|
|
‘Talking Tactically’ with Lachlan Tighe..... (a new weekly edition, commenced 12/9/2001, of thoughts, observations and commentaries on developments for bowls coaching and competition) |
||||
‘… victory and adversity’ |
||||
|
(edition 74 - 2003 of thoughts & observations on lawn bowls) Right now in Australia the models of sporting excellence abound in every media outlet – world rugby, the Spring racing carnival highlighting with todays Melbourne cup, international Gaelic football, one day cricket. And here in Melbourne it is reinforced through the 2006 Commonwealth Games profile, raising itself steadily as that month March 2006 draws closer. Yet for all of that, a documentary I saw on SBS last Saturday night titled ‘Seabiscuit’ was truly the model of victory over adversity. Most of us in bowls should seize on lesson from the subject in the documentary. Seabiscuit was a racehorse who ran in the USA during the late ‘30s described as a ‘dog of a horse’ who could not win a race to save himself as a 2y.o. He was described as….ungainly, unglamourous, compared to the other equine heroes of the day. To make matters worse for poor Seabiscuit, the jockey who bestrode him, Reg Pollard, was partially crippled through previous race fall injuries and to add to the flaws was blind in his right eye. But, they teamed together through the astute management of the trainer, like a good skip in bowls, who knew all about managing his charges (and that is what a team is) to start to win races, many races. Once results occurred , frequently, the team was then rightly perceived as dedicated, talented, totally committed. Seabiscuit was pipped on the post into second place in the then richest race in the world and the media felt this was the beginning of his end. However over the next few years both jockey and horse revived their winning spirit to prepare and win that richest race two years later. How many Olympians do we read about who get flogged in their first Olympics and through sheer grit and determination come back 4 years later to take gold. According to comments made by the trainer the losses, jibes, gloom in those periods without success made each of the trainer, jockey and horse,driven; driven for the hunger of success. The bad times, the tough times, the adversity was part of the journey. More to savour when victory finally came about. And victory would come about as they believed in its ultimate arrival. There is ample application from this horse racing tale for us in bowls whether we be coaches, skips of teams, players. One big difference to what I witness in various levels of bowls. In this sport many talk about the victory, but given we are part of clubs, sides, teams and squads there is a necessity to be in sync with one another. My recall of the SBS show was that the Seabiscuit team was as one in their utter dedication to work toward achieving the goal they cherished as a team. That was one of the abiding memories I had in watching a show that was telling a sports story from nearly 70 years ago; not much has changed to the main ingredient of success in all that time, so lets hope more bowlers stop the talk and work the walk as successful results will be more likely to occur because you understood the responsibility to work for the success.Lachlan Tighe
|
||||
| Previous coaching columns by Lachlan Tighe (in case you missed the last column or would like to peruse the previous years). |
|
