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Check it out - Jess used to be a lawn bowls champion!

Oh Jess - you keep surprising us! Not only does it turn out you’re actually a dab hand at this renovating caper...once upon a time you were also a lawn bowls champ. And we have the photos to prove it!

 Jess Lawn Bowls The Block Jess used to be a lawn bowls champion! Who knew?

How amazing is that? But Jess didn’t always see it as quite so cool.
“Well, first of all, I was a virgin till I was 21 because it’s really hard to have sex when you’re a lawn bowler!” she laughs. “No guys want to touch your boobs!”

 Teen Queen Jess Lawn Bowls Jess the cover girl 'Teen Queen'.

So how did she actually get into the sport?
“It’s all because Mum thought I was in a street gang,” Jess laughs. “I was actually just out riding my bike. Anyway, she’d go and make me play lawn bowls with Nan every weekend from 11.”
Fast forward a few years, and Jess got good. Really good! So good, in fact, she began playing in a professional league.

 Jess lawn bowls Australian championships  Jess wearing the green and gold at the Australian championships

“I missed out on the Comm Games in 06,” she says. “But I played for Australia a couple of times in the Australian championships.
“We played in the professional leagues. I was one of the first women to ever play males bowls. I was in country Victoria, but I played in the male team for the Richmond Bowling Club.”
 

 Jess Lawn Bowls Front cover on Bendigo Sport in 2008 'Jessie's on a roll'.

These days Jess doesn’t have the time to play seriously, and an injury stopped her progressing further. And now she can no longer do it competitively, it just doesn’t have the same allure.
“Everyone for my birthday always surprises me with a game of barefoot bowls, and I just can’t do it. It’s not fun,” she says. “I just end up just drinking a lot!”

 Jess Lawn Bowls Champ The Block Lawn bowls just doesn’t have the same allure for Jess these days.
 Jess Lawn Bowls Jess you just keep surprising us!

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