‘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 Omens for success………two occasions"

(edition 168, January 2006  chapter one of my book draft titled
 ‘Winning Gold: a measure of coaching performance’)

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

The Omens for success………two occasions

There were two separate occasions where I had an omen for the forthcoming success at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. 

‘…the time is right for you’ (it was an advertising sign for a watch manufacturer) but it was telling me our destiny – boy can you read into words anything you want to when your catchcry is ‘…in your dreams.’    I felt pumped, will this really be all my (coaching) dreams come true.

The second omen came on the morning of the Ladies singles gold medal final as I wandered over to the empty bus terminal.

I had agreed to meet Lina our singles player before 7.00 am preparing to go out to the venue for the gold medal event. The bus terminal was normally crowded at this hour, however on this final morning of competition there for me to see was a solitary trio awaiting , current world pairs champions Alec Marshall and George Sneddon from Scotland also playing for gold that morning

I knew we were in good company- I thought of my regular saying, ‘..if you want to soar like an eagle don’t mix with the turkeys’; it was visually evident with these men in our company, and, they also went on to gold medal success.

Playing out the drama

The xvii Commonwealth Games 2002: The Malaysian National Lawn Bowls team and the Gold Medal performance in Manchester, Sunday August 5 2002.

Let me replay my recollection of this Sunday while I cast my memory back to the scene on the green after 100 minutes of play; the setting lawn bowls final, Manchester – Lina, my star pupil, is ahead with the score 17-13; she is shaking like a leaf heading to her final moment of exhilaration.

End 18

A full 100 minutes of drama has been played out for me, an Australian, coaching Malaysia’s Siti Zalina Ahmed (Lina) against the Australian champ, Karen Murphy the bookmakers favourite in the blue ribbon singles event.  Lina, surprisingly for the crowd, leads 17-13 and has lead for all of that 100 minutes of the game; the set up right at this moment is the jack is at medium length, not a length thrown by Lina so far in the game.  We constantly went minimum or maximum length as a necessary ploy in her game plan; she has scored one shot from the previous end and the mat is at the 2m mark where she always places it so the signs are good though the length is not typical of our pattern of training.

End 19

Can I describe it to you like a blow by blow description?  

After the vital first two bowls from Karen and Lina, Lina was mat length beyond and 1.5m beyond whilst Karen was twice short 1 & 1.5m so Lina had the advantage with two bowls to play. All four bowls are delivered on the forehand for each player.  

By the time both third bowls are delivered I see Lina typically walk to the head and I am assured by that behavioural action of walking to the head for me to know she is mentally in control and even more so seeing her bowl rest jack high while Karen for the third time is short 1.5m.  

The final delivery of Lina’s takes 3.5 secs for her to complete the delivery action and that gave me plenty of confidence it is a well delivered bowl as these seconds are the sure signs of composure and the bowl ended jack high which was our ‘caterpillar’ training routine ( more of a description on this training routine in a later chapter).  

So from Lina’s vantage point the series of deliveries and actions are a winning combination.  

Karen still appears nervous in delivery mode and the resultant bowl again is a metre short, thus four short deliveries.   All this time Lina stands in a meditative position oblivious to the game at hand.  

One of our training approaches was to have each player devise a ‘red alert’ system so as to not repeat the same mistake twice.  Another valuable part of that training was to go and retrieve any short bowl to eliminate it from the player’s motor memory.  

So Lina scores a 3 this end and moves to 20-13, one shot away from Malaysia’s first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal in Lawn Bowls. 

I had noted on this end, and I hoped Lina noted, that all bowls delivered were forehand so I could gauge that the forehand should be ‘locked away’ in her mind as a winning hand – I became watchful of the reinforced behaviour

End 20

As with all her winning ends, Lina places the mat at the 2m mark, one of the only two lengths where we trained  so the mindset appears to be in control.  Her jack delivery ends at medium length which was the distance for the previous end where she won 3 shots.  On the sidelines I consider that this is contrary to the game plan, however in practical terms it won the last end, so maybe this is OK.  

Personally I prefer the game plan as it has got us her this point after a week of competition while the previous end was as much due to what I perceived as poor mental skill application from Karen. 

I watch with a slight degree of uncertainty (while being conscious of not showing such signs as I am seated out on the edge of the green and visible to the spectators).

Lina’s first bowl was like a blowtorch to the belly for Karen, a resting toucher. It is a backhand which she prefers playing from this end. To add to the blow, Karen’s first bowl ends short and narrow by a metre and this is her backhand also.  

How must the ladies both be feeling now, one on song for a gold medal the other literally off the ropes and on her knees, if I can use boxing parlance.

After the player’s vital first two bowls Lina had her second bowl fall a metre short whilst Karen attempts to address her series of 5 consecutive short bowls.  Her second bowl is at the head and trails the jack a metre further from the head so now she has shot.  By the time both player’s third bowls are delivered Karen is shot as both third deliveries went a metre beyond shot bowl position.

I see Lina again walk to the head and I am assured by that action of her walking to the head that she is still mentally in control.  Lina’s final delivery takes 3.5 secs for her to complete the action and that gives me plenty of confidence, however she moved onto the forehand for this one delivery and bumped into Karens first short narrow bowl.  

I wonder about the reasoning for the change as it appears unnecessary, however, she had walked to the head to make the decision. Though Karen is again too heavy with her final delivery, this bowl  is measured to be closer than Lina’s shot so Karen grabs a much needed 2 shots and the score moves to 20- 15 in favour of Lina with Karen to throw the jack.

At this time with Karen preparing to play her final shot, Lina comes from the head over to where I sit at the adjacent rink. Her trembling hand is placed on my shoulders while Karen is now measuring for her 2 shots and Lina nervously tells me of her concern. 

Without moving in my seat, I lazily look up at her to remind her that both Karen and she will make mistakes with the remaining deliveries to end this final, but, the difference is Karen cannot afford to make one mistake as this will give Lina the game, and, the gold medal. 

I simply remind Lina of the success of her game plan and encourage her, though highly nervous, to attempt to trust these processes ( length choice, delivery, walking to head, two in the head as various monitors of progress) that got her to be in front at this part of the week.  She walks back onto the green to the final encounter.  Did I make an impact !!!

One ingrained and trained habit of Lina’s was the recording on her own scorecard of her progress of deliveries and lengths at the conclusion of every end against a game plan that was segmented into 5 end sequences;  Lina did this recording to be able to use it as a focus, and a distractor, from the innate pressure of this competition environment.  

I was hopeful this habit was working as I watch her lean over again to write and record the negligible result from the previous end.

End 21

The vociferous Aussie crowd is chanting ‘…Karen, Karen, Karen’ as everyone sights the marker holding aloft the 2 score sticks to indicate to all Karen has scored 2 shots the previous end and the score now is 20-15 in Lina’s favour. 

With renewed confidence, Karen positively strides up the green to the minimum length mark, places the mat, and the crowd knows the tactics are vastly different to those Lina was using beforehand.  

As I sit watching this scene, I know Lina and I prepared her for these situations over the previous 6 months and in the training since our arrival in Manchester reinforced in the one hour sessions in this preliminary week of the Games were all intended to have her cope at two lengths, maximum,  as per Linas choice, and minimum,  as is now the case with Karens mat placement.  

I have a good feeling based on preparedness for such a situation.  The phrase ‘fail to plan, plan to fail’ is not going to apply to us I had trust in Lina’s level of preparation.

Karen comes out with a fighting forehand that is only a mat width short of the target jack.  Lina by contrast is as heavy as a bulldozer and ploughs into the ditch with her forehand delivery.  One down so far after one delivery apiece..  Karen delivers and falls a metre short. 

I think a players state of mind at the time of delivery is reflected in their bodily behaviour.  

Karen per instance has a poor second delivery;  it is made fully aware to the crowd by her walking off right from the mat toward the edge of the rink to see its outcome – she already knew its ‘form’ was below standard as witnessed by it falling a metre short.

With Lina, her unsatisfactory bowl was immediately known to me, and maybe the crowd, when she came up after her delivery within a second of delivery completion, compared to her normal delivery execution of 3.5 seconds.  Unlike Karen though, Lina does not signal this dissatisfaction to the crowd or her opponent.  And her bowl went 1.5m beyond the head.  

So after 2 deliveries each only Karen’s first bowl was within a metre; nervousness !!!

A third forehand bowl of Karen’s ends a mat length short of the target jack, thus putting pressure on Lina and with a forehand delivery that again ends 1.5 metres beyond the head her rhythm is off key and her score is 3 shots down, both players still with a bowl to play.

Karen plonks her fourth bowl against her previous one and Lina walks up to inspect the situation, meanders back but again the forehand delivery is 1.5 metres over so resulting in all 4 deliveries being heavy and out of a count.  Unusual !!!

The score is a four to the Aussie Karen and the Aussie crowd goes crazy in delirium, while the Malaysians are desperately forlorn and very quiet.  Karen has clawed her way from 13 –17, then 15-20 to now be looming toward victory at 19-20 with the momentum definitely favouring her.  

If our training has any value it must be now – distractions and controllables.  In this case possible environmental factors – crowd noises and (deathly) silences from rival support groups.

Now is the acid test; attitude being all about practising habits.  In this situation practising the habits when apparently under immense pressure.

End 22

Karen has the chanting level lifted by the attendant Aussie crowd and it rallies further on her successful placement of the mat and jack at a minimum length end.  Lina systematically records her score card analysis as we did throughout training: a good sign for me to interpret on the sidelines.  

Pity our Malaysian supporters (themselves all squad members) are unaware, or worse, have forgotten this training habit.  Not to worry the squad are not the ones competing for the medal. Lina knows she can afford a loss of a single shot and still be in the game for one more end.  

Does Karen have the same emotional insurance. Who knows !!!  Certainly not me as a coach.  I am no better informed than the other spectators until the players demonstrate observable behaviour for me to be able to make a prediction.

Karen starts with a 2 metre forehand short delivery.  Disastrous. Then sensationally Lina hammers her forehand into the ditch nearly a 3 metre heavy delivery beyond the jack.  Players nil, nerves two.

Karen swaps over to her backhand and you have to wonder if nerves are now too against her in that choice; however, her delivery is OK and the shot falls a mat length short of jack.  Lina delivers smoothly and ends jack high mat width from jack and now has the shot bowl and so temporarily holding game and the medal.  The Malaysians awaken, and, mobilise their animated happy emotional state and shriek with excitement and expectation.

Two hours have elapsed, end 22 is in progress.  The players, spectators and respective countries involved in this blue ribbon singles gold medal final are perched tensely as both ladies have 2 bowls each to play in what may be the final 4 deliveries for this gold medal.  Or at worst, the second last end for this international event.  The winner will go into the annals of history recorded as the best female bowler in the world.

I think of the training Lina and I did these past months simulating a setting where the players would be on their last end with one or two deliveries to play for a victory and to have them repeat the simulated situation so as to prepare their emotional and mental skills for this precise situation.  Well here it is, reality….take one, as they say in the movie classics.

Right now Lina has grasped the medal with both hands though Karen has the key to unlock that grasp with her final 2 deliveries ( on this end).  

Deadly silence as Karen poises, delivers and the bowls and sports world watches as it ends….narrow and a metre short….disastrous…leaving Lina holding the favoured position and still with both her bowls to play.  Lina likewise stands, delivers also on the same backhand but unlike Karen it is a very good bowl finishing a mat width short of jack and enough to give her 2 shots and near certain victory.  

Lina follows her bowl to the head and jumps into the crowd where her Malaysian teammates are seated.  My immediate reaction is one of concern for her anticipating premature victory in case ‘Murph’ pulls out the rabbit from the hat with her final bowl.  Karen is an accomplished international player so it is a distinct possibility.

At this stage I look over at the Aussie coach and support crew set aside from the spectators and the body language tells the story.  They have conceded victory to Lina even prior to Karen’s final delivery.

And so it comes to this after 2 hours 12 minutes, Karen Murphy lines up to deliver her most important bowl in an already successful career – the best in the world or one of the best of the rest.  A bowl that falls a metre short is indicative of her game today, far too many short bowls in these extremely heavy conditions.

Lina wins 2 shots this end twenty two, score 21-19, achievement gold medallist 2002 xvii Commonwealth Games, Manchester.

Malaysians go wild, me I simply glow with the sheer delight of having guided this artist / warrior, a wonderful committed champion who races over to me to give a warm strong hug, words are not uttered, smiles, joy and exhilaration are ample.

So how does an Australian coach reflect on the approach to training and coaching that saw this Gold Medal go to an ‘underdog’ and three other bronze medals ( a total of four medals) from only eight medal events.

Well lets set you down the road and journey with me to see how it worked (this time) for us.  I trust the information helps you the bowler and / or coach to review how you prepare for competition  at any reasonable level in the future.

And how did Lina win a gold medal ? 

Since returning to Australia I have made numerous presentations on that Games 2002 experience and on the development of High Performance of bowls in Australia and this is the question most asked in these audience presentations.

Briefly, in response I felt there were five pointers about Lina that enabled her to excel:

Attitude                      trained to perfection on the green, at the Sports Institute (ISN), and in competition, enjoyed herself;  wrote notes to remind her to ‘..walk like a warrior, fight like a warrior, return as a warrior’ (and I added  ‘think like a warrior’).

Commitment              punctual, reliable, kept a training diary, scorecard analysis, goals, ISN service

Game plan                   jack delivery, segmentation, length of end, winning more ends, minimise mistakes, walk to the  head; keep losses to 2 shots; enjoy the challenge; visualise every shot; pre delivery routine; caterpillar;

Mental skills               never headed so momentum always with her in the final

                                    Smiled at me when lost a 2- the message this conveys to is… I am ok

                                    Came over to me when 20-13 very nervous and my comment

‘….remind her both are nervous; you will make mistakes but minimise them as you have more scope than Karen, though nervous remember to think hard, not be hardly thinking; use a score card to keep focused on the game plan;  

Finally                       by her unrelenting adherence to our thorough planning, preparation and analytical approach to game skill training for elite competition.

A perspective on the 2002 performance

1            Introduction

Following the Commonwealth Games 2002 everyone in the world of bowls knows Malaysian Lawn Bowls won 4 medals, one of which was a gold, from the eight events contested and that Malaysia is now ranked fourth in the world overall, only one medal from being equal first to England.

As a comparison, take an Australian view and reflect on this information.  Australia has over 300.000 registered lawn bowlers playing at 2100 clubs and has participated in the Games since 1930, and, after 17 Games their medal tally is Gold 6, silver 15, and bronze 6 giving a total of 27 medals since 1930.

Malaysia had one bowling green pre 1993 and now has 1200 bowlers at approximately 22 greens. They first appeared at the Games to compete in Lawn Bowls in Canada,1994 with one men’s fours team with no result.  Their medal tally now after the 1998 and 2002 Games is Gold 1, silver 1, and bronze 5.

Summary Games 2002 Results

Men (figures below represent wins/draw/ losses)

Singles              3/0/2 defeated gold medallist in section

Pairs                 4/2/3 bronze medallists defeated by silver medallists

Fours                1/1/1 drew with gold medallists

E.A.D.             3/0/2 bronze medallists triples

Women (figures below represent wins/draw/ losses)

Singles              6/0/1 gold medallist

Pairs                 1/0/3 beaten by silver medallists

Fours                3/0/4 quarter finalists beaten by gold medallists

E.A.D              3/0/2 bronze medallist singles

Medal Standing of Countries

(figures below represent gold-silver-bronze)

England 3-1-1-; South Africa 1-2-2; Wales 0-1-4; Malaysia 1-0-3; and Australia 0-1-1

ATTITUDE: ALL ABOUT PRACTISING HABITS