Lawn Tennis bowler Karen Burgess enjoying strong start to midweek division one season

Among Lawn Tennis' top midweek team, which was promoted to division one after winning the division two title last season, Burgess, 65, is enjoying her second campaign at the club since joining three years ago.

"I had one season, then a season out with the knee," she said. "Now I'm back in. It's just fantastic to be able to play again. I love playing bowls."

Burgess said while she could technically play on her old knee, the new one was "much more sturdy and reliable".

On Tuesday, Lawn Tennis celebrated its fourth win of the 2022-23 season, defeating Warrnambool Gold 54-48 to close out the first half of the fixture. Burgess' rink, where she plays as a third to skip Robert Treweek, celebrated a 20-15 win to act as a tiebreaker across the three rinks.

Burgess said it felt fantastic to get some wins under the belt as a team.

"Especially when you qualify up from a level below, it's always nice to be competitive because sometimes that doesn't always happen," she said. "It's nice to be in amongst it."

The retired primary school teacher, who moved to Warrnambool from Melbourne three years ago, said she had "no regrets" making the south-west her home after first visiting family in the area.

"When I visited them, I thought what a wonderful town Warrnambool is," she said. "It's beautiful, it's by the beach. I decided to build a little house down here and relocated when I retired."

Burgess has enjoyed her time at Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Bowls Club, appreciating the smaller club atmosphere similar to what she is used to in Melbourne.

"I thought it was a nice little club to join, it was just a really friendly, happy club," she said.

As well as time spent on the greens - she also plays division two weekend pennant - Burgess keeps busy with a board role while holding various volunteering roles in town.

With a history swimming and playing netball and tennis, Burgess said the competitive nature of lawn bowls remains a highlight.

"I enjoy the team side of playing bowls," she said. "Just bowling with people and for people. I think bowls satisfies, for me anyway, my competitive spirit but also my social needs. It has everything and you can get it all in one afternoon."

In other division one results, City Sapphires celebrated its second win of the season with a 19-shot win against Port Fairy Gold as Terang Blue defeated Koroit Orange by nine shots. Meanwhile, Timboon Maroon toppled ladder-leaders City Diamonds by 28 shots.

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