‘Talking Tactically’

with Lachlan Tighe..... 

(a weekly edition, commenced 12/9/2001, of thoughts, observations and commentaries on developments for bowls coaching and competition)

‘… the geese and the gander’

(edition 80  - 2004 of thoughts & observations on lawn bowls)

The beauty of sharing your thoughts and actions around is that various people reciprocate and the column today is attributed to Joan from Drumcondra as it translates so easily to our team side of Bowls, no different to any other sport viz the Davis Cup Tennis team of last week. 

The five(5) lessons from Geese are

1                     when you see geese heading back north for the summer flying along in “V” formation, you might reflect on what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way.  As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.  By flying in “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 % greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own (Team work principle – a team of bowlers sharing a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they travel on the thrust of one another);

2                     if a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front (teamwork principle – there is strength , power and safety in numbers when travelling in the same direction as others with whom we share a common goal; worth looking at your teammates in that context whatever the team sport though especially in bowls fours where the skip is only as good as his third who precedes him, his second likewise, his lead as the first among equals);

3                     when the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point (teamwork principle – it pays to take turns doing hard jobs, we bowlers in teams need look no further to pursuit cycling to see the application of the principle );

4                     the geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed (teamwork principle – those who exercise leadership need to be remembered with our active support and praise, and in the team game environment that is the one percenters so often referred to by coaches in profile sports: this is a major area for improvement in training bowlers for the future);

5                     if a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him; they stay until he is either able to fly or until he is dead. Then they launch out on their own or join another with another formation to catch up with their original group (teamwork principle – we must stand by those among us in their times of need, or in sporting parlance hang tough beside those teammates who are experiencing a form lapse.

As a coach take that great stuff from Joan and see who in your squads or bowls teams understand it well enough to want to make a difference within their own team… therein lies the goose or a gander

Lachlan Tighe

24 March 2004