What is Your Mat Routines

 Theme - Level 3 Subconscious performance.

For the New Lawn bowler the 5 videos of the "Delivery Doctor" is a good start to breaking your Mat time into different actions. Dan's "Pre Stance" is an introduction to actions before going to the mat "Pre-Mat Routine" and his last video "Follow through" is a start of a performance analysis "Post-Mat". 

Everyone has a "Pre-Mat" Routine and a "Post-Mat" Routine but as years of competitions change and improve our routines; we find a less thinking on the mat and more before and after our performance.

If our Mat time is  too short or too long we find that we need to manage our mental interference of our delivery as "Muscle Memory" is engaged. Where  the sport of Curling has a Delivery Cycle of  less than a minute before the next opponent take their turn at delivery; we in Lawn Bowls  probably find the two or three minutes as a problem is keeping focus. "Focus is concentration and mental discipline.

 With Lawn Bowls games of twelve ends of play it is a lot of time to remaining in "Focus", probably the hard part of Delivery is finding mental relaxation.  In curling the less than 5 second delivery (due to ice speed) and 25 second player's Delivery Cycle it is easy  for "Focus" or concentration; as with Bowls and the 15 seconds green speed and one minute or more of Mat Preparation and Delivery (Pre-Mat) and Game/Play evaluation (Post-Mat) our Focus is lost.

Focus for a two hour game (and 3 game in a competition) needs a Concentration break or "non-Focus" time and this relax non-focus time is possible between these two routines. Organizing your thinking will prevent a player from losing commitment as they leave or returning to the Mat for their next delivery. Building these two routines (pre-Pre and Post-Mat) may take many years.

 In archery, my first sport of "Muscle Memory", the shooting time at the shooting line was well controlled and afterward we had a concentration break as we walked to the target to gather our arrows and mark our score. A  total Archery "focus cycle" with serious concentration is about three minutes (before start and after finish) and easy to maintain  because umpires watched the "shooting line" silence as well defined and controlled.  Lawn Bowls with way more distractions and lacking that game control possible by the referees demands more discipline in organizing our "Focus"

To the beginner or novice, the "Pre-Mat" routine might simply be to Pick up your bowl, wipe it clean and wait for the opponent to give up the mat. Then, when on the mat you do all the many delivery checks and taught actions of a " Good Delivey" until you finish with the bowl rolling up the green. In the same manner, the beginning bowler finds the "Post-Mat" routine as simple as watching the bowl roll up the green and the reaction or communication of he skip before turning and leaving the mat for the opponent. 

 After a year or two of Bowls, the "Pre-mat" is a bit more  a check list of do's and don'ts the novice was taught to them on how to bowl and some  decisions of strategy.  (check the bowl bias,the method of holding the bowl and find your delivery line). Likewise, the  Post-Mat now looks more at what is called "Feed Back" and involved in the analysis of  certain things which happen in the delivery and even suggested actions which you think will fix it in your next delivery. Probably more a period to avoid negative attitude, such as to blame your self and  then lose your focus as your game now changes  more to a practice session. 

What I will attempt to do in this Blog is to move more information into each of these two routines and remove the needless thinking that is done while on the mat and doing your delivery. Hopefully your delivery will be simply to develop a perfection of Line and weight and a committed focus. This short "Mat delivery Routine" will be only your "Muscle Memory" doing your delivery as you move into a "Void of thought" prior to telling the mind to do the delivery.

The photo (right) of Matt Clark is  taken from his Youtube Teaching Videos where Matt as a Australian Bowls Certificated coach and does a Coaches Corner and Videos to help viewers to bowl a better game. The photo is used to show his Pre- Delivery stance, which we will develop with a short to the mat delivery and which will replace our  "How to Bowl" taught check list delivery. 

We see in the photo his hand on the Bowl arm which is probably the same movement control as some bowlers have a hand on their knee (them it is for balance). His foot on  the center of the mat as we always want to stand the same on the mat. Each player is a bit different for their own reason; and also his small step forward while waiting in preparation. You will in time have this sort of Pre-Delivery stance as you involve in your delivery how to instruct your subconscious of changes and expectations.

In a game play or competition, Matt is ready to roll his bowl as he has finished his Pre-Mat Routine. Where in a game this waiting period might be the communication with the skip on his request here in making a video, Matt now  has time to discuss his actions in the videos  ( "Matts Jack and Balls") because he is in a non-focus period until he begans his "Delivery Cycle". I feel these non-focus periods allow for a better "Muscle Memory" because when you are commit to your delivery it is total concentration or focus, and  all action are "Muscle Memory" being performed by the  Subconscious.

At this point in this blog, I should mention that  when I say "I do this" or "I do that" it is probably more what I  would be attempting to do or have  done in earlier days of play. Now at 80, and with fewer competitions; I find that to keep my focus and Routines together usually last only for the  first half of a game. By the end of a serious game, I realize that I am cutting corners and may even be going to the mat without a Pre-Mat action plan.  Yes, we have confidence in our "Muscle Memory" doing what we want and just have our goal of shot's result in mind. Without our "Pre-Mat" and having a plan of performance and analysis with things like a percentage of success; we revert back to our learning to bowl days where a "what if" attitude  allowed us to accept our poor performance.

Probably why many of us senior players are no longer competitive bowlers and  a three game competition we find so very demanding. I remember a couple of years ago doing a hard three game competition; that afterward I sat at the club"s green-side for over an hour as blood pressure returned to what is normal for me.  Eventually we begin to  avoid tournments of several days, although our love of the game draws us to them.  The biggest joy now become the seeing the potential  of these newer and younger players. We know that they are the future of the game and they will find the podium.

This biological machine which is our brain is always working or thinking and sometimes our thinking prevents us from performing an expected good delivery. Because when the conscious mind is giving instructions to our muscle, which is a distraction type  of thinking to  our "Muscle Memory" performance.  When moving into our delivery and the subconscious actions of "Muscle Memory" is to be activated; we must see thinking as the conscious mind telling the muscles what and how to do the action.

Yes, we often hear about "Muscle Memory" in sports and more in some sports than others. Opening a teaching video on Curling which is probably bowls on ice, and you will hear that  "Muscle Memory" is simple an instinctive performance which must be developed. Was surprise to have a competitive Curling friend say "Muscle Memory requires 775 hours of performance". Yes a lot of  practice and analysis by the subconscious mind is needed to teach our muscle movements. In our delivery, when we are on the mat, we must now let the subconscious mind perform these movements without interruptions. If the Conscious mind is involved with instructing the muscles actions, then  our "Muscle Memory" is not.

When we stand on the mat to do our delivery, all our thinking and analysis should have been finished and we are now in a relax and free to let our delivery be performed. If we have walked to the head and are making decisions on our next shot, this thinking is all done during the walk back. Any analysis or suggestion of changes to our delivery are done before we arrived at the mat. In the "now-to- perform" delivery you just visualize (if your visual) or think a word for the change to be done (if your vocal) and you continue toward  performing that perfect Delivery.  

Yes, it will happen. Want a foot more weight, don't think "A foot more distance with a wrist flick" just see where you want your bowl or think "There" or "More".  Throughout these blogs you will often see reference to Conscious Thinking being the mind using or instructing the muscles and "Muscle Memory" being a Subconscious actions  performing instinctive muscle movements. That is where an athletic's performance is beyond his practice as he is now letting the Subconscious do what it remembers.

However, "Muscle Memory" which requires us to shut down the Conscious mind is not easily. We can not say "turn off that biological computer". In our daily life with our home computer shutdown, everything goes blank. Well, now we also are now finding ourselves in a "void of Thought" as the delivery is performed and our brain (conscious) is shot down. We know this because when we exit that void as we see the bowl rolling up the green without rmemory of what just happen. We have performed an instinctive delivery. 

 I don't know if all athletics feel that  emptiness  of thought as they finish  their performance, but those who do often refer to this Zen-like absence of thought as being in the Zone. The great golfer,Tiger Wood in a Youtube video by Players2Kings.com (Link # 2 below) says that when he's hitting his golf ball; he does not remember anything between his back stroke and seeing his ball in flight toward the green.  He is referring to his "Void of Thought".in which "Muscle Memory" is performed his golf shot. . And Tiger in that same video says his mind is so active most of the time that he can visualize a thousand  possibilities. But he knows that he must close down the thinking  (conscious) mind to be great at what he does..

  For all the thinking in Lawn bowls we often hear or read about "Pre-Mat" routine or the Feedback or Performance Analysis; which are "Post-Mat" Actions. During our delivery as we stand on the mat, our only thought should be to relax and allow that "Void of Thought" happen.  "Muscle Memory" (and the subconscious) will  do that perfect performance when you start your delivery. 

Recently, a student asked me "How do I put that little extra distance on my bowl?". I knew she was looking for tips like a flick of the wrist, or a longer step; but my reply was only "Just think about it".  I have to realize that her club coach may have suggested one of the many tools in the "toolbox" of adjustments.  Yes, you will practice various modifications of your delivery as you learn your delivery, and see the results or for different raison; but these practices become part of your memory which the subconscious will use later in your performance and delivery.

 When you think that there is something  you need to do and make a decision to do it,  then you have already told your subconscious mind. However, if it is a new thing, then like all practice you must practice to let the subconscious mind to be instructed to use this new  muscle movements. Most of the times all you need to do for a good delivery is clear your mind of all thoughts and do your delivery. But on a new "Muscle Memory" action which is not yet a part of our instinctive performance;  you have to instruct the subconscious. And just see it or think it  will be enough thinking to get it done. Yes, believe me, it will happen if you have practice to "Short-communicate" your expection action  to be part of "Muscle Memory".

Several years past it was a practice of teaching a new bowler to Lawn Bowl with lessons that followed a sequence of severa; events or actions like how you grip the bowl, how you place yourself on the mat, verify your Bias and many others. From the club coaching the new bowler over the first few years often developed a delivery routine which they did every time they went to the mat. 

 Likewise, today many bowlers have their proper routine on the mat for seeing their line of delivery, doing their delivery weight and even how to evaluation  their performance. As we practiced our delivery and improved to the point of having a good delivery, we are always modifying and changing this delivery routine.

 We  were attempting to improve our accuracy and our performance; but  now we come to another step of self-improvement. To remove thought from our delivery routine as we development our Pre-Mat and Post-Mat routines as the place of this more detail thinking. The "Post-Mat" see and analysis what happen during our last delivery. These thoughts should no longer be on the mat but now their corrections actions are now our "Pre-Mat" decisions. All thinking and decisions  before we take possession of the mat for our "Muscle Memory" delivery.

The blog stats at right show that the season of Bowls are nearing an end and one day stat's surprise of over 500 views or visitors often happens. Why ?. Well with several major competitions happening at season's end, these online competitions are watched by players who then come to my blog searching new ideas to improve their Bowls Delivery and overall performance..

OK, now down to the meat of this blog. One could say there are five activities involved in the Lawn Bowl's performance (to and from) the mat.

1 - Delivering our bowl from the mat. 

2 - Watching the delivery ("Post-Mat") 

3 - "Pass Mat to Opponent" as we walk back

4 - Prepare for next delivery ("Pre-Mat"). 

5 - "Possestion of Mat" as we step to the mat 

 (If you need to relax or talk to your coach it is usually here between 3 and 4 unless you are busy watching opponent's delivery).

 So lets start from 1 -  Mat/Delivery Cycle is that we are on the mat and allowing our "Muscle Memory to do an Instinctive Delivery.  Since our understanding of our Delivery is the objective of these two routines we will start at the finish of our delivery, after which nothing we do will change that delivery and it is here our cycle of heavy thinking begins. 

As the bowl is released to the green, we began  the Post-Mat Routine which is our study of our delivery and  our analysis of our delivery. For the most accurate  information it should be within these few seconds of the bowl rolling of your hand as this is the most valueable information of your Post-Mat routine. 

 As you see the bowl begin to roll up the green you can fell all the errors of your delivery, whether it was movements,  a distractions,  our  balance or something else; now is the time to listen to your body, as at this moment, these seconds after the delivery everything is fresh in our mind and clear. 

Beside feeling your body, you are still in your delivery (post-delivery movements) and maybe things your extended arm, not pointing in the direction of your  delivery line , or your thoughts, that distraction, shows an error.  By looking now you not only see it but also remember it. Later when doing an analysis of your delivery in the Post-Mat these memories will help better understand your thinking.

Yes you are probably still looking up the green but now you must look down to the "Bowl Contact Point", or that location on the green where your bowl has made first contact. This change in thought stops you watching the bowl roll and begins collection information. On the green there may be a line of the previous roll. made by your previous bowls which allows to compare this roll to the previous. Has your bowl the same line  as you watch it roll up the grass and now you compare it to the previous roll and  delivery. 

At this point you mind is actively recording (memories) many things you see and feel. Without this change in thought you would be involved in a 12 second view of  your delivery instead of starting youra "Post-Mat" routine. You may even visualize the bowl as to where it should finished because of reference to the bowl lines on the green.

 These feelings will be part of the correction actions you will decide to do to improve your delivery when after the bowl stopping in the head you use the information in your "Pre-Mat" routine just prior to you returning to the mat for your next delivery.

From this watching the Bowl  roll up the green, you can compare it with previous similar data and creat  your "perfect delivery line". If it is good, you will actually visualize it having stopped in the head before it does and feel a judgement of success or  failure.

 But the image of  your bowl rolling up the green and your thought of where you feel the bowl will finish in the head is important to visualize and feel. 

 Instead of waiting the 13 seconds (slow Canadian Green's time) for your bowl to arrive and stop in the head,  your  use of this "Bowl Contact Point"  will allows you to better analysis that delivery 

The photo (right) is from a Youtube Lawn Bowls Drill by Matt Clark   which capture Matt putting  his bowl onto the green also shows that he is looking up the green which most of us do as we deliver our bowl. (Video Link #3)

However, at this point we can look down at where the bowl is laid to the green and begin our Post-Mat Routine and analysis as later you can think back to how you felt. Feelings are important for reading your focus or concentration and remembering your thoughts before knowing where the bowl arrived in the head. 

As you watch every second of your bowl,s roll, you will more easlier notice any changes in it roll caused by the surface or envirorment. You by now know  your bowl's Bias Curve and any changes now are clear to later analysis also the action of the skip (or 2 nd)  the bowl stopped in the Head. All this important data for the "Muscle Memory" because when you repeat that same delivery and match the memory to what you see; you will have a positive reaction to your performance..

  As you don't need the skip to suggest a line of delivery, this become a habit for the skip and even  doing a competition and a very good bowlers on the mat; the skip will continue to suggest the line of delivery. Now as your bowl rolls up the green you can see if your line and the skip's suggestion is the same.

 As you bowl approaches the head and passes the jack the skip will probably indicate it as "Jack High". and/or then indicate the final distance from the jack.

This information from the skip allows you to see  the weight of your delivery and where many players have already turned away, this is an error. Although the skip is expected to finish his communication when your bowl has stopped; often there is the use of understandable  hand signals that continue between you both. 

 When your bowl has stopped you should immediately turn and leave the mat even if the skip is still sending communication signals or talking as you give the control of the greens, mat and game to your opponent.

 Now begans the analysis and thinking that is so important in your "Post-Mat" routine. You may decide as you walk away from the mat to wait a bit before analysis and evaluation of your delivery, but everything is a fresh memory and as your focus is in master mode you are more likely to decide good results. If you wait until you start your Pre-mat before this analysis you may forgot to do it as you will next watch the opponent's delivery and roll. 

When in your Post-Mat thinking you analysis that last delivery do it is sequence starting with the information collected from the "Bowl Contact Point" feelings.It is easy to jump to the last image of your viewing of the delivery which is the skip in the head. The least important unless you are remembering the bowl in the head as to your arriving bowl. 

Do each section of information gathering , one by one and even review your bowl's rolling up the green. See and feel you thoughts at that time. If it was a perfect delivery and arrived where you wantedit, then let that excitement and joy of success also be a part of your "Post-Mat" analysis as it with strength your focus.

 Feedback and the positive vibs from those feelings of  a successful delivery are  "Focus" food, in that our emotions become part of every delivery if positive. If negative feelings are allow to become your analysis it will not lead to a better performance.

Most likely your bowl is not where you wanted it and now in the Post-Mat you are attempting to understand why. Feedback from your delivery will become decisions in your Pre-Mat Routine; but walk lightly on this analysis. Not all bad deliveries are your fault or an error in delivery. Don't be quick to change your delivery before looking for other reassons for that bowl happening when it did.  Maybe the green speed had changed due to a change in the enviroment. If you saw your bowl roll as a bad delivery try to understand why. There is time to learn at your next practice but know what you are doing wrong so as to practice it correctly.

For example, That small bounce of your bowl took some of the weight of delivery away fromyour bowl and where it would have arrived if it was a lower rolling type delivery. Or that wobble on the bowl is an error in your grip or a wrist twist error when you go to the mat think of that image so the "Muscle Memory' can modify your delivery. All these things are your thoughts now, but if you try  to correct them now and it is not necessary then when "Muscle Memory" is doing your delivery your conscious mind is in control and telling the muscles what to do. Do you want "Muscle memory" delivery or a Practice and testing delivery?.

While doing these analysis and thinking, don't be in too much of a hurry to move into the "Pre-Mat" routine by seeing the error and now thinking what you are going to do to fix it, When you have identified the cause you can allow your self to move on and to see everything else that bowl roll tells you. There will be time in a few minutes to decide what to do to fix that mistake. Yes Post-Mat and Pre-Mat thoughts overlap but Feedback is thing about what you saw. And it is not the action of picking up your bowl and showing yourself how you probably gripped the bowl wrong. Finish your analysis and be Positive about what you saw and what you want to do to correct it.

I use my "Picking up the Bowl" for the next delivery, as my change from "Post-Mat" to "Pre-Mat" and often I take a deep breath and relax a few minutes. Then I go over the "Post-Mat" information and apply it to my views of why and how to correct something I have seem. If you have  a long delay as you wait for the opponent to finish their delivery; and you don't want to start your "Pre-Mat", then you work on your "Focus" with relaxation or positive thinking. 

Yes, there are those bad delivery but you must go to the mat with a fresh Positive thought of doing a good delivery and  somethimes to not do your "Pre-Mat" correction will have a better results then be too quick to do a Pre-Mat" more than the physical actions and checks. To redo the same  performance and delivery may be the best analysis as some time we don't have all the information and the 2nd time give a clear view of what happen..

After a small break in thinking for water or a friendly word you should be now with bowl in hand and beginning you "Pre-Mat" routine. The "Pre-Mat" routine was started by individual who did not want to be on the mat doing all the things they were taught for a perfect delivery. So now before going to the mat you check your bias, and apply all the thoughts of corrections from your feedback and Post-Mat analysis. If you made a mistake then correct it. But if you think "this would be better" then a change may not be the best decision. Remember it and wait until you return to this direction of play in 2 ends and maybe the placement of the mat will be the solution to the problem. (like a bad ridge which stole your bias)

"Taking possession of the mat is your connection with your skip as he is also taking possession of the head. Step onto the mat and wait for your skip because when you are on the mat, it defines that your team now has possession of the green and the rules of Lawn Bowls about possession of the Green, Mat, and Head apply.

 If your skip is not in the head then take time to do other things like checking the mat is on center line or the protective screen (if being used) is not badly placed. Most important is from this point until your bowl has been delivered and stop rolling at the jack; your expecting of your opponent a sportman like respect of the rules.. 

At this point your skip may be communicating to you what they want for your delivery.It should be short and best if not verbal. You and him have 2 minutes for this communication and your Bowl to be delivered and stop. Actually it is a lot of time but also some skips  spend  too much with  instructions and can waste the time. If necessary you can go to the head if the condition of play allow it, but often a walk to the head breaks your focus and Mat routine cycle.

As your skip finishes his instruction you should feel free to suggest your opinion as it is a team discussion but in the end it is the skip's decision. Now you step from the mat two steps back and begin to finish your Pre-Mat Routine.  You may have earlier decided to check certain problems with your delivery, like a bad grip of your bowl, and now is when you are going to check that you make those changes. In your Pre-Mat routine you are going to do everything from verify bias or proper grip and even proper attitude as you prepare to return to the mat. If the skip's instruction was to change delivery from "Forehand" to "Backhand"; if you think about a frequently made errors with that change of delivery;  your subconscious will remember to watch not to make that mistake this time. 

Why step back from the mat ?. When you are on the mat and your delivery in progress you skip and opponents in the head should not be moving or causing any visual or verbal distractions.  When you return to the mat you should expect such conditions and if something happens as a distraction then step of the mat and after a few seconds taken to re-compose you return to the mat .  Your skip will see there is a distraction and it is his task to see that the distraction is addressed if it is an infraction of the rules.

Your stepping back from the mat allow you to identify you are preparing for your delivery (Pre-Mat actions and thoughts). As a bowler  on the mat in a serious game, you expect the rules about procession of the rink (mat) to be applied and respected.  Off the mat you are doing all the actions of preparing for your delivery and remembering the previous delivery and it's mistakes. If the opponent needs to reposition them self to be invisible (behind the skip) now is their time. Especially if flies are the problem and they are waving their harms chasing a fly.

Eventually all these actions in your "Pre-Mat will become part of your "Muscle Memory"; but you decision on "Post-Mat" analysis should be remembered and what  you decided to do be the intention of this delivery.When you step to the mat for your delivery, the subconscious mind (Muscle Memory) requires total control and a  brief instructions or images of how to fix that bad delivery is all it needs. 

If your "Pre-Mat" Routine is consistanly performed you won't have to think an instruction while on the mat because the "Pre-Mat" and Delivery are seen by the subconscious as one action with a 2 step of  action with seperate objectives. It does not need anything more than a visual thought for the subconscious to know your change in delivery.

When you return to the mat you are just going to find your body placement for the right Line of delivery and do a couple of pendulum swing movement and do your delivery. If your thought of  corrections are during this time of Delivery then your mind will allow your conscious mind to instruct your muscles and "Muscle Memory" or that instinctive delivery will not happen. 

Myself, my Delivery routine is a bit more complex because of communication I have developed  with my Subconscious which are remainders. For example, on certain jack distances, especially long ones near the back Ditch;  I am often instructing the subconscious of errors made because of our mind in reading distance to the jack. (A club house at green side behind the jack will make the jack be evaluated closer or people at the clubhouse create a distraction which may require more "Focus" during my delivery.)

 I often suggest to bowlers who have finished their "Pre-Mat" with thoughts of decisions or correction to just use a short sentence thought to the subconscious while on the mat.  But not too long a though becomes such thoughts become  "Conscious" instruction to the muscles on how to do the correction. When the subconscious returns control to the Conscious, you are no longer in the Zone.

 At this time on the mat you should allow yourself  to relax and go into a place of calm. The absence of thought or empty "Void of thought" is because the Conscious mind has passesd control to the subconscious to allow an instinctive  delivery performance.

In understand how the subconscious mind take control of our muscles we must realize that we don't tell the lungs to breath or the muscles of the legs to balance our body. The subconscious does many thing during our sport performance and at a later point we have to learn to turn off the Subconscious which is doing something instinctive. 

As Example, if during the "Post-Mat" Bowl Contact Point analysis (as explained above) you felt a lost of balance; you canbe sure the subconscious was doing "Muscle Memory" actions to prevent you from falling. But this feeling of lack of Balance also affected your delivery and the subconsicous actually was causing interference with our performance. 

Another example is hearing a sound and turning to see what was said. As we turn our mind to think of that sound, our body has also started to turn. Result.  A bad delivery or off-line delivery. In this instant the solutiion is to develop a better concentration or "Focus" and be able to remove hearing the sound at that point. If not you should develop the ability to back off the mat and restart your Delivery.

 When we come to the mat to do our delivery, we just let our body do it instinctively. (by itself  without instructions or corrections) because that is the job at the subconscious. Most important,  if you want "Muscle Memory" to do your delivery instinctively,  then during your personal development of Pre-Mat and Post-Mat routines you work to not allow the subconscious to transfer control to the conscious mind by thinking too much. Only a word or image is subconscious communication.

Video References

Link #1 - "Matts Jack and Balls"

www, youtube.com/watch?v=5BjLdDL75Yw

Link #2 -  Tiger Woods Mental Focus - Words of wisdom & Advice

   www. youtube.com/watch?v=T1mSMDoVqcg

Link #3 - Lawn Bowls Drills - Develop Your Consistency Tips - YouTube

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BjLdDL75Yw

My Tina Meter and Changing Green speeds

 We all have our Pre-game Preparation and sometimes, with a very important competitionl our preparation starts several weeks before the competition. Normally for local competitions the preparation  is nothing more than an hour before the game is to start. Photo below of West Toronto Lawn Bowling Club in Canada

 The most common seen pre-game preparation is the players on the green rolling bowls in the opposite direction of game play to learn about the "green speed", I am sure that they wish there was a meter which one simply pointed and then able to read the green speed.  Well I now have my "Tina Meter" which is the lastest mental tool as part of Post-mat Routine. Better to know if I did a bad delivery or to be able too verify if  my error in delivery weight is because there  has been. a green speeds change.  Also now when starting a new direction of play I check for the green speed as part of my  Pre-mat Routine for my first bowl if I am lead or second player.

The "Tina Meter", my latest mental skill to be placed into my Lawn Bowls toolbox allow me to follow the changing speed of the green during game play by simply watching the bowl roll of others.

 A couple of weeks ago I was discourage as I watched a Provincial Qualification Singles Competition at our club with the best of our Montreal lawn Bowlers. After 6 ends of play it was obvious that no-one had yet adapted to the green speed. Why ? Because in that hour the greens had changed speed three different times and all the players were either very heavy or too light in their delivery. My club is under the Airport Flight Path and most heads looked like the bowls had just fallen out of some overhead passing airplane, rather than tight competition heads.

The day of the competition had been a hot day of about 30 degrees and there was no activity on the club greens until 6 o'clock when green"s committee members began preparing for the 7 p.m. competition. About 10 minutes before game time a few players began rolling bowls north-south to learn the green speed as the rinks for the competiton which were setup to be played east-west direction..

The previous week I had given to a club member my "Single 201" hour long course on several things needed to learn about your opponent before the start of your Single game. (This course is for 3rd or 4th bowlers who are preparing for a Single Competition). In explaining how green speed changes and giving my course in mid-afternoon at an empty club; I had had rhe student roll her natural distance bowls toward "east" and then rolled another natural distance toward "west". She discovered her natural distance at 26 meters (EAST) and 25 meter (WEST) although her normal Natural distance on the club greens is 25.5 meters.

 I explained that the sun in the east during most of the morning, had caused the grass to bend eastward, Showing with a bend finger hand how the grass  bent even though rather short I explained that  her 25.5 meter natural distance was now 18 inches (1/2 meter) more because of less resistance on the bent grass. Likewise, going west, her bowl had to rolled against bend-over grass which was offering more resistance thus losing  18 inches.(1/2meter of her natural 25.5 meter) 

This envirorment effect on the green speed and the different direction; which occurs every day and differently for different weather conditions; are an important aspect of "Delivery Weight". Every game you play has a different  envirorment conditions wheather it is the sun, mild or heavy rain or just a temperature changes during the game. And all serious lawn bowler know this as part of their Pre-game preparation. A unique situration occured last weekend as the Provincial Pairs was played in the rain. During the end of the 2nd game of three the rain stop and the sun came out as bright as a hot summer day.  Within 30 to 45 minutes as the 3rd game was started it was discovered that the grass has began bending toward the setting sun (in the west) and green speed had increased.

  Earlier in the day in that competion as I watched in a fairly heavy down pour of rain i  saw that when the players changed direction of play amd the rain stopped; that with the two or three minutes as the teams scored their end of play, cleared the bowls from the green and set up the protective screens and the mat for the next end of play the greens had quickly consumed the rain. But because no players had a Pre-mat routine which expected them to analysis the new conditions of play; when the players came to play their first bowl they were all two and three meters behind the jack. Maybe a good back bowl but not a good lead bowl. The leads were still rolling their bowls for the weight they had needed in the previous end of play with the fairly heavy rain and of 14 lead bowlers ( 7 games of pair competition) only 2 players had a near jack bowl.  The pre-mat routine, if it existed would have asked "Has anything changed since last bowling this direction?" and  the answer would be "No more rain" and expect the player to adjust delivery weight in accordance for this condition. 

As mention earlier about a competition where the Greens had change speed three times in the first  hour of play, one might ask "How can that be ?" This seem  a bit too much to believe; however in knowing and  explaining this situration it will help the reader to understand how the envirorment and conditions of play as they change will effect our game and performance.

First, the day of the competition the greens were fast because of the heat of the day. As players went to start their competition on an eastly direction rink they had a 18 inches or more distance weight for their bowl roll.  But because the game was at 7 pm and the sun setting, now the water surrounding Montreal which is within only a half a kilometer south of the clubhouse.

 Of course it is still a early june with a cold air arrived off the water  toward our club's green.. Players in the 3rd end of play began finding water on their bowls. (condensation of cold air and the hot day greens) which increased the speed of the green even more.(dew as a minor wetness which increases green speed) But as bowls rolled the green in line to the jack and players walked up the center of the green these water droplets became broken and dropped into the green creating a return to normal 'Dew green speed" for  the next 3 ends of play. So now halfway through the tournment the greens had returned to the speed of  when the players had had started their competition.  

You may say, "A lot to think about" but a serious bowler know this and expects these speed difference due to the envirorment. Hot days or Rain or Morning Dew are all apart of the game and we know to expect it. My pre-mat thinking for the first bowls to deliver as a lead would be (east +18, west - 18) as I think how the green speed effect of my delivery weight. Ofcours, I would not be  considering the month as June and how the St-Laurance is still cold water temperature and until I saw my bowls wet with concentration I certainly would not think to add a another 12 or 18 inches delivery weight.. But experience tells me that after three or 4 ends the speed would return to their original speed of the green. 

All players should practice at different part of the day because competitions can be morning, afternoon or evening games. Especially in early morning games where in Canada, the cold night leave a dew on the green and the green slowly gains speed as the day advances. So now I have my "Tina Meter" and I can watch any opponent bowls, or my team mates and make adjustment for the changes in green speed. Yes it is a reference, but it suggest to me corrections to my weight. Ofcourse, if we  see all of the bowls in front or behind the jack it is also likely a green speed has occured as not everyone on two team is going to make the same mistakes of over weight or under weight deliveries.

As they roll their bowl, I begin counting   (1,2,3,4,...22,23,24..) as their bowl leave their hand and is touching the green. My count is my fast school kid count and it only matters because I know my delivery weight per my count. At 20 I have my club green spead and a "Natural Distance" delivery needs nothing added.

Today, whe I see the opponent bowls behind the head and think that the opponent has a difficulty playing that distance; I now count the delivery and see if there is a change in green speed.  How ? On my home club green I know the speed as I have played enough to feel the speed as fast or slow.. My bowl took a count fo 20 before stopping. This is my "Tina Meter" and if I watch a bowl now on another club's green as it roll and start counting on the contact to the green and stop counting when the bowl has stopped I know how this club"s green speed is in relation to my club green and my Natural distance delivery. 

Went out to  a competition at Westmount this week and the greens had several two wheel cart marks up and down the green. We discovered that they had recently fertilized the green as our bowl now slowed down as it became covered with fertilizer.

 With the "Tina Meter" I was able to evaluate how much to adjust my delivery weight. Where previously I might have wasted a bowl or two to discover the needed change in weight I started heavy by two meters. Also I was able to discover if it was better to not clean my bowls after each end of play. My thought was that the bowl can only pick up so much fertilizer and then roll would be consistance. This was not true as more and more fertilizer was possible to be added to the bowls. It builded upon the previous fertilizer on the bowl. Actually the opponent skip had assigned to the lead to wipe and wash his bowls while she waited for the 2nd player to bowl.

Paula Factor - Over thinking your game

"Paula factor" is what I learned tonight as I call the lesson and I will remember to use it in my pre-mat routine before my delivery. I had the game in my grasp and was sure of the win. But at the game beginning, when I was thinking as a skip and not as a player who may have to make a hard shot; I did not study my greens or try to make shots which I might have to make later.  An important early game point is of staying focus, but sometime you just are so sure of yourself that you forget your focus and the game play. As the first ends of play progress you may forgot that you are a player out to do their best; and let slip away long learned lessons which have always been applied. I could say this is the first competition of the year 2015, but I know this is not an acceptable excuse for not drawing at least 1 of 3 bowls to within 2 feet of the jack.

  There is a point of staying focus but there is sometime the fact that you just are so sure of your self that you forget your focus and game play as a player and let slip that long learned lesson developed and being applied. (I could say this is the first competition of the year but not an acceptable raison for not drawing 1 of 3 bowls to within 2 feet)

The blog stats (above and at right) show "Using the Head" stats of blog readers with the total readers now at 116,276 as of yesterday on the 260 blogs over the last 10 years or more. The winter blogs was about the ability to influence the subconscious and the ride home from tonight's game with Anne my previous club president brings up some interesting facts about this topic and how to trick the subconscious into performance..  but that note for later at the end of this blog.

Paula had been a member of a inter-provincal team preparing and asked me to coach them in preparation. Coaching for a major competition is not a few minutes on the green and a few words.. It is a study of the team and the team chemistry and teaching them to work together.

But tonight as we stated our "Super League" game I was happy in the first three ends to see the score was only 1 point ends; and was 2-1 after the third end. As skips usually talk in the head while waiting for bowlers to bowl; I said to Paula "It is a nice score,  as the first four ends are to collect information and if they are only single points end, it is a good start" Because that information was part of the teaching I gave last year to her team's leads in preparing for the Governor Generals (a intereprovincal competition) she replied "I know" and a remainder to me that I had previously talked about that.

A good reply as it said nothing but said everything. How ?? Ok this was a money game and focus is important to win and have the high score with points and ends counting to win the pot. So her "I know" suggested to me that at her level she did not want chit-chat.  I remembered that I had told her  last year and  her reply also told me that I often am too talkative during the game. It also said to me "Not one of your lessons again" as this year I try to fix this fault of a long time coach. (Now unless I am asked for information I don't give it).

As the game progress, I continued to study the opponents as to their forces and weakness to build my "Game Strategy" but her short comment had changed my thinking to the point that I had forgot a very important part of those first 4 ends of play. The time when I am on the mat as a  bowler and not a skip.  "Collect the information" applies to skip preparing his game but also every player must collect for their performance.. In my case I forgot to be  a player and check those things I needed to know in order to play a great bowl when the time came to be needed. 

To explain the "4 end Rule" of information and game strategy. In a 12 or 14 end game of play the game can be broken into 4 types of play. Collect the needed information (First 4 ends), Process it for Points gathering (next 4 ends), Keep your lead or Catch-up, (Change your strategy and get back into game - 4 ends) and Close with a win. (if more than 12 ends of play)

The green was slow and I expected it to speed up as the sun settled but with two ladies as the balance of my  triples; I worked to build a point spread and try to use their abilities and jack length as points. At the 4th end (end of info gathering); I grabbed a 3 pointer and than another 2 and another 1 in the next 2 ends. I had only given up 1 end of 1 point. So with the score now 9-3 at the 6th I was ready to allow single point ends or lose only a single points.as my Game strategy. (going into "Keep you lead or Catch up" section of play)

The Paula Factor applies now in my pre-delivery thoughts, because as a player I must learn from my bowls and in those first 4 ends do hard shots to learn my bowl's reactions on the upper side of a ridge which is a difficult greens for me a left-hander bowler. As we move into the 2nd section of 4 ends; I was expecting that the Lead and 2nd would follow my game strategy as we collected points each end of play.

Of note here is that sometimes a player feels they are asked the impossible shot by the skip (or so they believe) and a good skip will understand you  know your own ability. A lead or 2nd should always be encourage to suggest that the skip's call is not their choice. If the skip insists then do your best, but often a skip will respect your opinion. Often the skip has his reasons for the requested line of delivery and will be willing to explain later in the clubhouse after-game chat.

But what happen, I was so occupied with using and gathering the information to make my game strategy that I forgot to do those shots which gave me a read or knowledge of the green which I might have to play. Worst than that, being left-handed, my bowls are 2 feet or more to the left than those of the  right-handed bowlers. I must always collected the needed information as a player even if I am occupied as skip collecting information on the opponent's weakness and strengths. In this case, I did not do my own preparation and study and when at the end game I needed the information for my green  and for my best performance; I was not up to my delivery ability.

On the 7th end after taking a few points each end of play, they change the strategy of Mat-line with Short Jacks. Skip Paula now requested a 3/4 length jack  and the short bowls of my ladies now was  not reaching the head, Coming to the mat, I had the opponent's bowls all around the jack ( with 5 or 6 points). I had just  done a draw to within 1 foot of the jack in the previous end for a 2nd point and after losing the jack to a game of a long jack my draw and ability to read that "ridge" green was missing in my knowledge.. Now with  a score of 6-9, I came to the mat with a "saving our bacon" strategy.  I had 3 bowls to cut the 6 points down to 1 or 2 at most, but I had never rolled over this area of green and a ridge (fall) stole my bowl as it ran straight across the green into the frontal bowls. New score 12-9. My  point lead had been destroyed and I was now in "Catch up" mode withonly  a few end to play remaining. 

Of course we lost with them playing full length jacks and my front end not getting near the jack. I tried to steal the mat as this club and others in Quebec have a bad habit of not installing "Mat-Line" markers and players usually put a short mat. My first measure show a legal mat by 2 inches.  And of course the opponent's lead and 2nd now are checking their mat lenght. ( tried as a short jack would have allow for a tied score as we approach the last 2 ends of play.

The "Paula Factor", as I now call it for my memory is "Collect your information as skip but don't forgot your information and study as a player". In some game like Bowls 4s the skip gives the information collection and play decision to the front end as a responsibility until he or she take back control of the game. As this was a "Pick up team" (random draw) of members from 4 clubs I did not know my players. But to forgot to read and analysis my green and performance is a major mistake. Important enough to be named and remembered in my Pre-mat routine and Post-Mat evaluation. A lesson I will not forgot soon. Thank you Paula.

This stats photo is again reported (two days later) here, to show how quickly my blog readers seek out new blogs which were commented to my Twitter followers (Now X). Also, some blogs I believe are teaching aids suggested by coaches (Pre-mat video 785 reads) Most blog visitors then seek out other topics of their interest. ( Here only 26 readers stayed to seek out topics for a total 204 reads)

Now about "Muscle Memory" and how to influence the subconscious or instinctive mind without doing conscious instructions to the muscles on how to do a shot. During the winter past my blog has been about communication with the subconscious mind which does our "Muscle Memory" and one of my students at this high level has been Anne who not only does National and interprovincial competition but also goes south to the USA for international competitions.

Last year, Anne began communicating with the subconscious mind and as she said tonight; "When one hears you say the mind collect information and you can modifies your "muscle Memory"; People would think you are crazy"  But this summer in her new sport where quality coaches at $50 an hour or Corrective Coaches at $40 an hour are common place she has been seeing more of this Subconscious correction and modification. "She was even aware of such strong concentration of having experience "out of body" performance.

A "out of Body"performance occurs when you allow your subconscious mind or instinctive abilities to do the shot and you only think of what you want done. But even further concentration results that you visually see the shot and imagine seeing yourself doing the shot like a spectator watching from a distance.  A strange experience which come at this high level of performance known by athletics but seldom spoken of because it seems no one will understand.

I explained to Anne that the next step would be Pre-Zone actions (touching a racket during the swing) which will replace that verbal (long worded) thought with a meaningless action to advise the subconscious to modify "Muscle Memory". To those readers who have followed "Subconscious communication" this is like a "Tag" which was  a corrective action.

The mind is a strong part of a "Closed Sport" where you and your performance is what make the podium and not the rest of the team.

Communication with the Subconscious 3/3

  Psychology Today Canada   on June 24, 2021 had  an article by R.Douglas Field, Ph.D who explained under the title of "How Muscle Memory Works"  and which says "A recent study shows that interspersing short breaks between repetitions encodes skill memories better than back-to-back practice sessions". 

This publication is interesting because as Coaching Sessions teaches us "Coaches" the students have a level of saturation which when learning we attempt to lengthen our talks. Now, with new research we see that the brain also needs a rest. In another recent article, published on June 8 in the "Cell Report"  Dr Field  suggest  that "Mental Saturation" also occurs when our brain are over worked. 

The "Cell Report" study states that " the presence of prominent, fast waking neural replay during the same rest periods in which rapid consolidation occurs. The observed replay is temporally compressed by approximately 20-fold relative to the acquired skill, is selective for the trained sequence, and predicts the magnitude of skill consolidation".

The article says "Building “muscle memory,” that is, developing a new skill through practice, does not work the way you probably believe, (according to a new study published in the June 8 issue of Cell Reports.) "You’ve no doubt had the frustrating experience in learning a new skill, that you continue to flub up even though you make repeated attempts over and over. Yet, if you put the challenge aside for a bit and come back to it later, you find that you are now much more proficient. In learning a new skill, it turns out that the breaks between repetitions are where the action is. By monitoring how neural activity in the brain (and their) changes during learning a new skill, researchers report that mental “instant replay” after each performance is critical to perfecting the skill. Moreover, these mental flashbacks have been missed by scientists previously for a surprising reason" . 

What Dr Field is talking about is what we call "Feedback" in our performance. We have preparation, performance and Evaluation and the Feedback is our evaluation and study of what occurs and why.

And later writes "Why, then, is this essential post-performance mental rehearsal not obvious to us as we struggle to learn a new skill? It turns out that the “mental instant replay” flashes through the brain at warp speed—20 times faster than the original experience."

 There are two interesting aspects of this article. First, “mental instant replay”  is a part of Feedback after the practice has been done. Later when using these collected “mental instant replay” by the subconscious mind the athletic can switch from the memory of one "instant replay" to another "instant replay" memory, and with the new memory establish the actual distance to the target (Bowl or Petanque ball) of the intended action.

In the recent Subconscious Mind in Petanque blog it was interesting to see how inter-action of minds interfere with performance. In the article I used a 2024 Petanque Tête à Tête Competition to suggested  as a game video for viewing in preparation for this subject matter.

A good profile of Dylan Rocher and his many good instructive videos (in French) under the KTM Petanque official name can be found in french. We are lucky for these videos as he knows well his subject of Petanque.

 Being  one of the Best Petanque players of our era; and as we watch the "Take-out" performance of  the 2020 PPF Grand Final "Tête-à-Tête Final  we agree that Dylan Rocher's performance against Michel Hatchadourian is as beautiful as expensive art. The Passion Petanque Francaise (PPF) final video  was capture and  made available on Youtube by B J Petanque which is still available. With Dylan's style of "Step into Shooting Circle" think.. decide.. and Shoot (Tir) we see a single arm swing resulting in  a perfect take-out shot. If we watch his performance in the 2024 Shooting competition we see why Dylan is consider the best.  Yes result and accuracy are important but an athletic can become tired quickly if these mental conflicts are not addressed by a profession like a Sport Psychologist.

This blog is intended to show why  with these type of changes or performance improvement at this high level of development, all sports should offer their athletics a sport psychologist or top of the line coach with experience in these subconscious (mental) interactions and performance.

 Also a lot can be learned from the comparsion of  videos and sometimes with a very long jack and take-out distance the athletic will move toward the memory of previous extremely long take-out shots and attempt to use a method of "memory retreival" of previous "Memory Image" for the subconscious use in knowing the distance. Often the athletic advances int a development or action which changes his normal shooting style. If you must communicate changes or new development with the Subconscious mind it must be done careful and not return control to the conscious mind which will want to tell the muscle how to do this expected action of preformance.

 Let me explain this a bit farther.  Above we read of new studies which show that the brain needs time to store the data of a practice. And of course, we later, in this blog and others, explain that the subconscious can use a memory of a previous performance to calculate the distance to the target. Two new terms are introduced with this subconscious action. "tells"  and "Tags" where a "Tag" is a small action placed in the Pre-shot routine (or the Delivery Routine) to remind the subconscious of an interrupting thoughtn. "Tells" are a similar actions which have remained from the athletic's practice and indicates to a viewer the athletic's communication with the subconscious.  "Tells" may eventually disappear from the delivery routine after the new "Muscle Memory" trait has been incorporated into the action.

However, a problem can occurs during the introduction of this corrective action. If the "Tag" become the thought of "Tap you toe" instead of "Bowls" (for the auditive person) or seeing the "memory  image" of the Bowl's Bias (for the visual person); you are now consciously instructing the muscles to move your foot. The "Tag" is an interruption communication to the subconscious mind and the right word or image must be heard or seen during the "Muscle Memory" interruption.

 Yes, you are instruction your foot to bend and tap your toe, and that thought or action as you think about it is as useless as put a bandage anywhere on your arm or leg instead of  putting the bandage with medical ointment on the actual place of the cut or injury. If this action is to become part of your “Delivery Routine” then the thought (word or image)  must be not a conscious command to the muscles but instead an instruction to the subconscious to think abut a change before performing the actual delivery. In the same manner to try to think '' Do not twist your wrist like in curling, this is Bowls" is useless. You should only hear "Bowls" or see the "Bias image" and no more, as if it is a microsecond of interruption in the "Muscle Memory" before it is performed. When braking a car if you are thinking of spilling your coffee and realize the danger is not a child that ran infront of the car but a cat or squirrel then your instinctive actions will be changed as the danger is not what the “Muscle Memory” was instructed to perform. 

Sometimes the "Tag" become a permanent part of the performance and likewise is also a "Tell" however very often a "Tag" is forgotten eventually when the reason for the "Tag" has been achieved.  In the Youtube video of "Mark Wildeboer Petanque Shooting" we see such a ".Tell". Probably when Mark was developing his "Memory image projection" as part of his preparation for the shot; he used his "toe-tap" as a "Tag" to process more than one "Memory image" as he progressed his calculation of the target distance by the subconscious. But also, we discover that the subconscious mind is lazy to wait for the proper time and here Mark probably forced the subconscious mind to wait as he did "Three taps" or process two images and one confirmed before his shot.

So today, Mark Wildeboer can be seen (with a Tell) of lifting his left toe a couple of times before doing his take-out shot action. The viewer sees the "Tell" now after it has become a permanent part of "Pre-shot routine"; and concluse that Mark is probably using a sort of  "Memory image" (of a previous take-out shot) as he watchs his memory of those ball  fly to the target ball.  Because the first "chosen memory" is not of the correct distance (your viewing is cut short because that memory was a shorter distance to the target): Mark has changed his viewed "memory image". This sort of subconscious distance calculation also occur in Lawn Bowls with athletics "Pre-delivery" Routine have a three or four arm-swing in their delivery as they are establishing  the "Jack" distance before the delivery action.

A second possibility is that Mark has left this "Tag" as part of his "Pre-shot routine" because very often we skip over "Pre-shot Routine" actions as we become over confident. If in his efforts to see the image of his ball flying to the target and making contact, he discovered during his development of this subconscious "Switch Memories" action; he could not  accept that memory image as the correct distance and therefore could not initialize his shot.  In the above Petanque video  of Dlyan Rocher  2020 "Tete a Tete"; we  can see his opponent Michel Hatchadourian not  able to accept his readiness for his "take-out" performance. Instead, we see him going back and doing his "Tag" over and over instead of having decided that after three times the "Tags" he has completed the preparation and can now do the take-out shot.

When you work on this type of subconscious calculation you are always waiting for a feeling of confirmation that  your distance is correct. As mention above, Michel, is not able to accept his readiness. This is the conflict of Conscious and Subconscious mind.  If your viewing of the memory does not reach the distance of the target,  you attempt it again and as push the distance a bit farther you arrive at the ball (or Jack if Lawn Bowls). Remember after years of the sport your mind has seen you do this distance and action hundreds of times. In this case of subconscious action development, the toe-tap was kept as part of the Pre-shot Routine" to force Mark"s subconscious mind to  view the take-out shot a few times prior to actual take-out being performance. The different is, that  in the first explanation it is a "tag" inserted into the "Muscle Memory" to instruct the subconscious; while in the second application where Mark decided to leave it in the Pre-Shot Routine; it is a "Tell" of what Mark is think as he communicates with the subconscious.  The difference is one ("Tag") was used as he practice forcing the subconscious to exchange "memory images" until Mark felt his distance to target was precise; while in the other ("Tell") Mark's decision to leave the toe-tapping in his routine was a subconscious mental remainder. It is now a part of his  Routine. The "Pre-shot Routine" are all actions physical and/or mental performed before the final performance action.

Because of the several regular blog visitors and that I should respect their viewing of videos given as example of the blog; it is best that I use only one or two videos to make the point even if the action is repeated  in several videos. In such a way, the blog reader having  already viewed the videos, now can clearly recall  what they had seen and understand the explained subject of the blog without going to view another video.  On the other hand, if the reader wishes to search Youtube for  Petanque or Lawn Bowls video   they can certainly find several changes in different athletic performances. And certainly the performance of an athletic from year to year will show their training and mental development as they perfect their subconscious communication. 

Secondly, as per the mention article (above) a "20-fold" increase is quite dramatic increase due to the mind's rest; and would suggest that the "athletic in working on their performance improvement" needs this extra time to establish a mental storage by the subconscious of the memories data acquired during their changement of the performance skill.

 Because in Coaching Seminars it is suggests that a 15 minutes to 20 minutes practice session is sufficient with new students, this approach with created discussions can increase the speed a new player uses toward the learned skills.  Of course the practice should be followed by a mental evaluation and discussion of the Performance and teach the student's Feedback as a continual post performance routine. The Cell Report also suggests that better acceptance of the training is possible with a rest period which allows for mental "re-organization" of  the data collected and developed by the brain.

 As a "Subconscious" mentor and  a coach developer of "mental interruptions" within the "Subconscious action"; I often allow the student to "play" with their practice. If a coach is busy doing continual correction and endless suggestive advice during an athletic training session; the coach's  action only increases  the mental and personal saturation and results in the athletic reaching "Full Saturation"  faster. By letting the student "play" as part of their practice, it allows for the athletic's mental evaluation of the coach's suggestion to become a part of their  training. Better understand of the coach's instructions or suggestion then occur with these "play" sessions being a part of the practice session.

In Coaching you suggest a corrective action and explain the raison or the change it will cause in the final performance; but only with the "play" period of the practice will the student fully understand that change.  The coach's suggestion is his projection of what that change should do as a physical and mental correction to the athletic's performance. But the athletic's "play" allows him to see various "what if" siturations and understand the intended resulting change of  the coach's suggestion. The athletic not only see the change as it is produced but now understand the expectation of their coach.  Good communication (listening skills) are very  important as the student attempts to explain their view of the changes and the results they feeel it creates to the coach. 

Sometimes these "play" sessions develop "Perfomance tools" which are useful later when the athletic's encounters the need for an adjustment to the performance. As in a "Lawn Bowls example where a smooth laydown roll of the bowl creates a constance result. The Lawn bowls coach has suggested "Do not allow a  " bounce delivery" during the bowl's delivery because the energy of the delivery which would normally allow for the roll of the Bowl completely to the jack; will now be lost as the energy is now thrown into the playing surface and your bowl will finally stop short of the jack". Now knowing that the bowl loses about two to three feet delivery energy with this bad delivery, the student learns and begins working on improving the delivery by a better "laydown" type of delivery. The student also sees what level of change a bad delivery creates and understand their coach's attempt to correct it.

  If  student sees that the bowl is now stopping in front of the jack, he may attempt to correct the action but also the subconscious mind gather the idea of "with practice I can use this error as a "takeoff Tool".  The student will probably during a practice use the  "play information" to  create a partial bounce (without damage or dent) and know what precise distance it will produce as the bowls now is stopping a precice distance in front of the jack.

 This  "Tool for Delivery take-off" was the coach's fine tuning of performance but also it is important the athletic understand the change in delivery (create a small bounce) during the conscious mind's instruction to the muscles.  During this correction practice we remove the subconscious from the delivery routine and there is the danger of not allowing the subconscious to have that extra control  and change which is a major part of the Subconscious performance. 

As the "Muscle Memory"  and "Memory retrevial" data has allows for a proper calculation of the jack distance in Lawn bowls or "cochon" in petanque, now you are doing a conscious action to create a different result. The athletic must understand how to allocate control to either mind during practice and know the interference.

Another aspect of an athletic's improvement is because there is a the pride of a good performance (delivery or take-out) the athletic has changed the objective of the Delivery performance With "Muscle Memory" we should always attempt this sort modifiction to the subconscious (instinctive) performance with a "Tag" (a small action in the delivery) rather then the athletic's conscious instruction of how to doing the change. We must always allow the subconscious to use its feeling of "Jack Distance" or "Take-out target" rather than use a "Tag" to modify or calculate that distance. 

However, often the thought of the change is the "Tag" for auditive players or the view of the result is the "Tag" for the visual player; as the subconscious has now created a "Muscle Memory" instruction  that does a "small bounce" (in Lawn bowls) to adjust it's calculation of distance and expected result of performance.

This example in Lawn Bowls show how the student changes his "tag" as to what is the objective of the "Muscle Memory" modification. When the student rolls up the green with an exact practice distance of the jack and then roll back down the green with again (measured) the same jack distance; they find that during the delivery going back toward the club house his bowl always stops two feet short of the jack. WHY ??  The coach should be ready to explain that maybe the raison may be that the large clubhouse behind the green causes the subconscious to miscalculate the distance; as the clubhouse makes the jack seem closer. This same happens with Petanque and a large building behind the court.  Even with indoor Petanque where the opposite end of the court are windows to the outdoors the athletic will have a need to recalculate the target ball distance.

But also if the previous practice the coach was correcting the "bounce Bowl" and now the student sees this "short result" he will question his performance; especially if it was a "Muscle Memory" and he is now exiting the "Void of thought".  To correct this miscalculation of distance the coach in a "subconscious" teaching "Tag" might suggest the athletic do a quick look at the clubhouse in their "Pre-Delivery" routine. This micro-second thought (vocal) or quick view (visual) of the clubhouse has remained the subconscious that the large clubhouse causes it to miscalculate the distance. In the similar Petanque miscalculation of distance the athletic may decide that looking at the top or bottom of the target ball is enough of an thought (vocal) or image (visual) (as a "tag") and lead to the subconscious doing a recalculation of  of the distance.

A "Tag" is a "subconscious interruption" or action which was taking a micro second in  the start of  "muscle memory" performance and does a quick subconscious re-calculation. In the above example the quick look toward the clubhouse was used to make an adjustment of the subconscious feeling of the jack distance. The athletic may have found that such a "Tag" of  looking pass the jack to the club house and back to the jack immediately prior to the "Muscle Memory" action is a confirmation which the subconsious then makes the adjustment wanted. I use the word "confirmation" because during a delivery there is a moment in the athletic's decision to transfer mental control to the subconscious to activate the "Muscle Memory". During the athletic's "Delivery routine" they have moved into the Subconscious with a "ok do the delivery" and "Muscle memory" then did the delivery.  The "Tag" is always an mental action just prior to this confirmation and is sort of the last image (if visual) or thought (if verbal) that the "subconscious mind" see or thinks before "Muscle Memory" is activated. 

Actually, as you learn to use "Tags" you will sort of feel that "pre-void" interruption as a feeling of something different. A strange feeling felt immediately as you exit the "void of thought" of the "Muscle Memory" delivery. As you exit that void your Delivery routine is now looking  to the delivery result or bowl placement near the jack. Often the athletic feels that sort of satification that you have after performed a proper delivery.  But in this case it is not "luck" as new bowlers experience but a satification of properly executed delivery with a "Tag".