Lawn Bowls Skills - "Open" or "Close"

Where some sports require a physical development of the body in Lawn Bowls the "Perfection of the delivery technique" is the major  skill that you will spend your career to develop and prefect. WHY ?

Skills that best develop
under the club Coach

   There is very little physical force which is need to roll your Bowls to its desired placement on a fast green, so your most physical commitment will be the walking to the head. This 12 trips up the 30 meter green is probably why many seniors are so involved in Lawn Bowls at the Social level. 
 What of that smooth and well developed  move ment as you do your delivery. This continual fine performance of the same action during each visit to the mat, is it not physical ? No it is a mental perfection and development.

Where, in other sports, the athletes and coaches perceive  the needed skills as a perfection and development of a physical ability, in Lawn Bowls all our efforts are directed toward the psychological skills needed to   "develop " and "perfect" a consistence bowl delivery.  Of course, physical development and ability is a major aspect of your development of a good delivery but it means good balance and coordination of movements.

As in sports requiring a Physical skill we find that the Psychological skill can be either a "Open Skill " or "Closed Skill". Lawn bowls, like the sports of golf, archery and shooting requires that you develop a closed psychological skill.  What this means is that when you are totally committed, fully involved and active in your delivery, your mind (conscious and subconscious) are totally closed to everything happening around you.

For each sport we play, one will be occupied in the development of different psychological skill. In sports like Hockey, Football or Basketball the athletic may be busy developing and perfecting open skills. Always aware of fellow players and their location in preparation for a possible coming pass or  physical contact. Playing the game with an " Open" ability in both physical and Intellectually developed skills.

However, when one is concentrating or using closed skills they are "busy developing their subconscious abilities". In a precision  sports such as    archery or rifle shooting, (and even Lawn Bowls), this sport is called a "Closed Psychological Skill Sport ", because of the closed mental activity. If you allow your mind to wander your performance will indicate this interruption and provide a bad result.

An " open skill " Sport like baseball, basketball, football requires an "open" mental awareness of your surroundings, environment and distractions. Your success and best performance is according to the data or feedback received from players and the surroundings during your actions.

In Lawn Bowls, your psychological development of concentration and having a mental control is important. In  a "Open" sport  like basketball you are open to immediate physical and environment changes (the opponent player's contact) which you will than alter your physical actions.
 Running with the football with a tackle  coming up behind you, mentally you will perform physical and mental actions and suddenly change direction to the left or right. Or, for a basketball player to hear footsteps or see an opponent to their left, his physical and mental skills will require his actions be modified. Not just physically change but mentally also perceive the basketball throw and actions of a good delivery.

If in Lawn Bowls, and in the middle of your delivery you hear someone talking behind you, which of course they shouldn't be doing, you must be able to close your mind to that distraction. You should have developed a "closed mental awareness" towards these distractions and changes. This increased concentration is a trick of hearing and closing the listening aspect of your mind until it has been completely ignored.  (Some coaches develop this in their athletics by having intended distractions created as they practice.

However, if you have not developed  this “Closed Psychological Skills” your mind instead of closing up, now thinks of that distraction and maybe several other things like the players on the neighbouring green and your bowl will be delivered badly.

Yes, in Lawn Bowls the environment is important . A strong wind blows across your green while you're doing your delivery is an environment  change. No it will not affect your bowl as it rolls but the distraction is important. Do you feel the lost of balance as you move forward to lay down the bowl?

Having this Psychological skill and the action and awareness which you can apply to the unexpected changes in sound, environment or thought  is what is important.

 In a "Closed Psychological Skill" you are not going to change your routine or mental abilities because these skills have been developed. That reaction to a bad delivery will change your reaction and next delivery if a skill to buried that thought did not become part of your developed psychological ability.

 Your mental delivery routine (Pre-mat, during delivery, followup) all stayed the same throughout the game, but these undeveloped and uncontrolled distractions skills will show in your performance.

Maybe in the week following that game which was so important and you chocked in the finally delivery; you and coach do an evaluation and physical and psychological feedback study.
You don t need to think about making a change to your routine but working on a better developed mental skills. Exercises for this skill development may be applied in off-the-green activities like walking on a busy street. Did that speaking, that car horn, that bang.. catch your attention.  Did you closed it as it began to appear in your path.

 I do not use the term  "Delivery Routine" because your routine may be everything from the arrival at the competition until the final bowl is rolled. How does the greeting of friends and teammates involve in your game.

  Your Delivery Routine is probably  psychological  and physically “closed” from the Pre-mat to the Post delivery Analysis phases. However how is your development of  the distraction “Closed psychological skill”. If your coach asked you about your recently job change at work it is because he is always  concern about distractions.

Probably, you have developed the ability that for an distraction or interruption, your delivery routine is such that you  step off the mat and re-do your Bowl's  pre-mat delivery  routine. Putting your mind and Psychological abilities back in its proper resting place.

When do you consider modifying your line of delivery, bias or delivery? When ?? In your regular routine and your delivery there is part of your performance where this is done.  And only at that place of your Closed Skill. (physical and Psychological)

When you have developed a "closed Psychological skill"  it will be part of your delivery routine. You will still need to be aware of all the other environment changes, but each in their proper place.  Whether, Dew in the morning  when you arrive and as you play with the green changing speed as the dew is burned off by the sun.

Or as the skips request  the forehand line, these are all conditions or changes you will feed into your mental routine and each as part of your closed state of performance.

Management of your psychological development in a "closed skilled" sport is the responsibility of your coach and they know how much of it is still based upon the need for a personal overall management model of
 1) assessment or Evaluation,

 2) goal setting or planning and

 3) development or implementation.

Developed during practice and implementation during competition.

 If you have produced short bowls. Thinking, maybe they will be useful as a blocks, and  even evaluate their involvement during the final bowls of the end, are all positive approaches to a closed psychological attitude where "Positive thinking"  is a closed skill tool and also these types of reason is a False self-evaluation. (Instead of  the feedback evaluate of "why short" ?)

A positive mental attitude is part of the need to maintain a good psychological health. (thoughts that are foods such positive thinking) . The bowls, you tell yourself, will be delivered correctly at the completion of your delivery routine; is also your ability to creating a self-conversation which is always part of the delivery feedback. It is also building your mental reinforcement of the closed skill because you are occupied 100 percent and it will help.

In a " Closed skill " psychological development you have trained to keep your concentration and close your mind to distractions that affect your performance.  Practice on days of distractions or even plan as mental training to take a game with that loud ,never stop talking, club member.

There are many methods to improving psychological skills.

    During your regular practice, you have practiced in many changed  game situation's or condition of play and chosen to even practice in different environment. (Rain, Wind and Heavy Greens)’ there by creating different psychological models.

Talk to your coach about the Open or “Closed psychological skill” and how to develop them. Ask your skip what are his tricks or his developed routines and how he sees “Closed psychological skill.

Trial Ends and Lessons (part 2)

When teaching the Blind to Bowl, you give them the physical instructions of how to do a good delivery and then tell them to just relax. Why ?? Not too much instruction at first ? No .

photo tradgames.org.uk

  I find that it is easier to explaining that everyone has a distance which if they relax and do a  good (not necessary a perfect delivery); that their bowls will stop within a foot each time.   This, I explain, is your "natural distance".
When building your abilities in a sport there is a need for a common starting point upon which to build your abilities. Then the coach will teach you how to add a few feet or yards onto this "Natural" distance.

 I believe most people have two natural distances, one, when relaxed, your natural delivery, and  a  second natural distance, when they are forcing. like making a long step delivery. In drills, or when teaching the new bowlers I often attempt to put the jack at the individuals "natural distance". "Practice makes perfect" we hear, but more exactly it is "Good practice makes perfect"   And "Good practice" for a beginner is to have the jack at the distance which will give a consistency of delivery.,

  Every green will give you a different "Natural " distance, at which your bowl will roll with that great finish. However, there is a catch, Catch-22, (that old war movie.."You can't be send home unless your crazy, and if your request to be send home your not crazy") What you learn in the trail ends  can also be seen as being told to your opponents. (If you bowl natural weight, your opponent will avoid to put the jack at that distance when they can)

    --- If  every one was to use the trial ends to see their natural distance on this new club's greens, then the opponent skip (if watching) has this information, So on a trail end you are, sort of,  prevented from just bowling naturally. Yes you should attempt to draw to the jack and learn from the results of your bowls.

Use the trail ends to know the bowls

If your style of delivery is to adding onto your "natural distances"; then analyze your Bowls to jack distance  of the jack on the trial end, and bowl to the jack.  You will know the speed of the green and your "natural distance" delivery effort  for that green.  One big mistake of skips in the trail end is to ask their bowler to do a forehand or backhand.  Yes, your skip wants you to know which delivery  of  the green is best, forehand side or back hand side; but he should let the player learn from their trial ends.. 
 

Of course if you're a skip, one of the information you will receive from the trial ends is the danger of your opponents.  Each opponent will have a strength "Jack distance" and will be best bowling at this certain distance. First learning of trail ends.... where not to put the jack in the first ends of play Team members should share information, and because certain positions of play give that player a different insight; a good skip will delegate collection of information.
 

Since there are only two trial ends, up and back, and the opponent throws the jack on one of these occasions, you may want (as mate) to bowl a long "draw to the ditch" shot. Your raison may be  to read more accurately the green, make sure your skip knows. Let each player of a team develop their own information in the trial ends; and also expect them to collect some information which is needed by the team.
 

In a game of fours each team player may be requested to learn a different lesson  in the trial ends. Example, the lead should be able to Bowl to the jack at any distance, and should fine tune this skill, however the second and third, may actually disregard the jack position and bowl short (on a long trial end jack) or long to read the variations in the green when a ditch jack is to be presented in the coming game. If the trial ends are to know the green; this can be a necessary information which will be useful later.
 

  Sometimes during trial ends we will see the skip practice their runner or over draw shot. This to me would indicate he is comfortable with all the other knowledge of green speed and  players' ability' as well as the opponent's ability to draw to the jack. When I see these runners in trail ends, I think of the head game to be played and this is to tell the opponent, "I can throw runners".
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Certainly when the team members pass each other in the center of the green a lot of information should be shared as well as other  positive communications.
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When the Blind bowlers rolls the jack , they are always given the jacks distance from the mat. Every bowlers should have a way to judge the jack distance.  One year, I had a 3rd year bowler tell me. " How do I know the distance if the mat is moved out."? This was their  argument for not moving the mat of the "mat line"  Remember, strategy is using all the weakness of the opponents.  If the opponent can not find their line unless the mat is on the mat line, this weakness will result in the mat being moved.

If the natural distance  of the bowler is 25 meter they must know and calculate that distances up their green.  If the jack arrives at 27 meter they should know from green signs (board marks or greens spots ) that it is beyond their natural distance by two meters. (even if the mat is not on the mat line) 

After having bowled to the jack in the first roll of the trial end; and walking to the opposite end of the green one should have notice various distance markers. For example a burnt spot on the green, might be at 28 meters (from the mat line), or an object on the sideline a 26 meters. When the mat is moved 2 meters out these markers will help you to know the jack distance. You should always be able to find a spot which indicates a certain distance in meters and then compare how the jack is in relation to that spot.

Sometime, it will mean watching the skips walk from the scorecard to the jack and counting their steps. (green is 33 meters, he did 10 steps or 10 meters walking,  and score card is 3 meters behind the ditch) so the jack is 7 meters from the ditch.  Yes, calculations.. but also being aware of what is happening on the green or with the skips

Sometimes it skip will have a signal to a player to indicate the actual  jack distance in relation to where the mat has been placed if it is out from the mat line.

For example, myself I sometimes use the forearm in an vertical line to indicate the distance.  (I use the elbow as Hog line distance and the wrist as  the  ditch or maximum distance). Of course if the mat is moved out I calculate the distance from the mat. With my open hand I show what I know as the distance to the jack.
If 28 meters (touching my wrist) or half ways (26 meters) attaching the middle of my forearm, should allow the bowler to incorporate this information into their own analysis .

Sometimes there can be unique things about a club's greens.  Most greens are 30 to 33 meters long,However, once we won an advantage, during  a inter provincial competition by knowing that the greens were shorter in one direction

This was because of a large embankment  on the limit of the club's land and it  prevented more green construction. There fore. the long jack was  probably less then 28 meters. (the green  in that direction was about 30 meters)

Another advantage before the game starts and during the trial end is to verify the last foot of green before the ditch;  because the skip may have to draw to the ditch the information is best known before that end of play

. One trick was that I as the mate would do a small foot roll of the bowls behind the mat line toward the ditch. After the Bowls the been collected, I would look at the skip and then flip a bowl with my foot to see how the green  rolled very close to the ditch. ( of course your bowl... don.t send an opponents bowl into the ditch and find it covered with sand, especially after them putting grippo on their bowls or in the morning with the dew still on the green and bowls are all wet)

Anther trick during the trial ends  -  Doing the coin Toss for start.  Sometimes in a competition game you would like to be able to match your player against an opponent player. You may know that Richard can out bowl the opponent Keith and would like them to play the same position. With the flip of the coin, if you were to win and give away the jack, this will  allows you the winner, to  tell Richard to take the same position as Keith. If Keith leads in the trial ends, Richard will follow, If Keith goes second, like wise.

However, Warning... Because  I have yet to see a rule which says the order of play depends on the order of the trial ends; I believe the rules do permit a team to Bowl a different order of players than those presented in the trial ends. Again, to switch after the trial end have been rolled will give away any advantage of this trick.  (if the opponent has changed his players order after the trial end, you are aware they know this trick and likewise change your order if you had given away the mat)  

I remember one game where the opponent skip had changed his players order and I changed it back, as we went to the mat, and he said to me " you definitely want Richard and Keith to bowl the same position ". Of course we laughed.