Level 3 - Mental Development
"Athletes use visualization to improve confidence, sharpen skills, enhance focus, and prepare for high-pressure situations by programming their minds and bodies for success." Because I write about Lawn Bowls which does not have the level of coaching of Swimming or other Olympic sports; my readers may find this level of Sport Psychology a far reach from our club house or the club coaching. But my blog is always intended to invite discussions between club members and their coaches on such topic of interest in our quest and goal of success.
Interesting enough, I was stunned when a first year bowler in a qualification game to be on the Provincial National team did an amazing draw to within inches of the jack while going around a frontal opponent's bowl . I later talked to this individual and discover that he was an International Swimming Athletic and had simple brought his ability of Visualization to Lawn Bowls, his new interest. (Yes, he had been introduced to the sport less than a few month earlier at my old Club)
In blogging about "Muscle Memory" and the Instinctive Abilities of the athletic allowing the Subconscious mind to take charge of their performance; this performance had puzzled me because I could not understand how a sport like swimming could offer such an influence to a Lawn Bowl Delivery. Questioning his "Muscle Memory", which had not had sufficient practice time to be developed, and not seeing any similar muscle performance between these two sports; this feat seem impossible. In the act of drawing his bowl around a frontal bowl (guard) and doing such a shot on his first delivery, certainly seem impossible.
As we all learn in our sports, nothing is impossible if you work hard to development of our skills and believe in our abilities.
Over the last few weeks, after a couple of short conversation with this new Lawn Bowler, I discovered that he had simply "Visualized" his bowl's action and has used a previous perfected skill of entering his "Muscle Memory Zone". He believed in his ability and allow his small amount of training in delivery of a bowl, to achieve what he visualized as happening. (By the way, later in the month, he and his Skip won first place at the 2025 Canadian National Championship).
This was a great achievement for Quebec, as our province never had a level of coaching or athletic development since Mr Larue many years earlier. Always the better athletics have been developed in our western provinces or Ontario. Of course, it helped that his skip had been a member of a United Kingdom National team prior to coming to Canada. And in a "Lawn Bowls Pairs" team, both players must perform at an extremely high level, if Gold is to be won.
Under the Association for Applied Sport Psychology we find a detail explanation of research into Visualization. Jennifer Cumming has been working for more than 20 years, and with 181 publications on her research; she is a leader in this field, For the reader who has a further interest in this area; I leave her work as another source of reading. I will attempt in the next three blogs, to join the dot in this area of Sport Psychology and how it applies to Lawn Bowls and "Muscle Memory". ( Now back to the blog)
How he achieved such a quick and unique switch to Lawn Bowls involved his Visualization Mental Development from his years of International competition and training.
The above PeakSports.com article reads " Elite athletes utilize the power of guided imagery or visualization. Imagery has long been a part of elite sports and many Olympic athletes have mastered the skill with the help of Sport Psychologists and Mental Game Coaches.
Guided visualization or imagery for athletes is consciously controlling the images or directing an athletic script in your head. One example of guided imagery that you having unknowingly used is when your coach was teaching you a new skill. You created an image in your mind of how the skill should look or the successful execution of the skill."
So the athletic "Creating an image of their expectation and with this mental training, creats the proper instructions and direction toward their performance. a "Mental Development" and an aspect of training which international athletics work to develop.
In a previous blog I explained how in my Archery perfection I had developed such a strong mental image of guiding my competition "arrow shot" to the 10 spot (target center); that I had actually experienced a "Mental image" of seeing myself at the shooting line from above. My memory of this event and visualization was so detailed that as an experience of a "out-of-body" imaget that to this day, I can even recall that memory of that shot being seen from above. I am sure many athletics see themself doing their performance as if watching from a distance.
Visualization is not unique to Sports. Another similar visualization is probably best called "Perfection Visualization" because the individual know what the result will be and works toward creating it. An artist in wood, stone or even furniture has an idea (view) of what the finish product will be and progress slowly toward that point of perfection. However, unlike in sports, where the delivery or performance of the athletic is completed and they (the athletic) then waits for the result; the artist continues their action until they are satified with the result.
A photographer wanting to get that "Perfect Sunset" or the Painter wanting to get that "Perfect expression" or "feeling", must visualize the image they are to create. The photographer waits and waits as the sunset become more and more beautiful. However, his visualize image is his patience as he compares what he see with what he has just seen. If he was to wait too long as the sun sets, the maximum beauty of the moment will have passed. It is lost.
Of course, I did news photography in the 1960s when the camera was the 4x5 Graphic with a 4x5 inch sheet of film in a removeable film holder. So when I took a picture it took minutes to change the film cassette and be ready for the next picture with a new film cassette.Yes many years ago. In the sunset image example, if you were to miss that exact moment of perfection; you knew it was quits for the day as you hoped for the next sunset if it came. Or standing all night in the rain to get a perfect Lightning shot or two or three flashes.
As a News Photographer in my youth I had some of those perfect shots. My wife, who is a professional painter often produce very unique painted images which create emotions in the viewer, but also she often scraps her work because as she added more and more paint to the image, she has also passes that "Point of Prefection" and missed her perfect sunset.
In Lawn Bowls this "Result Visualization" can be simply seeing the image of your bowl in the head and believing in your ability to allow the "Muscle Memory" to create that performance. But what athletics develop through Visualization is more complete than a "Result Image" or vision. To maintain Focus which involves concentration and a discipline of thought is more about pushing distractions aside and only having the actual performance occuring as expected.
In "Result Visualization", I can imagine the Lawn Bowl skip or single player projecting his view of the score as he decides his path to catching up in the score. (two points here, a long jack and two ends of 2 points).
Much like a Soccer player seeing his path of running up the field as he goes toward his goal making shot. I would assume a swimmer wanting to close a lead that the opponent beside him has gained, would see his advance location at each turn of his swim with the object or "Result Vision or Image" being that of the opponent being behind him. Even if just a few strokes but still an image of winning.
With 3256 readers this month, which is half of July; it is because the bowl season is ending in Australia and in the North I get readers who are starting their season of Bowls and search out blogs.
In the second part of this blog I will move into "Projection Visualization" where having a memory of the actual bowl rolling to the jack in another previous time you use that visualize bowl roll from your memory. Because it is hard for new and experience lawn bowl athletics to read their distances to the Jack and everyone is trying to simply to feel that distance; this use of an image of memories of previous jack distances and to be able to project it and change that image until you have the correct distance requires a lot of mental teaching. But Mental practice for "Projection Visualization" is like physical practice for "Muscle Memory"; where the memory you view is changed until you have chosen the memory image of the correct distance of the jack you are preparing to roll.
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