Under development - Basic texted now photos to come.
If you have not been rolling bowls for more than three years this blog,which is long, will make no sense to you. It is ok to think it is some rambling idiot going on about LaWn bowls. If you are approaching five years and ready to move on to use your "Muscle Memory" or the instinctive performance you have developed; you will find yourself making a decision here which is of major importance. You will be breaking your Pre-Mat routine into two seperate and detail parts.
You will take from that build "Pre-Mat Routine", if you have one, and then as before, you "go to Mat for Delivery" and now will take a few seconds of the Delivery performance with a "Pre-Shot Routine". A routine which is a few seconds of thought before Muscle Memory delivery but will take years to prefect. What is the Pre-Shot Routine ?,
Some actions or thoughts of a very few seconds before you authorize the Muscle Memory to perform your well developed delivery.
You will stop taking line as the correction of errors and after placing your self in your proper delivery position, quickly LaWn bowl with a thinking of "Now". Telling your Muscle Memory to use your body alignment to give a good delivery and performance as you have been doing for the past few years. With this change, you are now putting down the "clutch of blame" and building your Muscle Memory's Pre-Shot Routine. If you already have one started then lets keep going.
First, One of the raison we go get a course on a subject we know little or nothing about is very often with a new subject we don't know what we need to learn or what questions to ask.
This blog is a part of my Post-Novice Course for developed players who roll a good bowl but seem to be at a point where they feel as if their improvement and development is stuck. You have been going from one correction to another and most likely after trying something new, returned to the old method. This is Stuck or "Ground Hog Day" at the Lawn Bowls Club.
What do you do when you can't get better on your delivery ?, Do you decide that you must change your line ?, Most likely because for those first few years when you rolled badly, or should I say the result was bad; you learned to change your line. The big mistake is that you assume that changing the line will fix the mistake which caused the bad roll. Here is the truth.
You mind can not be concern with both the "Line" and with the "Weight" at the same time. You must decide on making one a "Fix Quanity" and the other the "Variable" you are working to improve. You have reached a "Turning Point" in your lawn bowl development. Also, the "L" and "W" of these two words is in your Pre-shot Routine Acronym: of "LaWn" which will now be the fine-tuning of your Pre-Delivery Routines. (Pre-Mat and Pre-Shot) Maybe, also, not just a bowl preparation but also a mental preparation for perfection of a Shot you know you can do.
To this point. as you step onto the "Mat" you have done a Preparation of your bowl or the bowl shot you plan to perform before going to the mat ( called a Pre-Mat Routine), Maybe your routine is just the cleaning of your bowl or maybe it is more an actual routine like "Don't Pick up your bowl with your bowling hand" or a method of "Place your fingers a certain way" on the bowl. You certainly should be doing all these things while standing behind the "Mat" because the Mat is just for Delivery.
You maybe have even taken possession of the mat and stood there waiting for your skip's instruction or view of your teammate's performance just a few minutes ago. You will now step off the mat and listen and read the signs of your skip as he explains what he expects of your bowl. Or maybe you are doing bowl preparations while you wait. (bias, finger grip, even move your bowl from the non-bowling hand by an old 20th century method of preparing your grip. (The bowling hands is placed on top of bowl which is sitting in the non-bowling hand. Now by flipping the bowking upward, the bowl is now sits in your bowling hand's Palm. (a old method taught to club member but which is seldom seen these days)
All ready to step to the mat and prepare to "Get your line" ?. (At this point the skip should have finish instructions and the other team members gone silent or asked the opponent to go silent because you are on the mat to bowl. "Get your line" at this point does not mean "Find the line" or "Take this Line". These to expression mean that this is where you are going to aim for delivery". But in the Pre-Shot Routine the meaning of "Get your line" means place your feet and body in your regular Line or position.
Now this is done you can forgot about line because if you do a good error free delivery your bowl will always be coming back to the "Center line". It is less then a second to think "Line" or the "Image" of your Bowl's Bias and see that first section of the bias which is also called "Line"; and having position yourself correctly and go on to the next letter. of the Acronyn "LaWn".
Stepping to the mat for the Delivery Routine means "LAWN where "N'' is "Now" Deliver or tell Muscle Memory to do the delivery. The Acronym "LAWN means "Line", "Adjustment", " Weight" and "Now"(Deliver Bowl).
"A" means apply so lets wait a minute for to explain "A" as this part of the Pre-shot routine may take many years to completely learn all the different decisions you can make in the "Post-Mat Routine" and bring as a decision to the "A" of the Pre-shot Routine. What ?. Post-Mat Routine what is that ?. Other blogs handle it more detail but it is your actions during those 10 to 14 seconds while the bowl rolls up the green to stop. Hopefully at the Jack or where it was wanted.
The letter "W" for Weight is what you will be telling the "Muscle Memory" of the distance and allowing the instinctive ability you have developed over the last three years to take control and do a great smooth "Delivery". STOP !! where are you in all this ?. Well for the past three years you have been taking the coach instruction and developing that perfect Delivery. And maybe blaming the bad result on a bad line. From this point on you know your delivery is good by different feelings or signs and stop changing "Line" or Blame the error on a "Wrong Line".
Weight thought for me is a image of the green with the jack on it and a few numbers. 1/4,1/2,3/4 (the 10 meters between " Hog Line at 21 and "Respot" at 31 meters) and how these jack distance apply to my "Natural Distance" which I also see. (I see my memory of all 4 bowls together at one of my two or three "natural Distance. This means what I will "A" (Apply" to my weight after I do my Natural distance delivery. Although there may be for each of us other things we think here but the time to think here is as quick as the "L" of Line getting.
You are no longer a "Novice" ot a beginning bowler begging to learn but now a skilled "Delivery Performance" (or Routine) and instructing the Muscle Memory to the "Fine" changes you will be made in this Delivery. It is your start to Prepare your "Pre-Shot Routine or "Pre-Delivery Routine which should not be more than 10 seconds for the Pre-Shot, Delivery, and Post-Delivery. Until now you have been doing "Pre-Mat", "Delivery", and "Post-Mat"; which has allowed you to develop shot. Now you are going to use that good "Delivery Routine and build a tight 10 second "Pre-Delivery" (or Pre-Shot) and "Post-Delivery" Routines.
You have a good idea of what you are going to do with "A" Apply because until now when you saw something which did not work you made changes. Back at the Pre-Mat Routine while you stood waiting for the opponent to finish you decided from your watching you bowl what changes you had to make. Maybe a longer step in delivery to "Apply" more distance to your natural distance or ignore the talk of those behind you (a Mental Skill of Focus". Over the next 10 years you will be working on your Post-Mat to read all the data that the Muscle Memory and you need to improve your performance. You will also develop a "Post Shot" Routine.
Up until now maybe your Post-Mat Actions has been to watch your bowl roll and see how the green effected you bowl or the "Rush" of a great draw to the jack. You had no choice on "Pre-Mat" because you had to prepare your bowl to start the roll or delivery of your bowl. Now you will Step to the mat and do a short "Pre-shot" or Pre-Delivery Routine with your own Acronym of meaning. Example if you have problems with concentration maybe a Acronym for self-talk and confidence. Or if you have problems with Stress or Focus your Acronym might be for that.
So what is your Pre-Shot Routine of a few seconds before your delivery ?. You have been standing behind the mat getting your skips request and information. You have prepared you bowl (grip, bias, planned correction) and are ready (Pre-Mat finish).. You step to the mat for your Pre-shot Routine. You think "L" (Line) and align your feet and body with the regular line, think "a" (Apply) Yes same little step, think "W" (Weight) 23 meters while looking at jack, and "Now" Delivery (Muscle Memory done). You see you bowl leave your hand and start it roll up the green (Post-Shot Routine starts) Feeling balance ok, good release, bowl on line, All good should be on Jack (end of Post-Shot). Watching you bowl roll you start thinking of information you want. (Start of Post-Mat Routine)
The Acronym "LAWN also applies to your Post-Shot Routine as the bowl rolls of your fingers. "L" (Line) you look at the line of your previously rolled bowl and compare your now rolling bowl (if the same bias shot). "A" (Apply) you see that your applied improvement actually was done. The "W" (Weight) give you a feeling if you have that weight and where you expect the bowl will stop. But "N" which was "Now" for the Delivery start is now "Notice". You now have 10 seconds of bowl roll to watch and evaluate how the various conditions and effect of the playing surface and bowls in the head affected the result.
Bowl stopped you turn and are leaving the mat and start your "Post-Mat" where you evaluate your performance and maybe even relax or "Reset" (if there are feelings of disappointment from that bowl's result. These several minutes are a time to organize for the next shot or if it was your last bowl to evaluate your performance. If you are to remain positive you may be busy with self-talk to create a more positive look at your result. Maybe you have developed a "Mental Skills Routine" which helps you to stay focus or even just relax as you are watching the game advance toward the end of this end of play.
Why have a Post-Shot Routine (or Post-Delivery) ?. Well when the bowl leaves your hands you have a lot of information you have not been collecting. Do you feel your balance, or your wrist turn ?. Does you bowl bounce or wobble ? All these feelings are there to feel if you look (feel them) and identify. When you walk back behind the mat you can use that information to analysis why you bowl did what it did as you stand there waiting.
As you "Pre-Shot" was only a few second so also your Post-Shot". In these few second as you decide what feelings you are searching for. You may have continue walking and be standing in front of the mat or still on it but you know your delivery was good or bad. If your "A" (Apply action) was to correct your delivery line; then as your Post-Mat starts maybe you are looking at the bowl roll on the green over the previous bowls's delivery rolls . Or if you had put your hand on your knee for balance, then you are feeling for that balance. After a few seconds of watching your bowl rolling; you will not be able to identify those feeling. Not as clearly and strong as when your bowl touches the green and you feel Muscle Memory return your conscious mind.
As the old Children cartoon use to say at its end "That all there is Folks"
Over the month past, the local clubs had an top-of-Line athlete giving talks as a teaching tool to club members. Although it was advance techniques and information and given from a qualified athlete; it also was new thinking for the Novice. Yes even you of 10 years bowling because it was new and this blog also is covering something new. Things not talked or on Video because the lawn bowl athlete does not seek out blogs or video for improvement. They are well beyond the material of those videos or these blogs.
However this opportunity for club members to get this detail information which was well worth the small fee for his two or three hours talk. I know that it has pushed a lot of the participants to look deeper into what they heard as compared to what they were doing. A problem with experience talks like this is that depending upon the course participants, there are a lot of questions ask. When these questions define the direction the goes it means a lot may be left out of the course.
I will call it a course, but a good coach in preparing a course after educational training on course preparation and how to organize information; the instructor is also aware of the signs of saturation of the listener. We all learn new things build upon what we already know. A advance athlete training would have the instructor work his talk toward his course objectives with these objective based upon the experience of the participants. And afterward follow the course with a Question and Answer or Training Session of the subject matter.
The second part of this blog, which I will start after I finish this blog by adding photo and details (spelling and clearer explained things not properly explained). Yes it is a new direction but all great athletes go onward to that step. Ask that one that you know and if they are honest they will say they don't think much about line any more. And as you improve your "Mental Skills" and "Focus" during delivery you will likewise see the important of the five steps of Delivery. Actually to have that quick "On the Mat and Off Delivery" you are not thinking much about it any more as it has also become a natural routine of thought and performance. If you are a beginning bowler and you are at this point still reading.. Bravo, your patience is good. Some things are not explained to beginning club member because it take years to reach a point where you have developed a "Muscle Memory Delivery".
The "Post-Novice" athlete is at that point in their development where they are no longer learning to bowl or do a good Delivery; but learning skills of mental control. Sometime our personal character interfer with our performance and to go further and be the best we can mean handling these distractions. (like fear of Losing). On Youtube, a sport psychologist Eli Straw has over 150 short videos on many mental problems like a quick "Reset of Mindsets" after a bad performance or game.
I will say that now my bowls performance in a big game of important, I find that all this detail thinking is just too much for my age. Yes, the habit of step-by-step is still there but not for a two hour game. Sometime in Pairs, I will do a two-bowl Complete 5 point Delivery and two other bowls of "let it happen" Delivery.
You are learning to build a confidence performance with a structure like "Shot Routine" with "Pre-shot" and "Post-Shot" thoughts and actions. This detail and basic instruction of the two "Shot Routine" is probably what you sometimes do already. But now every time you go to the mat these two extra thought and action routines are a part of your Delivery. The "Pre-Shot" just prior to instruction you instinctive Delivery and the "Post- Delivery Routine" consisting of a "Post-Shot" collection of feelings and the "Post-Mat" Routine being your thoughts and feelings as you wait for your next delivery.
As it took several years to get that near perfect performance it will take several years to fine-tune it or sand-off the rough mental edges.. Enjoy the game.. Practice at Practice Sessions not during games.
