Mt Xavier president Gerard Dooley said the division one team would be driven to play its best bowls this weekend in support of well-known club figures Brian and Kevin McKeegan.
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The McKeegans are brothers of Carmel Mitchell, who was tragically killed in last Saturday’s bus accident near Avoca.
Mitchell had been returning from a bowls trip in Mildura when the vehicle she was travelling in left the Sunraysia Highway, rolled down an embankment and flipped on its side.
Brian and Kevin McKeegan will both play in Saturday’s Ballarat District Bowls Division weekend pennant fixture against Buninyong.
“It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a difficult time. It will probably be a fairly emotional day for our club,” Dooley said.
The Mt Xavier side will come up against Buninyong after winning its first match of the division one season last weekend against Sebastopol.
“This is our opportunity at our home club to really put our heads down and provide support for both Brian and Kevin and have a really good solid day of bowls,” he said.
Dooley said club members had gathered early in the week to reflect on the tragedy.
“Food was put on and we allowed people to come to our clubhouse to sit down and talk and chat about the events on the weekend and how people are feeling,” Dooley said.
“We had around about 50 members that attended. It gave our members an opportunity to reflect on what happened and also to share some of their feelings with other members. (It was done) as a means of trying to provide support for our members to be able to get through this time.”
Dooley said it was expected Mt Xavier players would wear black armbands to honour Mitchell, who was a midweek and weekend pennant player at the club.
The club is also likely to have its flag at half mast on Saturday.
Like the X-men, Buninyong greets the round three clash with a 1-1 win-loss ledger.
The team defeated City Oval in round one, but dropped last weekend’s clash against Ballarat East.
Other division one fixtures on Saturday will see the Two Blues host Webbcona, Sebastopol battle Ballarat, Learmonth lock horns with Creswick and City Oval clash with Central Wendouree.
In the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls competition, Webbcona is set to host Victoria, while Ballarat Memorial Sports looks to bounce back at home to Eastern Park.
The other Ballarat team in the division is Sebastopol, which is scheduled to travel to Bareena.
