BOWLS has a reputation. When I think of bowls I think of old people, green grass and silence, apart from the ball rolling through the neatly manicured lawn.

So when I arrived at Monotype Bowls Club I will admit I wasn't expecting much. I'm 23 and I'm not even very good at 10-pin bowling so definitely wasn't sure about a sport associated with the retired.

However, after meeting Monotype members, and bowls coaches, Denise and Quinten Smith - and admitting my ignorance of the sport - they kindly agreed to teach me.

Denise, an advanced coach, showed me the correct stance, the way to hold a ball and within an hour I had hit the jack twice.

There were suggestions I might have a natural talent, but I think that might have just been encouraging me to overcome the awkwardness of my game.

Making sure I had the ball the correct way round, so the weighted side would not make it curve the wrong way, I was bowling away happily in the early morning sunshine.

Of course I was bowling against myself so it might have been the consecutive wins that fuelled my good mood.

On Saturday the finals of the popular Borough Pairs competition, sponsored by the Surrey Mirror, is held in Reigate so this seemed an opportune time to have a go myself.

However contrary to the silence I expected, it appears when you have opponents, bowls can get quite heated.

"It is very much a social sport, but that isn't to say it's not competitive. It can get a bit shirty. Like any sport it is very competitive," Quinten explained.

"We get a lot of ex footballers and people who have played sport at a high standard before so they are naturally competitive," added Denise.

And it appears that just like me, Denise and Quinten associated the sport with old people, before discovering that far from that it is a sport accessible to all.

"We used to play a lot of squash but I had a major knee operation and couldn't play anymore, but I still wanted to do something competitive so I started bowls lessons. Then Quinten came along too," Denise said.

"We had been asked for quite a few years to have a go at bowls but we thought it was an old person's game which the image of it is, but as soon as we started playing we realised what a good game it is.

"You can play bowls at any level from amateur to the most competitive," Quinten explained.

"It's a game for everyone that older can still play. Older people have various handicaps like bad backs and bad knees but we try to work round them.

"There is even an artificial arm extension device that stops people have to bend down. There are special wheelchairs for use on bowls' greens too."

And also contrary to my stereotype there are in fact more than a dozen children and young people at Monotype. Most got involved after accompanying a grandparent or parent to the club, but Quinten believes the youngster show some real skill.

"Some of them have beautiful delivery," he explained.

During my lesson, members walk in and out of the club, some beginning their own practice, and each are given a warm hello by the Smiths, who know each visitor by name. It seems far from the quiet tension I had envisioned at bowls, the club are very socially focused.

"It is very good for people who have lost their partner; it's an older group and there is support there. Especially in the winter months the indoor bowls brings a social contact. They can come into the bar area. It's more than just the game," Quinten said.

Whether I am a natural at the sport I'm not so sure, but I did find out there is more to the neat grass filled with equally orderly competition than meets the eye.