Trial ends and Green Speeds

The tournament is about to start and everyone is on the Green 10 to 15 minutes early for trial ends. "I guess this is a chance to see how close I can roll to the jack". This used to be my thought on trial ends. (In this photo is the greens fast or slow ?) Hint.. photo has been squeezed to help you see the speed of green)

Or I thought "one of the reasons for the trial ends is to show you how your Bowls performs on this clubs green". Today I think differently, although we all know that the club bowlers have an advantage on their greens.

When I was 21, now going on 70, I was working for the newspaper and studying photography. A mentor told me, " there are some professions where secrets are your bread and butter ". "In news photography there are many tricks to making a great photograph, and unless someone tells you their tricks, your photographs are like everyone else's photos" he said " become friends with the better photographers and learn the tricks". Trail Ends are bit like photography. Learn the tricks.
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In our provinciall tournaments, Jeff, from out of town, can always be seen on the Green rolling Bowls in the opposite direction of play before the trial ends. If trial ends are just to know the speed of the green, and anyone can do these practice rolls before the game, then  what is the purpose of trial ends?

OK, imagine that you have three sets of bowls which roll differently and have a different biased. In this Blogs I will convince you that every green causes your Bowls to have a different bias. ( and every green will appear to have a different speed). If you have to choose one of the three sets of bowls for this competition, why not choose the Bowls which you are most comfortable with.

After having bowled your Bowls several hundred times you have a visual image of the line of delivery needed and you know the final finishing curve of your bowl's bias. However, consider this............ 

If the faster green changes your regular bowls' bias and by choosing another set, maybe yournset number two Bowls, you may find that they perform with what seems to be the same bias as your regular Bowls back on your home green. Certainly you will be bowling a better bowl if the competition green performs like your home club green. The bowl choice will do this for you.
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I don't know if the rules allow you to change your Bowls following the trial ends but before the game starts you can roll all your bowls (two or three sets) in the opposite to competition direction. By doing these pre-trial ends rolls of your bowls, you can actually find the best bowl and when you come to the mat for the trail nds,  you have changed your Bowls  to the best performance.
 

You doubt this...?? ? In the clubhouse on the wooden floor roll your Bowls very slowly and you will discover, if the floor is flat, that it will make a complete circle of about 10 to 15 inches.  YES, they will return to the start. why?

Instructional books on lawn bowling will explain that the biased or curved of your Bowls only takes effect in a few seconds before stopping. Much like how a car tire will stay upright while rolling fast and begin to fall when rolling slow.  The photo above, has all the bowls standing (see the sticker on the side)  indicates a very slow green and your bowl stops very quickly.

However, if the greens are fast, this slow roll will last longer and because before stopping the bowl wants to fall over and  like on the fast hardwood floor ( or fast greens ) allows it to continue to roll there is an "extended bias"

  Don't just read these Blogs and think maybe, get out on the green or in the clubhouse and try what is suggested.

The faster the green, and the slower you must roll your Bowls, the longer the bowl will roll as it is finishing its delivery, at the "bias curve roll", and the more it will seem to turn into the jack. Your Bowls will seem to remain at the slower speed (bias curve ) longer. I had a set of bowls which seemed to turn around and come back before stopping, much like a candy cane. 

  Of course, the greens were prepared by Scott and were rather fast. Hint.. also, the faster the green, the more likely your Bowls will fall over rather than stand up straight. 

In teaching Lawn Bowls to a beginner this will not be discussed but to you the competition bowler this can be very important. 
Do you have a different delivery with very heavy and slow green.  Look at the British bowlers with their two steps after delivery. We often teach and think that the delivery should end with one step. But when we have a very slow green we may need more body movement forward and be required to do two finishing steps in order to stop your movement after the delivery.

The YouTube video "Lawn Bowls: Tony Alcock 16 Time World Champion Coaching " suggest this is the " Scottish runner " style of delivery because Scotland having slow green, required such force that it requires two steps

or more. Will these bowls have a big swing or Bias?? NO
because they will not spend a great deal of time during the last few seconds or it'sfinish and  will appeared to have stopped very quickly without having a finish or curve.  Like the photo above, you will probably notice the bowl is often in the standing (running) position after it has stopped.

There are many other factors which could affect your bias. 

The way that the greens are cut (cross, up/down or crisscross). These will change the delivery speed and therefore the bias. Of course, as we bowl and are going up the alley the green speeds will change from our walking.  Also you may discovery that one way maybe faster than coming back, as you roll with a cut of the green and against a cut of the green. You may also notice that during the morning with the dew it is quicker..

These will cause what seems like a change in speed and the finish of your Bowls.

If the three sections of the bowl's roll are the Straight (line) the Middle curve, and the finish, what are the effects of green speed and green cut height to the Straight and Middle curve of your bowl ?

Next blogs will discuss how your natural distances of delivery should be evaluated during trial ends.

Good SCRIBD e-book on Coaching

Where most of my Blogs are intended to offer athlete or competitive bowlers a new insights, it appears that the last ones on "Coaches Burnout" may not have been of concern to an athlete.  But if there is no club or the club has no coaches, who will be there to develop the members and athletes ?. 


Sidney LBC Vancouver Island B.C. Canada
Blog Featured Club

 Last spring, and probably this spring also, we found many International and National Organizations talking  about local municipalities throughout the world, which are reducing their financial support to their lawn bowling clubs.  If your club, and mine, is to survive it must be less dependent upon these boardroom decisions and more financially self sustaining.

Featuring Sidney LBC Vanc'ver Is. BC.

Yes, your club executives are important, but where many social lawn bowling club failed, is   we see decisions to try to keep older members with changes like social activities. Why are we not concern with the lack of increased new members ? The new members are needed from year to year, and if we do not fight to keep those "not returning "and "new type" of members,we will see our club on the list of a municipal activity which is not receiving funding this next season. A good free publication on saving your club is“Manifesto for a Successful Bowling Club” from

John Quinn john@bowls-central.co.uk

.As individuals move from one sport to another,they need instructions and an ambassador who will suggest and encourage that  Lawn Bowls as their new sport.  A good source of instruction is written manuals for coaches.  One such e-book available for free is by

 Gold Coast Director

 Rob Judson, an Australian coach.  In a February 2003 e-book  SCRIBD publication " of Lawn Bowl Coaching " which is free reading on the site of  suggest similar opinions. With over 133 pages of   great Lawn Bowls coaching and teaching , this is one of the few great Lawn Bowls e-books on the net.  Of course you will have to register with SCRIBD but it is free and a great investment.

 Talking about club coaching Ron writes  " To offset the decline in membership, clubs tend to offer inducements to potential members.  A common inducements is free coaching ".  And also " a program of beginner instruction is typically a handful of sessions, each about an hour ".  He finishes off his  book introduction with " in Lawn Bowls this is typically the point at which coaching finishes for ever " . 

Page 16 photo of Lawn Bowling Coaching

 Too often the beginner is not develop into a competitive bowler or receives extra instructions. WHY ??? These new members are the future of your Club.  Don.t be satisfied with your club executive decision to teach only enough to get members onto the green.
An example of Ron's Great E-book at SCRIBD is  (page 64 of 133)

 

Matthew's gift - a tree image

Some years back I bowled out of St-Lambert Lawn Bowling Club on the south shore of Montreal

St-Lambert LBC

and had the privilege of helping a young 17 year old who has made bowls his sport of preference.

 

Over the years Matthew, was into baseball and even a junior umpire when he came to St-Lambert LBC, but since then he has been to Junior Nationals and the Canadian Nationals representing Quebec. He was lead on  2010  Quebec's Fours Team which was skipped by Michel Larue. 

 The St. Lambert LBC like any competitive Lawn Bowling Club has various styles of skips.  Matthew, with his  simple and young ideas was easily impressed and molded and developed a style of play which was very often exciting.  Exciting to watch and also filled with excitement for him during the game.   Matthew found it hard to retain his excitement and sometimes simply lost it while on the mat.   All he needed was a mental discipline to simply forgettable Bowls for few minutes with a pleasant dream image. 

This particular day, as the sunset behind a young tree in the park, I explained that sometimes it is necessary to  relax before going to the mat and simply come down from the excitement .  I showed him a beautiful tree behind the green which was back lit by the sunset, and suggested he use it as his own personal image of relaxation. 



Stock Free Image.com image

 Sitting there we analyze the scene.  He built it in his mind the grasses the branches the sun set and even the Hydro poles of in  the distance.  Turning his back to the scene, I asked him to describe it to me. Then I explained this was his tree and he could imagine and recreate it any time he felt the pressure or stress building before he went to the mat.  He was surprised but he did use it often.

After a detailed description, which he did very well, I explained that when he was excited and before going to the mat; he should develop that image in his mind and feel the relaxation he now was feeling. 

 

 Anxiety and stress during competitive Bowls is not uncommon  and often it is just the necessity of a distraction.  Music in your ear or just a few minutes to visualize a relaxing scene. Your relaxing Picture image.

 

Emotional control can not only be energizing and renewable of the spirit and mind but the few moments of relaxation may minimize improper stress and reaction to events.  Not every bowl will be perfect and the anxiety from wanting to win can be very demanding. 

 

Sometimes we become a sponge obsurbing everything that is around us and a mental practice  of developing an image which is pleasant and relaxing, before going to the mat can be a valueable tool.   

 

Every athlete should have his own visualized image.  It would be suggested to not attempt to develop images of previous wins or losses as these game images can only add to your anxiety and stress.  

Wasted Bowls and Free Bowls

In Canada where Curling is the winter sport which draws of a lot of Lawn Bowlers into a similar Game play, there is a different attitude developed toward the act of delivery .



 Because both Lawn Bowls and Curling are six month sports, the mind set of the players often carry personal performance views, In Curling we often hear about an individual making a 70% of their shots.  Can you imagine what your "Shot Percentage" is in Bowls ?

   In Curling, each delivery is evaluated as to the expected result and the actual performance, Curling leads and skips all know what their Skip want as a result of their delivery and  understand how to evaluate the accuracy of what they have performed.  In lawn bowls, yes even in competitive games, we often roll a bowl and "accept" the result as it happens. Why not consider the evaluation and Percentage of Success ?.  I wonder if Lawn Bowls coaches at the  international levels do a percentage evaluate of the performance of their athletics.


A term which comes from "Petanque", a French game of Bowls (Balls), we may hear a competitive Petanque player's strategy based upon "Free Balls".   A "Free bowl"  refers to the performance of an opponent's delivery which does not  require the next player to fix or recover from that  situation of the previous play. In Lawn Bowls, the lead and second (mate in triples) usually do as the Skip requests, and accepts the body action of the skip as a sign of success or failure in the Delivery.


Because when the Skip comes to the mat, his decision  are often depends upon what he needs to do to win the end, or what he should not do to lose the end; we do not have an insight into his thoughts or strategy. As skip he is completely  free to do something defensive (like a block) or something offensive (like develop the head) without explaining his actions.  Maybe, his decision is to accept the best percentage of success.  Ex: Try a block but if heavy it will trail the jack or change the opponents ability to recovery the point.

Another Term of interest is "Wasted Bowl"  No bowl should ever be wasted and often we as lead or seconds do what the skip ask of us without knowing his intentions.  We walk away from the mat thinking "What a wasted Bowl that was "  What I refer to here is bowls played in such a way that the skip does not  give information to the opponents about certain conditions of the playing surface.
Sometimes better explained with an actual Game play situation.

With the above tight head we can see by the closeup that there is a change that a raised jack will go straight back or strike the back bowl and be thrown to the left. (round white circles) If the bowl on the jack is your then this can be a "free bowl" and you should consider a wisely placed bowl in preparation of something  happening.

Another situation was one game a couple of years ago. We had been bowling the morning game with Dew having just lifted and were adjusting to the changing speed of the greens.  As the final ends approach we were leading by a few points.  The opponent has attempted to do a heavy overdraw and had moved the jack to the left side of the green.  I came to the mat with the winning shot at about 4 feet from the jack and would require a rolling up the "Virgin Green" with an " Out Turn" Bowl,   The bowls in hand were,  my two bowls to  the opponents last bowl.  It was my decision to bowl back hand  through the centre of the green, and bowls (much like the photo above). I had another bowl and did not want to  give the green speed and Dew delay of the new green.  "This was a wasted bowl in that I had shot and did not want to bowl to  a closer position.  Actual what happen was the opponent skip tried a closer point and only passed the shot bowl by a few inches there by removing the pressure of a tight jack delivery.


   My players said that I had  "Waste a Bowl" in that  effort to pass through the  impossible tight  previous collection of bowls which had been the  head  prior to the  jack roll..   In curling when the skip has, "the hammer"  he will save a certain shot for the last stone or delivery knowing his success depends upon the success of that shot.   Sometime in Bowls this can be a wise strategy. 
 
In a tight game, we skips often find the "Skip mat Play" is a Skip Game in that one skip performs a shot and the opponent skip repairs or regains the shot.  While we, the skip, are at the mat, it seems each delivery  is trying to recovery from the opponent skips fine delivery and  shot.

 But not always.  If you are sitting shot or two and the opponent has not done a shot to change the head you may have a "Free Bowl".  Do you know everything you need to know about that green or direction of green. If the jack was to be ditched at the out of bound limit.. would you be able to draw a shot at that location.
 Of course, one may consider this a wasted bowl, but by using a difficult " Virgin green" or simple fine tune your draw to the back carpenter (board along the ditch).  It is not wasted if you learn something important in the game.  So often in bowls we see the skip giving the sign to take the point and rolls his bowl into a non dangerious area of the head.  


Why not use this bowl to learn something  which may be needed in the game later.Bowl a imaginary short jack, bowl a next to ditch point, or even check a forehand or backhand you have not yet established.  ( First ends  of actual game bowling)

Never waste a bowl or learning opportunity and remember defensive bowls means you pick the shot or roll to best instruct you or your team while not creating a dangerous situation or bowl opportunity.

Burnout Part 2 Data Analysis 1988

Although Lawn Bowls  was strong in provinces like Ontario and British Columbria,

I doubt if the data for this survey came from Lawn Bowls.  Of the 500 questionnaires distributed in September 1986 by S.P.O.R.T.S. ( Science periodical on research and technology in sports) in the study the stress and burnout in national coaches, only 144 returned supplied the data for analyzes.
 Interesting facts like more than 25% of coaches would change jobs tomorrow and women coaches give more time to athletics than male coaches.

The Canadian coaching Association (CCA) FB link Then called The Coaching Association of Canada send out in September 1988 " Burnout in Coaching Part Two to members. The wrote " since only approximately 28 percent of the national coaches responded, care should be taken in generalizing these results to all coaches "

It was concluded that " the majority of coaches stress comes from coaching (44 % ) as opposed to other sources such as other employment or personal relationship ".

Canadian Coaching Assoc.

The degree of reported stress range from extreme levels ( 8%) through very stressed ( 38% ), quite ( 24%, to moderate stress ( 30%) " in the total respondents, of whom 83% were men.

" it was interesting to note that there was no relationship between the time of season and their answers on (their stress) questionnaire " wrote the publication.

" Of the coaches replying to the Survey " 42 % filled out the questionnaire during their preseason, 42% during mid season and 16 percent during a competitive phase "

" Surprisingly, the second major aggravation was the perception of problems with the athletes. Example of the respondents were " athlete's waste time ", " Moody athletes ", athletes not giving their best effort in practice ", and " the athlete's attitude ". These facts should allow us athletes to better appreciate our coaches as they attempt to do their jobs.

The report stated "the coping strategy most often used by coaches were of the stress management techniques ( self- talk) relaxation, physical workout and the use of Distraction ( T V., music, reading, going away) "

" The only statistically significant difference between males ( n=123) and females (n=19) were that females reported more hours of contact with their athletes " The report stated " they reported more hours at practice (19 vs 14 hrs) in competition environments (14 vs 7 hrs) and in travel- social environment (22 vs 10 hrs) ".

"Demographic data was also interesting in that the province of Ontario were 36% of the respondent, British Columbia at 21%, Quebec's 13%, Alberta 10% and the remaining provinces were less than 10 percent each .
" Most coaches primary (57 %) reported having a BA or BS degree or higher education ( 68%) with 57% of the degrees coming from either a physical education or coaching program "

A chart of the various symptoms of burnout listed physical symptoms such as headaches, insomnia and chronic fatigue as well as showing changes from burnout in behavior, live style and the coach's reaction to the job.

How serious Burnout in coaches is (was) can be seen in the 1986 questionnaire question of :

" In the last year have you seriously considered "

" Changing coaching job? " ................. yes 20%
" Moving into administration? " .......... yes 13%
" Taking a year off? " .......................... yes 25%
" Quitting coaching? ".......................... yes 29%.

" comparison with the part-time coaches indicated that full-time coaches, ( 65%) were younger, possess more formal education , reported more contact hours, and rated their stress higher. " however surprising was that full-time coaches " were five times more likely to consider changing coaching jobs " and " or three tests are likely to desire come moved into administrative position "

The data showed that " 92 percent of respondents were English " and " the maturity of coaches were between 33 to is 39 years " which was (38%)

" 51 percent of the respondents coach both male and female and 86 percent were head coaches " while " full-time, paid  coaches accounted for 65%. "

Personally myself, aware of the coaching structure in Quebec and having viewed provincial organizations in the maritime, and not surprised at these percentages. In Lawn Bowls throughout Canada Ontario and Quebec are very strong membership, and result in producing athletes to the national level.

this study also made recommendations for the National Sports Organization which today 30 years later would be interesting to see the progress and development.

a follow-up study on such recommendations as " national sport organization should investigate how to improve the daily lives of their coaches " or " for those coaches reporting .... burnout... explore possibilities such as time of the job " would be interesting.

although all these statistics and figures are boring to some people one interesting point here or there, may justify this blog.

Part 3 of this blog will list the reported recommendations which the survey suggest for clubs and organizations to avoiding burnout in their coaches.

Burnout - Canadian Coaches Study 1986

BURNOUT may be defined as " A progressive loss of one's energy and of one's idealism and purpose in sport, and of a growing feeling of being locked into a routine ".

In 1980's the Canadian Coaching Association of Canada as support to Coach members published various sports periodicals on Psychology, Admin, Strategy as well as Sports. In a September 1986 published "Burnout in Coaching ". Written by Vietta E Wilson PhD an associate professor at York University and two co-authors the discussion of burnout in Coaches had some interesting facts.

The CCA (FB link) article identifies coaches whom are receptive to burnout as " perfectionists, who are overachievers, ..with.. a need for control of results and high energy levels ".

The common questions listed to identify burnout were and If " yes " is your answer, " then perhaps you ( or your athletic ) should look at  the five stages of burnout ".

" Have you recently developed negative, cynical, pessimistic attitude and feelings about the people you work with ? "

" Have you noticed a decline in your feelings of competence and success ? "

Have you become either over involved with or isolated from your athletes - and perhaps your family? "

Have you reached a point of feeling emotionally extended - or having given all you want or are prepared to give? ".

CanStock Photo Image

This article continues to say that there is the difficulty of diagnosis because " if you are part of the picture you cannot see the frame " and that the coach may simply " view themselves as being fatigued, bored, or overworked " and that " the coach, or any individual for that matter, who is expressing stress, is not the best person to evaluate his or her own behavior ".

I gathered from this article that where sometimes it appears that a change in coaches by the athlete might lead to an athlete's improvement; such a change may appears to the coach as a lack of personal success or failure in the athlete's accomplishments, and tends to promote a coach's lack of job satisfaction.

As athletes attempt to do their best and apply the recommendations of the coach sometimes their lack of success not only develops doubts in their own abilities, but show signs of the athlete's easy stages of experiencing burnout.

An athlete's burnout may be also his incorrect insight into his own ability to identify signs of a coaches pending burnout. Each, athlete and coach should tread lightly around the suggestion of Burnout, and if doubts exist, request the opinion of other professionals.

This 1986 periodical was co-authored by Evelyn I Bird, then Director of Relaxation and Biofeedback Research in Therapy Clinic at the University of Guelph, and Mrs Bird conducts seminars on stress management and serves as a consultant in sports psychology.

" although burnout may be difficult to define, and measure, this is no reason to ignore it. ". And the article continues to suggest " a comparison of the results of studies based on Canadian university coaches against a result of studies done in the United States reveal the following:

" 1 ) The incident of burnout in the coaching profession is lower than in other helping professions here respective of the measure of burnout. "

"2) the incident of burnout among Canadian coaches. Apparently even lower than among their American counterparts. "

" 3 ) Canadian coaches separate or partly in terms of feeling of personal accomplishment than do American coaches. There feelings of personal accomplishments are also four times higher than the feelings of other helping professionals. "

" 4) if there were differences between male and female coaches in the United States, but there were no significant differences among male and female coaches in Canada. "

" the information on burnout she must be viewed cautiously at both the depersonalize Asian and personal accomplishments scale - but not the emotional exhaustion scale - were related to the coaches high social desirable scorers. This means that coaches merely report what they felt they should report and not the true feelings and trusting me know, they felt free to express the degree to which they felt emotionally exhausted "

Perhaps by the time the coaches reached the last page of burnout - emotionally position - your she is aware of the reactions and consequence of burnout and is attempting to deal with the problem rather than ignore it "

This periodical was accompanied by a question air survey of stress and burnout in national coaches, and this five page questionnaire and had personal family questions such as:

" 13. How much do you want your partner to be involved in your coaching "

" 15 how often does your partner want you to spend less time coaching? "

Another co-author Terry Hagerty a men's basketball coach at Ryerson Polytechnical in Toronto, brings to the study the following:

" the importance of assessing burnout among coaches is bored out in a study of coaches to drop out of coaching used basketball. The researchers found that the most important reason for quitting were the following: to much time required; conflicts with job; son or daughter no longer participating in the sport "

" other reasons cited sounded very similar to those given by coaches were still in coaching the report being burned out: decline in interest; pour officiating; lack of support from program personnel; disagreement with program psychology; and no longer experiencing positive feelings. "

Under the title " managing burnout " the following is suggested

" To avoid burnout it has been suggested that the coach should obtain adequate training: this would enable him or her to stay on top of the situation and feel competent. In addition the number of hours of contact with the athletes should not be excessive " And " the coach should have some freedom to control his or her job without being constrained by too many rules and regulations: this provides the feeling of an autonomy and support "

Also for the athlete's part in preventing burnout is noted that " it is important that the athletes expressed their appreciation of the coach: this increasing the coaches feeling of fulfillment and provides much needed stimulation "

This periodicals finish by saying:

" the cost of coaching need not be burnout!. If the coach can maintain a proper perspective with respect to the role of sport within the overall scheme of things, the substantial rewards of coaching can be endured without risk to one's health. "