‘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)

‘Every second counts’

(the twelth edition, 28/11/2001, of thoughts and commentaries on bowls)

Like any bowl worth its salt, there is a spin on the heading above (with apologies to those of you not into cricket jargon).

Kevin Sheedy is an illustrious national football coach and in his article ‘When 2 tribes go to war’ (The Australian newspaper 1/7/2001) he said ‘…if you are not switched on for every second, second is where you finish’

All good bowlers face this mental barrier. That happened to me in the club championship finals and again in the Australian Sets play elimination finals this winter; the really top bowlers condition themselves to minimise this deficiency. And where do they do that, every time out there on the training track, when we (apparently) good bowlers need to go too.

And poor Stuart O’Grady as magnificent an effort as it was in the Tour de France cycling event switched off and literally lost by that solitary second after 3500km; we must learn from the experiences and develop those mental skills in training.

Sheedy again ‘…cliches are part of footy (sport) because they simply tell the truth; you do take one week at a time because whether as a team or an individual, getting ahead of yourself is more often than not fatal’ Translating that to training, I reckon bowlers should stop feeling self satisfied about getting the occasional bowl close or touching at training and gloat with the others on the rink. How about EXPECTING to do that so that you keep your feet and mind on the ground,

Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France winner, when interviewed on the SECOND last day of the Tour said he would be cautious even though so far in front so as to not be cocky when the event is still not finished;

And my last twist and spin is the role and use of the SECOND in competition bowls. Our game plan last weekend in a tournament stated that the second should see himself as the consolidator or converter, the disciplined member, and the second half of a team combining with his lead. Therefore those two players were one team and the SECOND team was the combined third/ skip team so we had twice as many teams as any opposition we played (in our mind).

Every second counted for us.

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