"I'M ONE of those blokes who's played sport on a Saturday afternoon ever since I was so high," Leon Hedwards said, holding his hand 50cm off the ground.
"Cricket, football, golf, bowls - I s'pose I've had moderate success in all but never (been) any good at the lot of them."
That is how the Daylesford Bowling Club skipper answered when asked what should be known about him.
And he is not a big fan of history, preferring to think about the Saturday and season of bowls ahead.
As if to prove the point he redirects a question about his achievements to new Ballarat Regional Bowls Association president David Beardsley, who also plays at Daylesford.
"How many times have we won the triples and fours?" Hedwards asks.
A quick exchange decides on the BRBA triples once and the fours twice.
The 63-year-old has also won the BRBA pairs, five-club championships and "a couple" of Country Week singles' titles in his 29 years of bowling.
Having only ever played for Daylesford, the division-two skip has been in a couple of premierships, in divisions two and three.
Hedwards had a brief stint in division one in 2003-04 before dropping back to division two.
"We lost 10 games by under 10 shots and got relegated," he said.
"And that's what happens when you're not quite deep enough."
He feels that lack of depth - it has less than 50 Saturday pennant players - limits the club on the green.
"I think last year was the first time we haven't been in the finals for 10 years or more but we haven't been able to win it.
"I'd love to get a bit more depth and win a division two premiership and hold our own in division one, I'd be happy."
With Daylesford a thriving community, it is a shame the club cannot attract more members.
"This club has probably got as good a facility as any in the area would ever get but we have trouble bringing people to bowls, getting numbers.
"I don't know that in my time in 29 years of playing bowls that the membership's been any different to what it is now.
"While there's a hell of a lot of people come to Daylesford there's not a hell of a lot playing bowls.
"A place like this and a population like this, and we've got three men's teams in pennant, and with everything we have here, you'd think we'd have six."
Hedwards was not sure why that was, either the demographic or it is still seen as an old person's game.
But he has wanted to play ever since he was 16.
"Daylesford and Hepburn and that has football and cricket but it's strange that not a lot of those blokes come and play bowls," Hedwards said.
"They come out of the team sports but then they don't play bowls."
He is a manager of a bus company and is just nine months away from 50 years of service.
Around the time Hedwards started working is when he had his greatest achievement on the sporting field.
He captained the Korweinguboora cricket team, which consisted entirely of left-handed batsmen - but no left-arm bowlers.
They went on a winning spree of "roughly 30" consecutive matches, which included two premierships before a loss in the preliminary final.
While that era has ended, perhaps there is a new one around the corner for Daylesford.
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