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‘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) |
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‘...performance analysis: not simply a medal count’ |
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(edition twenty five, 30/10/2002, of thoughts & observations on lawn bowls) Malaysia was going to be a smart team – thinking hard rather than hardly thinking. For them to succeed in the 2002 Commonwealth Games we had to be smarter than the other countries, to look at performance beyond the result of a game, to train in all aspects and identify all sorts of expectations for July 2002 and once identified as factors, we trained and prepared to either control them or accommodate them. So from March onward for the next 4 months we set objectives and planned and trained for everything possible so as to be able to apply the remedy. If there are no game plan objectives how can you measure performance ? My Games 2002 observations of (many) countries was their performance at the Manchester Games was only measured by a medal, and probably for every event. That’s a nonsense ! Twenty three countries vie for the 18 medals and England grabbed 5 so only 13 were left to share among 22 countries. Most countries only performance measure was.........attendance at the games. Think I am harsh as you read this, well let me share this with you. One ‘practice’ day whilst waiting for the allotted Malaysian 1.00pm timeslot to access the green, I sat in the stands from 11.00am to watch (and learn) how the three other countries on the green were training as they were from the northern hemisphere. Very soon I was so staggered by what I was watching that from 12-12.30pm I counted every short bowl put down on those 6 rinks and in half an hour there were 59 short bowls delivered so the players showed me how adept they were at short bowl deliveries as that was what they trained for- where were their coaches ? what was their accepted standard of delivery skill ? My Malaysian colleagues wandered in around 12.40pm to do their fitness toning warm ups pre walking onto the green and let me tell you I reminded them why WE would not accept short bowls in training as an acceptable level of skill training performance. We knew 3 countries would have the capacity to bowl 59 short bowls in the first half hour of a game as that is what they accepted as training standards. All we had to do is bowl fewer short bowls and most probably win (games). Following on with that mindset we developed game plans with a set objective that was the result of defined, measurable strategies. And, the strategies could only be applied by players so EVERY player – singles, pairs, fours – had a ‘job description’ which was both a measurable set of statements and some qualitative words. And after every training session or event we briefly used the players data scribbled on a scorecard to compare outcome with strategy, plan and objective. We trained to think hard. And if all went well ( in events) the result of the game was a win for us. Simply for peak performance, fail to plan plan to fail. Bowls even at international level has a lot to learn from other international sports. NEXT WEEK coaching Lachlan Tighe
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| Previous coaching columns by Lachlan Tighe (in case you missed the last column or would like to peruse the previous years). |
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