ToolBox Accessories "Walking the Mat"

 

The basic of Lawn Bowls is simple as doing two things at the same time. Chewing Gum and walking for example can easily be done together. But in Lawn Bowls you must do a Perfect Delivery which has many parts that can go wrong and judging your Delivery Weight to get your bowl to the Jack.

You may say, "What about finding your Delivery Line ?". While reading an article on "Trial Ends" and their purpose there was an interesting fact. "The jack distrance in Trial Ends is nothing more than a distraction".  True. If the "Trial Ends" are to inform you on the conditions and speed of the greens then to roll to a jack or to an empty green gives the same information.

Over a century ago, when the  Lawn Bowls season ended in late fall and Canadians Lawn bowlers thought about waiting 5 or 6 months for the following year's greens to open; they started sliding medal cans of Cement up and down the lake covered ice and called it "Curling". Today, almost as much our national sport as Hockey. 

The delivery techniques for Curling were the same although as Lawn Bowls although it has changed in the past few years. The Target or "the House" in Curling was several Rings at  the 23 meters distance from the "Legal Release Line".  I am certain that these first time Curlers and their new Winter Sport;  did not think about making the "House" like in Lawn Bowls with different distance ; as they knew one of the hardest parts of Lawn Bowls is to be able to judge the actual distance (to the Jack) and get enough force onto the delivery to roll the object to the target.

So back to the original question. "What about Finding your Delivery Line?"  You will amaze yourself by watching a Blind Bowler draw his bowl within a foot of the Jack and you tell your self "Amazing and  he does not see the Jack or Distance".  But if you think a minute, you will realize that seeing the jack, the green, the back board and the players are all a big distraction.  Like the "Jack Placement" in Trial ends. If your Line of Delivery is correct with you feet on two marks on the mat; then your movement of a Good Delivery will send the bowl alway to the center line.  Yes, before, or after the Jack depending upon the Delivery Weight but to tell a student "Find your Line" is a distraction.  You miss the jack and you change your line.again. Really a sort of endless loop of doing nothing but change. Do you need it ?? Maybe your line was right and your delivery was not perfect and the bowl stopped where it did because of some error.

So, I tell students in my "Advance Bowls Training"  Get your feet properly position for your line and "Forget about Line".  Now work on doing a Perfect Delivery. Correct the raison your bowl is not on center line.  Almost as bad as bowlers who seems to change their bowl every week or two. A different size, a different Manufacture, a different weight, a different grip and how many more differences. Sometimes you need to change for a better grip or weight. And a lot of bowlers have several Bowl sets.

The same thing with Delivery Weight. We learn about our "Natural Distance as that distance a bowl rolls when we just relax and do the same action over and over. Same force, same swing, same balance and many more things to be repeated. Eventually you will have your bowl always on center Line. Yes now like in the game of "Curling" you are ready to roll your bowl to the jack if it is your same distance .

Now, to come back to "Trial Ends" and the Jack Placement as a "Distraction". First there is a very good article by Jack Toucher on Trial Ends   When the lead throw the jack in the "Trial Ends"  What are they trying to do ?. If the lead is to throw the jack at the beginning of each end of play your team makes points then it is good to know the speed of the green for the jack. So Lead must be able to throw the jack their natural distance and now see how much the green speed has made that distance wrong. Likewise, Lead need to be able to draw to the jack so now is a good practice. Also, the rules are open on the jack distance in the Trial ends and the skip can pick it up and move the jack to any distance they want. So the Lead tired to position the Jack at their Natural Distance or the Distance asked by the Skip. Good reason for Trial Ends.. What about the other team members ? Most important on Trial Ends. Everyone should watch every bowl rolled and read the information it gives.

If the team has a "Common Natural Distance" the Skip can place the Jack at that distance rather than leave it where it stopped. (Ofcourse, also tell the opponent the "Team's Common Distance" but how important is hiding that information.) Is it more important than all players know how the greens are in relation to their "Natural Distance" ? Any skip worth their Salt will know with in a few ends of Play each opponent's best Distance and avoid a jack at that Distance unless it is an advantage to their team.

This Blog is titled "ToolBox Accessoriess" not "Game Strategy" but these few comments on "Trial End are often overLooked so good to mention it now. "Walking the Mat" is a Accessories of a Player's ToolBox. When you know how to do something and feel confortable to use it when needed then you have added a "Tool" to your ToolBox.  Maybe you will go all one season not using that "Tool" but then again you might just have to use it on your very first end of Play as you see here in this Match for a National Gold Medal.

As I put away my Lawn Bowls gear and Bowls for the 2023 Canadian Lawn bowls Season, I began watching the Tournment Play on Youtube of the Australian National. Sometimes I can go a complete game and never see an athletic go into his ToolBox. But watching this 2023  Australian Nationals Men's Single Final in Joodalup West Australia; I was surprise to see Trystan Smallacombe go to "Walking the Mat" accessory on his 3rd bowl of the 1st end of Play. 

My first thought is maybe he is not consistance on his feet placement on the mat, or he has a different foot placement for a ForeHand and a BackHand. We athletics with a  "Lawn Bowls ToolBox" know that it is not used  like a carpenter's toolbox where every two minutes there is the need to get a different tool for something that needs doing.  Sometimes, you just refuse to try a "tool" because there is another way to get the same job done.  And ofcourse, Bowls is a "Draw" game not a box of accessories.

Sometimes something happens during a game and you plan to study that event and understand why it happen but must wait for a practice or discuss it with a knowledgeable coach. This happen to me last week. Ram was asking me about something I was showing our Club President and as we were in a Fun game I explained briefly. "It is easlier  "Walking the Mat"  than doing that which requires a lot of practice". (An off-bias-Draw) with the comment "Sometimes it is good to move left or right on the mat to avoid a bowl.  As I attempted to show it in a casual manner I was surprise that I had resulted in getting double the effect expected on the bowl. I immediatley thought to myself. "Did I do a Off-Bias Draw ?" and then maybe, "Did my Subconscious know I wanted to move right and I did not need to "Walk the Mat". "Maybe I needed to relax the subconscious communication.  Certainly I thought "Later, I have to study this which happen."

The subconscious mind is a very powerful instrument and like a carpenter keeps his tools sharp the bowler got to keep his Subconscious sharp too.  Sometimes the subconscious  will do somethings just because we thought about it and went into a "Normal Delivery Void". It hear me thinking I want the thing done. As an Example My goal was to have a displacement of a few inches right. And I did talk about "Walking to Mat" with Ram. I realized that  as I was doing my delivery  I was thinking of the

 "Result" I wanted. So now after 20 years of Bowls I am in a habit of "Think it, Do it" and it over the years  my Subconscious listens and even mades the correction from a physical action to a mental action or deplacement. " Walking the Mat" is a "Physical displacement" Based on if your feet are right for your Delivery Line your bowls goes where you send it. I made the mistake of allowing my delivery mood to go into the "My Delivery Void",  where my subconscious does it work of mental Muscle Memory while I do my delivery of the bowl. 

I promised to make the blogs shorter this year (2023-24) So to the Youtube video with photo (right) showing Trystan Smallacombe 3nd Bowl Delivery and as you can stop the video you see his hand is pointed inward. In the 2nd photo as he finishes his delivery his hand has returned to the cradle or Grip position. To do this required a small few degree of counter-clock twist.

This bowl finished about 4 to 6 inches to the left of Jack because as Trystan did his hand rotation he also moved it a small bit to his left. A common fault on Backhand Deliveries. We notice his "Mat Foot" is near the right side of the mat and his delivery "Laydown" is directly on the center line (arrow). First, I will always delete any critizism of athletics used in my blogs as a teaching tool if they so advise me of it being offensive.  We all can learn and this collection of blogs has now 81,000 viewer\visits todate.

In the following Photo we see Trystan do another BackHand because the opponent's  last bowl has closed the foreHand approach; although a bit short of being shot.Both players are right-handed and  Cory (Packer (WA) did a beautiful draw toward the jack but short  by an inch or two.

 The tool "Walking the Mat" is a tool often used  to get around the frontal Bowl. The 3rd bowl of Trystan, now blocking the backhand approach, would have been on the jack had not his delivery had a very  small hand movement to the left.

An interesting fact here. In the next end, the 2nd end; Cory asks the marker prior to his 4th bowl; "How many 2nd Do I have?" and then does a great shot which removes Trystan's bowl Leaving Cory with 3 shots. Trystan still has last bowl but seeing  he had back bowls he was wide on his runner to put the jack to the ditch. Also great information from the game commentators. Very knowledgable

Here, Trystan, on the mat with his 4th bowl of this the 1st end, could have asked the marker "how far his bowl is from the jack". Instead of doing a "Walk the Mat" to get around his bowl; he could have accepted to raise it that needed foot to the jack. The decision should have been based upon the "Percentage of Success and Failure". If he missed on the right he could have seen a draw shot or  hit the shot bowl of Cory; and if he missed  it on left. it still allows for a " Fine finish shot" depending upon the speed of the green or even "Falling into Jack Shot" bowl.

A previous Blog explained the "Delivery Line" and the "Bowl Roll Line" as seen when the bowl first leaves the bowler's hand. If we look at the green as the bowl is laid down and gather our feelings of our delivery we can sometimes know these errors as the bowl is just rolled and we still have the feelings. Often we compare the Bowl Roll Line on the green to the new Delivery. However, as this was Trystan's first BackHand there was no reference for the Post Mat Analysis to indicate what delivery error occured.

In the time I posted this Blog and updated spelling corrections it has had 14 visitors and total visitors to all 136 blogs is 225 and still only 6 in the morning here. Must be windy in Australia and New Zealand as seems to be now a run on Blogs about bowling in the wind.. Enjoy.. If Life permits I will get more blogs in this year. (81,000 visiter/view; Blogger has changed the stats and I now not aware of from where. Appreciate the comments and will try to answer questions or direct to another blog for answers.

I thank Trystan and Cory for this great performance and although I have yet to get beyond the 2nd end of play I see very interesting Blog material here.  In the next blog or next few I hope to show the "Tell" of Cory as he does a Mental Communication of Jack Distance to the Subconscious and how he adjusts with his large forward step on delivery to a short distance (24 meter) mat.  Thank You Guys.