Playing bowls and feeling the VIBE

On Wednesday 9th April, Harpenden District Indoor Bowls Club (HDIBC), opened it’s doors to Hertfordshire’s bowls clubs, visually impaired people and other stakeholders for a day of training and coaching with Visually Impaired Bowls England (VIBE), the national charity who support people with visual impairments to get active through bowls. David Stott, National Development Officer, VIBE, offered theory and practical coaching guidance whilst Sarah Marshall, Double World Champion; and Scott Valance, Acting Hon President, VIBE; shared their lived experience of competing locally and internationally, offering encouragement to those who have visual impairments that it is never too late to start being active.  

Representatives from ten bowls clubs across Hertfordshire attended the session, united in their goal to make the sport more accessible and to build inclusive practice into their regular club activities. “Days like this don't happen very often, but what a brilliant day,” remarked Ros Cramp, Director at Herts Disability Sport Foundation, “I learned so much from David, Beata, the coaches and participants, it was like a family all trying to work out how to help each other as best they could and I think we succeeded!” 

Following the event, HDIBC will become the VIBE Hub for Hertfordshire to act as the connector between appropriate local clubs and visually impaired residents interested in getting involved. HDIBC’s Director, Chris Ellins reflected, "Last September we met 11 visually impaired people from Herts Vison Loss at the Live Longer Better in Hertfordshire Celebration Day and learned how important indoor bowls could be to provide sport, exercise and community.”  

Research from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and British Blind Sport, shows that almost half (48%) of blind people surveyed reported barriers to trying new sports and activities. Consequently, 53% of blind people engage in less than 30 minutes of physical activity per week, compared to 27% of the UK average. 

Chris continued, “6 months on and we have just run our first ever disability workshop to better understand VI needs, to enable our club to become known and accessible to experienced VI players and beginners, and to educate and train coaches from Hertfordshire's indoor and outdoor bowls community. It has been just the most magnificent day. Utterly inspiring from all involved and now the work begins.” 

The training day, funded by Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership (HSP), marks the beginning of the countywide efforts to increase disability sport ahead of 2026 which will be the Year of Disability Activity, driven by a partnership of Herts Disability Sport Foundation and HSP, all to improve awareness and provision of inclusive activity for the 21.3% of Hertfordshire’s residents living with a long-term health condition or disability.  

To find out more about a local bowls club to get involved with, please contact Chris Ellins at HDIBC (chris@harpendenibc.co.uk).