The value of your Bowls Club

Using your Head.  Think for a minute.  What do you pay for the use of Club facilities ?  Is it piece-meal or one yearly membership fee?  Does your club have member's participant requirements ?   What do you think you should get for your fees.?  Lets say that you pay $5 for a day of Greens, how many days of lawn bowls does your membership fee actually pay. .

Does the total Putting Greens of Augusta
equal to your Club's Bowling Green's area ?

Greens Maintenance  If Lawn Bowls Greens are as much maintenance as the putting greens of a Golf course, and the total " Putting Greens" area of a 18 hole course is the same as the 900 square meters of Greens on a typical Lawn Bowls' Club Green. Maybe we should start seeing $1500 Club fees like in Golf Course Membership.  Why not ?? Would the total area of putting greens of Augusta National be more than your clubhouse Lawn Bowl Greens ?
In an earlier Blog I approach the fact that "all members of a club must do their part to develop the local club and secure their sport of Lawn Bowls".  Your love of the sport and your pride in its future should also be directed toward new members who do not feel welcome in various other sports. A previous experience with a large (hundred or more member) club showed that some clubs maintain their memberships numbers with "Social Memberships" and Social Activities.  Don t be surprise when your lease of the club is replaced by local decision to make it a Social club without a bowling green.
  Club Insurance -  First,in Canada, with the exception of Quebec, the french province, all insurance at the club level is in three parts of responsibilities..  Lawn Bowls participants are protected from club to club and province to province by their membership in the Canadian Lawn Bowls Association, (Bowls Canada Boulingrin).
Secondly, most clubs assets, clubhouse, lawn and maintenance,are administrated by the city or town.  Therefore, insurance for the municipal liability and  propriety damage is covered by the town or city.  For this reason, even in England, we have seen more Lawn Bowls Clubs belly up as municipalities tighten their spending budget.
Finally, many clubs wanting to protect their administrator at the local or provincial levels attempt to advise club members about personal insurance.
These three levels of insurance can be very confusing when an accident appears to have happen.  I say, "appears" because today in the insurance industry the trend is to "pass the buck" to blame another insurance coverage as needed or applying to that sort of accident.In Quebec, the Provincial Sport Association define safety for all sports and provide extra (and immediate) accident insurance. (I have seen figures of over $100,000 for such insurance.

Canadian Blind Lawn Bowls Facebook

 Who must pay this insurance?) Does the rates increase as we become less responsible and more accidents occur ? Forgot the monetary value.  A lot of older Lawn Bowlers may find the slow healing of a fracture means a lot of pain and even lost of the opportunity to enjoy the sport
As as example,  A skip decides to throw a heavy bowl or Drive to break the head. The bowl rebounds and hits a person. First, the club must have decisions on how they educate new members about the game.  Rules like "Only mate or skip should be on the green" are avoiding responsibility as a rebound bowl could go to the neighbouring green where players are changing ends or involved in non-head activities.  If the bowl hit the backstop and rebound, the condition of the facilities may be questioned by the insurance company.  I have seen a bowl hit the backstop (back of the ditch) and rebound over a 1.5 meter wire fence. 
   Club Coaching    In "Coaching" we teaches new member about drives or heavy bowls which might occur during a game. Not expecting any new members to know how to drive but more to understand why a skip decision is such and such.  But do we explain the lack of responsibilities that exist and the dangers. NO ??
Communication between the skip and mate during the skip/mate delivery "mat Control" period. If a skip (or mate) is doing a drive the head should be protected and the neighbouring greens protected. It is not difficult to have mates work together in the head and supervise the expected action.
What is your attitude toward Lawn Bowls being developed for individuals with handicaps ?  Mental, Physical, Visual or even just simple different age groups..Every club needs more support from members when new groups are included into lawn bowls.

Bowls Canada Promotion
Blind Lawn Bowls. 

  Those other members Bowls Canada on promotion writes "How Can We Grow Our Club
By working together as a club to make people feel welcome. Encourage outside entrance and ask yourself would you feel comfortable if you came in on the street to play Bowls for the first time? In a recent support letter to a club, I suggested that if the club wanted to have the visually impaired lawn bowlers to use the distance (frequently unused  green) then they must take responsibility to prepare that green for these special need bowlers.  Water hoses, walking path access, or other obstructions have to be removed  prior to the usage of that green. Until recently, in Canada, Bowls Canada, the natioal Lawn Bowls organization and BBAC (Blind Bowls Assoc of Canada were not supporting each's efforts. Is there now a BCB involvement in Blind Bowls. The facebook page(above) promote Lawn Bowls.Not just Canadian but all nations.. if you or someone of your country becomes involved... Even a like helps.
 Remember, Facebook and Twitter is not user friendly to Visually impaired individuals so it is for you, the visual lawn Bowls lover.  Each of us can creat a web page, as I did with Maritime Blind Bowls page  in 2012, or maybe just  and following another Blind Bowlscompetition, like 2011 Champions. .It all promotes our sport.
  This summer, we have a Blind Bowls team going to England; will there be  some BCB Head office involvement with  Canadian Blind Bowls.(At least it is being promoted on the webpage of Bowls Canada)
This is not a critizism of BCB,, all volunteers do the best they can and this blog mentions BCB in hopes to promote the new (and greatly improved) Canadian Bowls Web page. and point to articles lke attached to the photo showing Niagera first match of the year..

  Also at a club level, each "special need" individual should have their own support member and the club should have a "activity supervisor".  Each volunteers should each know their responsibilities and how to react to various needs which might arrive..
Get involved.  More involvement means more members as this support show not only to those "special need" individuals but also become a dinner table conversation; which speaks well for the sport, the club and the members.  Get involved as much as you can
Are you excited to extend your passion for the sport , or recreation, of Lawn Bowls to others, noon participant  groups ? What are you planning to do this year.

    This year2013, which just finishes now in australia has had a lot of excitement  for a 12 year old lawn bowler, who  participated in a major competition; and done very well.
This brings to mind, when in Montreal,  a fellow club member who was a member of the Canadian National team; and the clubs best bowler, took time to include a new 2nd year lawn bowler ( a special needs individual) on his provincial team.  They went to the national and this unique individual was so appreciated by the national bowlers that, that year,  a new award was created for "Most sportive individual at the National"  Which of course he won by votes from all national participants.  Does the award still exist?   You will be surprise how these individuals with change your sport.  (and your view of Lawn Bowls and fellow members)
  Last,  speak up when you hear comments which are clearly signs of exclusion. "We don't want "THOSE" people as members." should find members speaking up.  I am sure that the individual who made the comment does not see their comment as discrimination. but it is and very destructive to the life of the club.. Show them their errors.
 As I finished  a few blogs about 1906 Lawn Bowls( see the blog), I find the "Old guys" club attitude existed even  back then but of the 45 bowlers who sailed from United Kingdom to Canada, several  brought their wives and daughters. And certainly without the use of the Ladies of Canadian Clubs visited, there would never been such a successful 1906 tour.

As far back as the decree of "Royal Bowls " there were exclusion from the sport certain "those types".  In the History of England, we find that King Edward III, and Richard II  both played the game of Bowls.  But also Lawn Bowls History shows how it was restricted to the wealthy, and even  at one point Lawn bowls was forbidden except on the Royal Greens.
 Today, Australia, the largest and best developed Lawn Bowls nation, has began in the past few years to have mixed tournaments although still some private clubs have restrictions on women membership or condition of play.In Canada, at one point two different organizations govern the playing of Lawn Bowls. Canadian Lawn Bowling Council (CLBC)and Canadian Ladies Lawn Bowling Council (CLLBC) in 1972. Both were combined into one organization in 1982 as Lawn Bowls Canada and now the Bowls Canada..


 

Bowls, Golf, Curling n Petanque 3/5

CURLING , called the Canadian Game introduced from Bowls and played on ice. Although the Scot in the group would disagree. Here in Canada the TVs is all weekend. with the World Men's Championship in Victoria , BC, Canada's West Coast (for the Southern Hemisphere readers)

The body movement is the left leg back and forward

Does  BOWLS, which may mean, attempting to draw to a  jack distance that is changing every end: getting you down?  Or  the mat to jack distance and changes, just adds excitement to the game. Do you have your fine draw at your distance? In Canada, a lot of Bowls players are doing Curling in the winter months.  Also clubs often find new members on the Summer Curling Circuit.
. Curling..would be like playing a Fix jack distance. The "Curling Head"  is always  about 21.9 meters from where the stone is released (after the slide delivery). There is a lot of similarity in the two games.  Hog lines and Ice length is almost the same. The Hack (Mat position) to the center of the Head (12 inch circle) is 38 meters as to most Bowls greens are 35 to 38 meters. Although in Curling the actual ice is longer because of need for the space behind the Head for the hack (foot rest) and slide delivery of the Stones.

Like in Bowls, the delivery has body movement which added with the normal delivery adds that little extra delivery weight.  In delivery of the  Curling Stone. the  basic force is the push off by the hack foot. However, like in Bowls the body movement is added to that delivery and the fine tuning draw. .  By watching any videos on youtube, we will see that the movement of the player (curler)forward  back and forward (as she moves her foot back and again ahead gives the stone extra weight. In the above photo Canadian Curling video (snaps) of Earle Morris,  we are told that the pause at the back swing is the short soft draw or fast (no stop) heavy stone.
 I mention this about Curling because in Bowls when  we learn to delivery our bowls, we see that the Bowl weight from the delivery swingwill go so far (natural distance) and then we can add extra  by the body movement.. As the speed  of the body's forward movement is increase (for example when caused by a longer step)we get the longer jack draw weight. Small amount of weight to be added to our regular swing.

Delivery center Line
Left hand bowler (P1)

 Imagine how easy it would be to Bowl with the Mat always at the same location as in Curling. But when practicing, why not??.. You have a natural distance, put the jack there, and keep it and practice that distance.If you spend all day at the same distance, so what ?  If you remove the need to work on weight (jack always at the same) then you can work on delivery tools or improvements..

It is not "Practice makes perfect".  but "A good Practice gives results ".
Why practice all those various distances.. get your natural draw down to where your bowls are within inches.  Now another distance which will require you add weight.  How do you add that weight? 

Rolling on Center Line( P2)

If you want to continue to practice your natural weight.  Make an exercise of the jack at natural distance but the mat moved out from the matline.(Thanks to NZ Bowls site photo which help show styles)
     THE MAT.  Bowls has it greatest challenge in that the use of the mat. Yes the draw to jack is important, but the game of Bowls allows for many different distances of jack and Mat placement. Do you try to keep the mat always at the same place with each end of play?  Why ?
  The first and most important use of the mat, should be to protect the green..  Simple but it is true.  First, move the mat when you see damage to the green. Move the mat, even a few feet, to give you team members a good receiving area for their bowls.  Do you know your skip and partners delivery style.  Do they  they delivery off the centre line of the mat or off the corner? Are their bowls making first contact with the green a foot in front of the mat  or further? Are they left or right handed ?
   Too often social and even competition players keep the mat at the same location because they know their line from  that position. How will the mat movement change the Point of Aim or delivery of your opponents?
  Can you quickly adjust to a new mat position? . Remember with 18 ends of play that means 18 mat positions. If you or your opponent loses one bowl to find the new line with each mat position ( using a spot on green, on back fence) you have removed 1 bowl per player from the head each end..  (3 bowls per team per end on a triples game so 18x3 or 54 less valuable bowls).

WALKING THE MAT   In the previous Blog, I talked about tools in your Toolbox of Perfection. Does your method of using the mat apply as a tool in your usage..  Do you always put your foot at the same position on the mat.  Below we see top Bowls athletic and their style..
First, all bowlers roll of the same part of the mat, before using a tool.  Watch their bowls if it is laid down on the green at centre line, off the corner of the mat or even farther out.
Next  Left hand bowlers and right hand bowlers, doing the same draw shot to jack, roll the bowls at least two feet apart on a different line.. (the width of the shoulders)

 So a block for a right  hand bowler will not be a block for a left hand bowler. Imagine how hard the boundary jack is for a bowler of the opposite hand.
.
Second, The mat is large and one can stand anywhere they wish as long as the foot stays over the mat during delivery. Yes, style is always having the same foot position on the mat.  but "Tool" is something different you can do quite well.  (The below photo could be an example of the delivery of a off-step bowl,  Would you have been able to do that ?  This may be the natural style for this athletic, but where most styles bowl of the corner of the mat;  many would appreciate the opportunity to step out this far to the  side for the delivery.
 If your last bowl stopped short and your skip  want the same bowl, how do you go just a bowl width outside your last bowl? Change line? or  just  move that one foot on the mat. You will be at a different position on the mat and the same delivery line will pass that last bowl of yours.This is call "Walking the  mat" and can done either left to right or from front to back.

A "Side-step delivery" is when the normal style is so modified by stepping to the side, before or during the delivery, to allow a delivery off the normal center line of delivery.(I actually do a 4 foot left side step delivery if I need it. and the raison is that the finish of the bowl in the head is tighter. (comes across the head right to left)
 Look at the cross-over sidestep of  this great athlete's  delivery. In this photo the bowl is set on the green at least two feet right of the normal delivery point..(corner of the mat)  This is a type of walking the mat because the front foot would normally be on the center line, but also imagine keeping your balance as you cross step and lay down a good bowl.  The back foot could also still has been moved a bit  farther right and still  be  a legal delivery..  Moving too tight to the edge of the mat may cause a illegal delivery called a Foot Fault. (the foot must still be over the mat as the bowl touches the green.)   Any modified normal delivery requires practice to make a useful tool of that ability, and of course requires that you stay within the rules of the game..

Next Blog.. Petanque,( the french game of Bowls)  Boundary Jacks, and order of play Strategies for Skips.

Bowls, Golf, Curling n Petanque 2/5

Golfer allow only 14 clubs. What Bowls tools
do you carry into the game of  Play ?

In Golf the player is only permitted 14 clubs which he chooses as to his needs and the game to be played. In Bowls, how many tools or method of play do you have in your bag.
     We know you can do a forehand and a backhand, but is it a tool which you can use and adjust.
       Bowls performance is build on known abilities. When you relax and do a forehand what is your Natural Distance. In building a house you put down a good foundation and build upward from it.  In bowls, there are certain elements which are the foundations of a  great  performance.  You have chosen a bowl which is the size of your hand (tool). You play from a certain position on the mat as your start your delivery. You have  four Natural distances.  A short (relax and Bowl) distance, and a Long (long step and heavy bowls). And most bowlers have a different distance for their forehand and back hand (Four Tools)  Do you know their distances and can you identify that distance when looking up the green at the jack location.
  In Golf, the player know that his 5 iron gives him 150 yards with a relax swing and if forced maybe 180 yards.  He judges the distance to be played and chooses his club. if 5 is too long a drive distance, he will switch to a more wedge club. (I do not say 6 because he may not have a 6 in his bag 14 clubs) Do you decide on how to add weight, how to change line.. before stepping to the mat and going into your routine?

In bowls, too often it is like Archery or Darts.(photo www.topnews.in)  Throw the bowl up the green, like a dart player throws his dart and wait to see if you get close to the center (jack) At least the archer has a method of aiming and accurate force. You should know the distance (natural) of your forehand BOWL and like the golfer be able to add on a few feet with a longer step, a wrist flick or a pendulum (clock) swing.  Also, your Backhand will be another distance.  Yes, most of us have rolled the bowl with forehand and backhand without thinking of the distance. (natural).

 Club House as Measure tool - This Clubhouse (photo below) , is a special distance noting distance(tool) because the clubhouse is placed toward one side of the green. If playing that direction, across the green direction,  the clubhouse balcony studs become a accurate greens measure tool. If you have discovered a jack distance which is a weakness of the opponent you can, as skip, stand at that stud distance,If you want to move the mat forward you simple move to the next   post of the balcony for the exact jack distances. Have you ever seen a skip who after the mat is moved.. walks backward to receive the jack at it distance. Is he walking back the same number of paces that the mat was moved forward ?  Thus giving the same distance.for the jack (tool)

 In a recent Competition of four provinces (states) I had paced off the back green we were to bowl on that afternoon and discovered it was short as to greens standard. (It was a maximum of 31meters).
    As most greens are 33 to 35 by regulation and here in Canada; I knew this short green could be used to an advantage.  As lead, and with skip and vice who enjoyed long jacks;
    I often threw a ditch edge jack which was spotted out the two meters.  I left the mat at the mat line and for 4 ends we collected points as the opponent ditched bowls.  They were thinking a 34 meter green and therefore a 30 meter jack,(two meters on each end) which was only 28 meters or less. Of course, our team play was such that as lead I made jack length distance based on the skips game strategy..
    Communication is important.If he wanted to change the choice of Jack, I as lead played, he came forth to receive the jack and indicate the wanted distance (a tool signal) The tools here was I verified the distance and passed information to my team members. Do you check the edge of the ditch to see the fall? (tool) Do you notice various discolouration of the green and identify the distance from the mat line (tool). Once you know that the clubhouse window is the limit of a short jack when the mat is 6 meters out; you can throw that short jack with certainly it is within the proper measure.
  Next Blog.. Curling.. A fixed jack distance played game. Walking the mat, and Mat movement.

Bowls, Golf,Curling n Petanque 1/5

Using the Head applies to Coaches find ways to teach BOWLS to new members.  These new members can be recruited from other sports and if you can then compare their sports to their learning of Bowls it will an easily sell.  Yes some seniors find the cost of Golf high and will consider trying Bowls for a summer.  A good selling point is that our Greens are of a better (faster) quality than most Golf course putting Greens..

A lot of  sports have to do with  rolled an object to a central location. The history of Bowls tell us that our sport was introduced in Egyptian times with the  rolling (then a round stone) to certain distances.
 In GOLF this central point is a small hole, and the distance it must be send to the hole can be several hundred yards (or meters) away from the departure place. Add that with 18 various types of Greens or receiving area and it is a very difficult game. Photo from yahoo.com (IndoorOutdoorPuttinggreen.com)
     In golf, if you have the opportunity to putt across a slope green, you will learn, like in Bowls, that if your line is correct and your weight is correct the ball (bowl) will arrive in the hole (head). In the same way the line of stopped balls (bowls) which were send with different weight, appear in a straight line through the Cup (golf hole, or jack in bowls).
In this blog, the coach ability to show Bowls principle by method of  a sloped surface (Golfer experience on slopped greens) will teach how the line of delivery, when the same, gives different location of the  ball (bowls) after missing because of too much or not enough roll (different force means less distance). Also since only in Bowls, of all the similar sports, we find a "Bias on the Bowl", this method of showing Bias without Bowls,  becomes a easy method to show and teach Bias.

Construct your own Bias Table

  In teaching Bias to new students it can be a convenience to use a jack or two instead of a Bowl with a bias. If we build a short  mat surface (6 or 12  feet long) it can allow for in the clubhouse teaching and the slope can be raised on one side by 1 inch or so to show Bias.  Also, beside using a jack, we can use a normal ball, ( Golf or Baseball) and show that how it is stopping in line for different force of delivery. Also, the different Balls and different slope (putting a 1/2 higher) will show the different lines of sending the ball..When the same slope is used and we use of a golf ball , tennis ball and baseball, we can show how the weight of different size bowls (00 and 5)means different distances. Teaching that one can not watch the opponents bowls and expect their own bowls to perform the same.. Carpet type also shows green speed  and even with a spray of water (wet carpet) and how it changes the bowls.
     By sitting the table down flat on the floor and using the indoor bowls balls it is also possible to show the bowl bias and explain it clearly after this bias table has been used on non-bias balls like jack, tennis or baseball.

After showing Bias with the slope area and Showing the Bowls Bias on a flat surface, a coach can find on Youtube.com great videos to show the various bias of bowls made by the same manufacters.  Drake's bowls video is a great sample (photo left)
 In Curling the central object is fixed rings , Much like a archery target painted on the ice surface,at a fixed distance from the hack (departure Point). This would make it easier as learning weight is most important and the finest of that delivery weight can be like bowls.  A little too much delivery weight and the result will be quite a bit of a miss. (short shot or through the house)
In Petanque, like Bowls, the departure point (circle in petanque, mat in Bowls) can be changed as also the total distance to the Jack; is within a set of distances.  Unlike bowls, which has a ditch at the end of the rink; in petanque if the jack does not go out of bounds it can extremely long to get a good point.  This distance aspect of Petanque can be similar to Crown Greens play.
In the following Blogs will be suggestions from these other sports.  Curling (in Canada during the winter) Petanque (in French countries) Bocci and other sports.   Enjoy