Jon Cockcroft, Bowls England Chief Executive.

It was a pleasure to join our England players and coaching team for the recent British Bowls Under 18s International Series. With seven debutants and bowlers as young as 13 and 14, I couldn’t have been prouder of the way our team approached the challenge and represented Bowls England. In the context of international travel, new surroundings, six matches in under 30 hours, and all the emotion that comes with representing your country, the standard of bowls was incredible. Everyone played their part with great determination, togetherness and the leadership from the more experienced players belied their years.

Moreover, I was struck by the players’ behaviour off the green. They were a credit to our organisation, our sport and their families, many of whom were supporting from the sidelines. For a group thrown together from all parts of the country, they gelled together brilliantly united by a positive outlook, a respect for each other and their coaches and a sense of shared endeavour. Winning is only one measure of success for these young players, and all will have left Belfast strengthened by the experience.

This is all in stark contrast to the small minority of tiresomely negative people on our social media platforms, who continually revel in finding fault, criticising unkindly and delighting in other’s misfortune. It’s in the best interests of our sport for Bowls England’s social media platforms to be wholesome places where everyone feels comfortable in sharing their views, where my Bowls England staff and volunteers are free from dispiriting castigation and where new people looking to be part of our sport see a culture where they want to belong. We will investigate measures to better engender this environment and role-model the interaction we expect across our sport, without quelling constructive criticism.

Nicola Bowe (Team Manager) and Mal Evans (Team Coach) put great effort into the preparation and management of the team. Both teachers by profession, their passion for creating the best possible environment for our young bowlers shone through. They set high expectations, but in a way in which no-one feared failure. They advised but gave the players the ultimate responsibility. They encouraged. They cared. To paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt, the only person who never makes mistakes is the person who never does anything. At Bowls England we value and back doers, who dare to make a positive difference, and both Nicola and Mal’s contribution was admirable.

Strategically, my overriding reflection from the few days was the importance of our new performance strategy and putting measures in place to progress it, including securing much-needed funding for the recommendations. If we are to deliver systemic success at senior world level, it is critical we invest more in our performance pathway, that young bowlers receive consistent support to develop their physical, tactical and psychological skills and we nurture a culture of coaching. Bowls England must lead this, but it will require a collective effort at regional and local level. There is great work happening across parts of the country but, worryingly, some counties are unable to field junior age-group teams. We must work together to ensure children, irrespective of their postcode, have an equal opportunity.

We are better placed than ever to convince Sport England we are worthy of their support. A successful Birmingham 2022 gave them renewed confidence in the professionalism of Bowls England, we are becoming less fragmented as a sport, and we have a plan. Importantly, we must demonstrate that funding would ensure young people, who might not otherwise play sport, would be identified, recruited and developed. The relatively high percentage of our players coming from state school backgrounds and the undoubted accessibility of our sport should be to our advantage. My time with the Under 18s team certainly evidenced bowls’ potential to develop life skills and rounded young people. Entitlement does not cut the mustard, but it does feel like they deserve more government support.

And to British Bowls. It has been hugely challenging over the last few years to drive a modernising agenda so that the event programme delivers against our strategy and, in the absence of government funding, provides value for our members affiliation and competition fees. With personnel changes, it feels we now have a critical mass of leaders across the countries who understand performance sport and can see the potential for positive change, whilst maintaining the inherent tradition of home nations rivalry. The event in Royal Leamington Spa at the end of June was a giant step in the right direction. Now, we must create more consistency in format between the events, make the awe-inspiring bowls on show more visible and raise the bar in terms of event delivery. It is in all British nations’ interests to host more world-level events where conditions are more familiar and where the costs of sending a team are smaller.

After the event, I took the opportunity to take a Black Cab tour of Belfast. My guide Paddy, who grew up on the Falls Road in the 1960s, showed me the sights and shared his experiences of The Troubles. It provided a healthy perspective on the trials and tribulations we face in bowls, and the value of shared understanding and collaboration. In comparison to Paddy’s generation, young people in the city look forward less burdened by the past. Like them, our Under 18s team have a world of possibilities and Bowls England is committed to ensuring they can maximize their talents and enjoy a lifelong relationship with our great sport.