Couple Kate Lloyd and Matt Fleming to play at Bowls Victoria group sides championships

Kate Lloyd and Matt Fleming joined City Memorial Bowls Club seven years ago, eager to spend quality time together in a social setting.

"He was off every weekend playing cricket (for Killarney) and I was sitting at home doing nothing," Kate recalled.

"Bowls is great because it is something we can do together, even though we might not be playing on the same team at the same place, we're playing at the same time and then at the end of the day you come back to your home club and have a few drinks and celebrate your wins."

They play together regularly in various competitions. "We go away to tournaments together and play mixed pairs and practice a fair bit together too," Matt said.

As they say, practice makes perfect. "You show your frustrations a bit more with your partner but I think we're getting better at playing together," Kate laughed.

After-work practice is a regular occurrence for Kate, a payroll co-ordinator at South West TAFE, and Matt, a production maintenance technician at the Otway gas plant. "All through (coronavirus) lockdown last year that was the only thing you could do, was come and have a roll," Kate said.

"I think we're good practice partners. I think we're pretty evenly matched; there's never an easy session."

They will be fighting for the same cause at the Bowls Victoria group sides championship in Shepparton later this year when they represent West Coast Region.

"Matt is probably a more aggressive player. At this event you're playing against sides from Melbourne and they're more aggressive style of play so you need to have players who are willing take the game on," Kate said.

Matt had high praise for Kate's ability to sum up a situation on the bowling green: "I think Kate's consistency has probably got her there. She is a very consistent bowler which is hard to do".

He is excited they can both challenge themselves at the group sides tournament. Matt will be in the West Coast Region men's side and Kate in the women's.

"It is going to be a high standard so you can learn a bit more about the game because it takes a long time to learn about the game," he said.

"There's a lot of shots. You might pick up a certain style or a different tactic up there which will be good to see."

Kate and Matt have been bowling partners for seven seasons but their partnership off the greens is two decades strong.

The Melbourne-raised Kate met the Camperdown-born Matt, who played in two Hampden league football flags, in the United Kingdom.

"We were both on a two-year working holiday visa," Kate said.

"We got introduced and travelled around Europe together in a combi van. We came back, tried living in Melbourne for a couple of years but we always wanted to move here."

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