Gail Torerens, CEO Tenpin Bowling QLD

Alex Mednis & Cass Simonetti, Australian Sports Professional Association
Gail Torrens, Tenpin Bowling QLD

Bonus content

It quickly became apparent while we were creating the Playbook that each of these interviews offered such an incredible amount of valuable content that we wanted to share with ASPA members. Because of this, we have created an additional excerpt for each CEO. These philosophies, statements and stories were pulled directly from the interview. Where possible we have ensured the bonus content offers something different to the philosophies and advice details in the Playbook.

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Interview

From the 1970s to 2020, Gail has had a lifetime exposure to Tenpin Bowling. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Tenpin Bowling Queensland. 

Tell us about your background before tenpin bowling.

I did quite a few things. I started out as a teenager as a clerk typist in a hardware store. And then I had an opportunity to be front shop manager at a couple of pharmacies. I thought that was a good career choice. I never thought sport was a career choice at all. And, trust me, I'm amazed that I'm here today. It was not my plan to work with sport or even reach the level that I'm at, or role I am currently in.

Did something in particular open your eyes to sport as a career?

I'm really fascinated with challenges, and I think that attracted me to the role. I loved tenpin bowling as a teenager and then I drifted away to motor sports. I was in motor sports for a number of years and I follow motorcycle racing. My husband was an A-grade motorcycle road-racer and we went to Bathurst races competing for many years, freezing in the Blue Mountains of NSW at Easter. And then I literally got involved in drag racing at the Gold Coast when the Surfers International raceway was there for a while.

Pardon?

(Laughs) I was one of the inaugural members of the Gold Coast Motorcycle Club. My experiences in sport are extremely varied. 

Varied indeed! Did you play much sport growing up?

I was a failure in school sport, big time. You wouldn't want me on your tennis team, I’ll tell you that (laughs). I was not a good athlete. However, when I tried tenpin bowling in my teenage years for a very short time, I did love it. But I never pursued it. Later on, when I had a young family, I revisited tenpin bowling again, and I thought, "What an easy sport." 

You just knock those 10 pins down and, look at that - I'm the best bowler in this bowling centre. And I never lacked confidence, did I mention that?

(laughs) You still haven't told us how you became the CEO!

I started learning more about the sport firstly by completing coaching accreditation in the 70s, so this is a fair while back, when tenpin bowling was really just asserting itself as a sport.

Tenpin had a huge rise in popularity in the early days. And the only reason I did that course was because a volunteer asked me if I was interested. The importance of asking people, is such an important thing.
Most people just think recruiting is too hard. It's just a conversation. And asking people is an extremely important thing. Volunteering starts with a conversation. Our organisation Is still largely volunteer driven.

That led me to level one in coaching.  It was just a year later I was in the very first level two coaching accreditation group, the very first one in Australia for our sport.

That’s amazing, to be in that first wave of ‘highest’ accreditations at the time. 

The pressure with gaining that Level 2 was people then thought I knew a lot of things. I knew that I was really at a ground level in regard to knowing everything.

I was an avid reader of sport journals and everything else, and not just for my sport. I read all the golfing pro journals, Rick Charlesworth's Olympic memories and so forth. I was very interested in the tactics and strategies used by elite sports teams and people.

And that led me to look for further education, and I was the first tenpin bowling person to do the Graduate Diploma in Elite Sports Coaching with Queensland University. Approximately 90 people studied that very first diploma. And only 13 of us graduated. I'm grateful to say that I was one of those 13.  I also had an opportunity to coach overseas In New York by Invitation which was a highlight of my coaching life.

So, from coaching to education, through to CEO?

I met off chance, through one of my readings in a tenpin bowling journal, an article written on junior sport in tenpin bowling by a gentleman by the name of Denis Johns, who later became the CEO of Tenpin Bowling Association of Queensland.

During my pharmacy days he came down to headhunt me at my pharmacy. He'd come down and he'd say, "Oh, I could see you working in sport, you know? You'd be a great coaching director, working at State level?"

And I said, "Well, why would I want to halve my salary?" (laughs) I mean, "I know, I know what you're offering me, but it's not really attractive at all." After talking with my husband, he was really supportive of the idea. He said "Oh, you love tenpin bowling! We're a two-income family so we will be OK. Why don't you take it up?"

Long story short, I continued turning my hobby into a viable career. I ended up as a coaching director for 17 years, and I loved it. I loved it every day. I really loved watching the kids in our development programs grow. I met their parents and was part of the tenpin community. And, over the years, I've seen those children get married, some divorced, have five kids and then I was coaching their kids.  I coached all levels of teams and was the mens state coach for 18 years some of those years the ladies coach as well.

(Laughs) That comes from being a dinosaur in the sport. 

And now I’m the CEO.

What a journey. You have a very interesting history, thank you for sharing that. It's quite clear that your passion is quite palpable. How did you find your footing as a CEO?

I think networks are pretty important. Just like that chance of meeting Denis Johns, that led me to earning half what I should be earning! It was a trade off, but I have loved every minute of it.

But it comes down to networks. Networking and learning as you go from other CEOs, and I am grateful to the CEO mentoring programs run by QSport. You really need those programs when you are starting out.

Over almost four decades, you've really seen the change in the sport.

We've literally grown every year, at least 5-10 percent. When we started out, we had around 30,000 kids in schools doing a modified tenpin program In HPE, and today we're around 70,000. Who doesn't want to go tenpin bowling? I mean, let's face it, everyone goes bowling at some time In their life, when was the last time you went?

(Cass speaking) Pre-COVID for me. I love bowling, but I’m not very good at it. But I do enjoy it.

See? It's very easy to sell. And conceptually very easy, but very, very difficult to master. It has an attraction that makes everyone want to give it a go.

Does that present particular challenges, being a 'public' sport?

Working in commercial centres does present some challenges. We can be hamstrung in school holiday times when a bowling centre can charge a premium amount per game, but we can work around that. It's the reality of operating within the sport and commercial sector - we hire the lanes to run our development programs from proprietors and volunteers run the competition leagues that run through the day and the evening. Over 150,000 recreational bowlers bowl every year.

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