where you can simply pay a fee for the right to play and you’ll improve your chances of winning. You’ll still get coached, play against our top players, and be included in most meetings and conversations. Heck, you can become President of the club and still remain a Recreational member. |
| Then why are some called Competitive Members and pay $25 more? | You can’t BUY a championship medal so even if you pay extra, there’s no guarantee you’ll win a medal...but like the lottery: if you don’t buy a ticket you are guaranteed not to win one. Some of us have bowled for ten or more years and never won a medal. Others won medals within their first two years! If you feel you have improved at the club level, try an Association tournament (for about $10) and play against other club players—or try Inter-Club without charge and do the same. If you do well, by all means pay Bowls Manitoba the extra $25 for the right to play in Provincial level tournaments (plus the $15 per competition). |
| If I missed the annual member coaching day, do I get another chance? | When you first try the game we show you how. Each time you come down (until we see you are comfortable) we’ll offer help delivering the bowl, raking, placing the mat, etc. The next year, you are welcome to join our next coaching clinic for members—and the year after that, too. |
| What exactly is Inter-Club? | Five or six of the city’s clubs play a round-robin of triples games during the year hosting in rotation. We encourage new members to sign up just to see for themselves. You’ll play a 14-end game and enjoy refreshments. |
| Is there a competitive league? | Two leagues, one for singles and one for triples (teams stay much the same all season but permit substitute players). Players from all city clubs participate. |
| When and where? | Evenings at the artificial green, Tuesday for Singles and Thursday for Triples, and each league requires being a Competitive Level player and paying a league entry fee. |
| What if none of our members became Competitive? | It’s sort of a secret, which nobody keeps (like how pregnancy occurs), but we’re all adults here, so...
We’d likely either close the club or raise the membership to over $200 a year. Many of Manitoba’s champions originated from Norwood—the largest club, membership-wise—so without our contribution to Canada’s least appreciated sport, Manitoba would be cut out of the country’s sport-funding budget. We’d have to become a business, surviving on income from members.
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| What about clothing? Must it be white?
| For club play, there are no requirements--other than flat shoes--but you'd look silly wearing just runners!
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| I've seen players wearing yellow shirts. Are they for sale?
| Manitoba champions represent us wearing yellow in inter-provincial tournament play. We need special funding to pay for their yellow jackets and shirts. No, we don't sell them--you must earn them! We do sell club shirts for $15 - they coincidentally have the words "Norwood Lawn Bowls" on the back.
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| Do they wear them in International tournaments also?
| No, if a Manitoba player is chosen to join Team Canada to play against another country, they wear red and white. We're lucky we don't live in England where each county has its own clothing rules!
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| Are they strict?
| Yes. When you play in a tournament there, you may have to wear grey pants or skirt and a white shirt--and maybe even a grey jacket! Oh, and definitely a tie!
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| Surely you jest!
| Not at all. And don't call me Shirley.
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| Why do we belong to Bowls Manitoba Inc? | Similar answer, really. Our contact with Bowls Canada is via the provincial association of clubs (Bowls MB). Bowls Canada is the national association of clubs. Funding is through Sport Canada to Sport Manitoba, then Bowls Manitoba gets a share based on participation by our population in Lawn Bowls versus all the other sports. That’s why we must get more members! |
| Don't we already have too many members for our single green? | If all 90 members showed up the same morning, that would be true; but how often do all Safeway Club members shop at the same time as you? We rely on our days of play to first separate those who work from those who don’t, then those who go away for the weekend from those who like Saturday play. As the economics of cost versus need turn members into more-frequent-players, the Executive will attempt to adjust the hours of play to accommodate any overload. In 2007, for example, we tried adding Fridays to our club schedule. |
| How do I get my own bowls, Grippo, and measuring tape? | One member is our supplies representative (supplies have to be ordered outside Manitoba). She has an ad on the board with the items she sells. New bowls are a big expense until you know how serious you are and what size to buy...so we post notes from those who want to sell or buy used bowls. |
| How does our weather affect bowling? | Each year has different weather patterns. 2006 turned into a hot dry summer. Using the grass too often when it has to be cut so short is bound to have its toll—if you’ve ever watched tennis from Wimbledon, you know what I mean. Watering is time-consuming, therefore needs volunteers. The city provides our water, fortunately. Finding the evenings or nights to do the watering is another challenge. Nothing beats rain but as players we’d rather it happened when we aren’t planning to play. On the other hand, July 2007 was almost too hot to play and 2010 was our wettest year so far! |
| If it's supposed to rain, will we still bowl? | We suggest you come even if there is a chance of rain—it often doesn’t happen or doesn’t last long. In a tournament, we don’t stop for rain...except during thunder and lightning. |
| Why do we host so many tournaments if we just have one green? | We often have two of the teams in Inter-Club, so we host that event twice. In 2006, we hosted a provincial tournament in June and co-hosted a national tournament in August—quite an honour, by the way. We have hosted two groups of students to help encourage funding and to promote the sport. In 2008, we hosted 2 Provincial & 2 Association tournaments. |
| What does Norwood gain from hosting? | We are reimbursed by Bowls Manitoba $50 for hosting, $30 for our setting-up effort, and $20 for our refreshments – for a provincial tournament. That money goes towards greens-keeping and the constant supply of lemonade, iced tea, and occasional cookies for members. |
| Where does our income come from? | We're somewhat unique in that the City gives us an annual operating grant to compensate for not cutting our green or supplying a clubhouse. That, coupled with membership dues, gets us through most years. Sometimes, the family of a past member donates bowls to the club and occasionally other equipment and prizes are donated. Donations go into a contingency fund for special purchases, like the washroom we added to our shed. |
| Why don't we have a bigger clubhouse? | Since 1992 (when we relocated here), we've had to book the Bowls MB hall for our indoor social events and meetings. However, in 2009, we took over the other half of our shed, expanding our space. We put in a sink and mini-kitchen and built more lockers for our members mostly through volunteer efforts but also with a financial grant from Community Places Manitoba. |
| How big is bowls in Canada? | In Manitoba, about 375 bowlers in 11 clubs (almost all in Winnipeg) enjoy the sport. We're small compared to the Ontario bowling crowd that number 18,000 or BC that numbers 5,000. But each province sends its best bowlers to national competition, and we still win Gold and Silver medals regularly. So small is not so bad! In fact, you stand a much better chance of representing Manitoba than a player in another province does.
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