Goulburn's star lawn bowler, Ellen Ryan, has enjoyed living the simple life for the last three months.
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When Bowls Australia announced in March that the World Bowls Championship was to be postponed by one year, Ryan was finalising her preparation as part of the Australian women's team.
In the interceding months, all bowls competitions have been cancelled and no training has been allowed due to the COVID-19 shutdowns.
But instead of worrying about a lack of playing time, Ryan has thrown herself into her work.
As a teacher's aid and newly-qualified firefighter, the 23-year-old has relished the opportunity to live a normal life during the lockdown.
"It's been nice to have a bit of time off because bowls is a year-round sport," Ryan said. "We don't get much time at home with our friends and family, so that side has been really nice.
"Just to go to work five days a week has been really nice ... I'm there five days a week, and doing fire and rescue when I'm not at the high school."
Enjoying a normal, albeit busy, lifestyle has been a rarity for Ryan, whose life is largely consumed by bowls tournaments which take her across the country and often overseas.
During her time off, Ryan has stayed connected with her Australian teammates online, who shared her sentiments.
"The whole team's said we've really enjoyed the break," she said.
"We've had Zoom and Skype meetings. We have our high performance meetings every second week, and our Jackaroos one, then our world bowls team. We have a meeting at least once a week, and they have different themes each week. It's been good [to stay in touch]."
As Bowls Australia gears up for a return to competition next month, Ryan expects to return mentally refreshed.
"Over that time i haven't been able to practice, so it'll be good to get back into it in July, they have a few tournaments set up," she said.
Bowls Australia confirmed that the ten bowlers originally selected for the World Championship would retain their spots when the tournament rolls around again, in May 2021.
Until then, Ryan will continue her fitness program and aim to shake off any rust from the lockdown.
"I was feeling good leading in to it, before they postponed it," she said.
"Once Bowls Australia say we're right, then we'll get cracking again. We still have our fitness requirements that we're meant to be doing now, but they've said have a break from bowls while you can."
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