Ashlee Knight and Lexie Foot guarantee that lawn bowls isn’t an old person’s sport.
“I honestly wouldn’t have thought lawn bowls would be a competitive sport but the more I get into it, the more you see,” said Ashlee.
“I think most people have the view that it’s an old person’s sport but it’s not,” added Lexie.
“The earlier you start with it, the better you can be at it.
“I think we’re both pretty privileged to have picked it up as early as we did.”
Ashlee started playing lawn bowls at age 13 and Lexie at 15 and they have recently been selected to represent Queensland in the under 25 team, taking on New South Wales in Sydney next month.
Both women started playing bowls casually with their families, never expecting their skills to take them this far into the sport.
Now playing regularly at Mackay City Bowls Club where she has previously won A and B grade competitions, Ashlee gets on the green as much as she can, balancing bowls with work and other sport.
She’s previously been selected in Queensland under 18 teams with both tournaments being cancelled due to the pandemic.
“To actually be selected now for the under 25s, I felt really, really good about myself,” she said.
Ashlee’s also had to balance bowls with health issues that took her away from the green for some time, but clearly, it’s barely slowed her down.
“It’s affected me in a way that I can’t play as many games as I wanted to,” she said.
“I had to go away for two months at the start of this year and that pretty much wiped me out of all my games.
“As soon as I got the clearance to come back home, I was out here, straight back to bowls.”
Lexie is a resident bowler at Northern Beaches Bowls Club where just last week she won A grade singles.
“I’m pretty proud of that, it’s generally a pretty big achievement,” she said.
“Last year I did an interview with Bowls Queensland, and they asked, ‘what’s the one thing you want to achieve?’ and that was what I wanted and I did it.”
Their love of bowls started with their families, who they both cite as massive inspirations as well as key individuals at their clubs and in Brisbane.
What brings them back every week is their love of the teamwork and the technicality involved in the sport.
“It’s challenging, every game’s different,” said Lexie.
They both now move on to their next challenge, with training ramping up before travelling to Sydney in August.
“It’s really good, I’m proud to represent Mackay and Northern Beaches,” said Lexie.
“We test ourselves, so we play against each other and sometimes we’ll do drills together,” said Ashlee.
Coming up against old rivals New South Wales, the bowlers say they’re hoping to follow in the Maroons’ footsteps and come away with the win.
“It also puts a bit of added pressure, I guess. We’ve got to back it up,” Lexie laughed.
The excitement of the tournament is heightened by the fact that it will be Ashlee’s first trip to the New South Wales capital.
“I actually can’t wait to fly over Sydney and see the Harbour Bridge,” she laughed.
Queensland take on New South Wales at Taren Point Bowling Club in New South Wales on August 23 and 24.
Ashlee Knight and Lexie Foot have been selected to represent Queensland
Ashlee and Lexie will travel to Sydney for the QLD vs NSW Test Series next month
