‘Talking Tactically’

with Lachlan Tighe..... 

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

"Waugh Lord, Conquerors  through Training; "

 (edition 178, March 2006  a chapter from the book draft
‘Winning Gold: a measure of coaching performance’)

CHAPTER ELEVEN 

Waugh Lord, Conquerors  through Training; 

STEVE WAUGH BATTING FOR MALAYSIA

Storytime

The Australian cricket team has been top dog for over six years now and their approach to success is evident in their approach to training.

They train hard, harder than anyone else and they still enjoy it. Generally it is not seen at bowls but here is one slim glimmer of light.

‘Bear’ skipped a rink last season and asked his third to play a two yard on shot to a specific target ‘…as we did in training the other night’ he uttered encouragingly .

The wag on the mat responded ‘…but I was’nt at training that night’ which caused a bellyache of laughter from all around.  The delivery was executed, the outcome was perfect.

Score, training = game = success.

_          _            _            _            _            _            _

A difficulty for most elite level sports people (bowlers are no exception) is their inability to accept there is more work to do (in acquiring excellence of skill which is more than technical skill).  It seems amazing to me that anyone can accept they have reached their optimum level when they have yet to be still regarded as the world’s best.

And even if, when, they are the world’s best, continuing to stay on top of the pile. I take a leaf from the book of cricket where the Aussie cricketers, renowned for being the best team in the world in their sport, and accorded the accolade in 2002 as the best team in any sport.

They constantly do all these excellence things as part of essential training as reported in so many media outlets for us in sport to see and read so as to learn.

‘Deadly urn- est’ Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist (The Age August 6 2001 )

‘…neither he nor Martyn batted like it, but Waugh admitted to nerves, but the belief in this team is probably superior to any I’ve played in’

Bowls lesson: all of us will feel the pressure, but that’s the exhilaration, however the belief comes because the hard yards are done as part of the preparation and the trust in one another and your own trust that your effort in preparing will hold up in the ‘heat’ is what I expect  we need to do.

‘…full credit to Slater and Hayden for setting the tempo so confidently, with that attitude and body language it set up a platform for the rest of us’

‘…there are a lot of good cricketers in England, they have to make sure that they play at a high enough level so when they get to test level they can cope’

Bowls lesson: again in bowls our best bowlers can only learn from this as regularly the aspiring elite bowlers quickly fall into doom and gloom body language when the race is only half over; mental skill development is all that is necessary.

‘The ashes pitched battle highlights’ (The Age August 29 2001 )

‘Waugh scored 156 n.o. and gave a salute when he dragged himself to his feet after getting the ton; the Englishman Graham Thorpe missed the first 7 weeks with a mere strain confirming Australia’s dominance.

Bowls lesson: champions forge further in their desire to excel; state and national bowls squad could well decide whether they are the Waugh school or the Graham Thorpe cricketing school and take the consequences.

‘Gough ‘s bowling figures were inflated by lower order bats scalps while Caddick’s best work came at press conferences….writer says get back to your mark and bowl Andrew’

Bowls lesson: all elite bowls squad members need to decide if doing OK without winning against name players is acceptable, or even winning prized tournaments is your level of acceptance - .the message is think again, try again.

‘Roebuck: Aussies on fire, Poms in ashes’ (The Age August 29 2001 )

‘Waugh ‘s team remained hungry, proud and purposeful, England was overwhelmed.  Waugh and Buchanan have produced a team in which brilliance works within a strong framework, and the side plays thoughtful and committed cricket.  They appear harmonious, urging one another on, laughing a lot without being light hearted.’

Bowling lesson: like cricket we have bowlers so we should learn from our like sounding colleagues…when ‘you train as a keen bowler, heed what you read here; when you go back to your club side, take the reins and lead in this cricket approach…they are the pre eminent team in Aussie and world sport .

‘Waugh on Aussie Cricket team (ABC-TV Sport Report Thurs August 30 2001)

            ‘Waugh said………for us to stay number one we need to keep ahead, to think differently… to practice as if we are the number 2 or 3 in the world rather than the number one.’

Bowls lesson: can you see how this relates to both any premier bowls sides and you the players in those sides; if we do not aspire to that Waugh approach then we do not deserve to remain elite bowlers in the premier leagues wherever that is played.

And as individuals there is no doubt you should not be considered for further elite level selection if that hunger and challenge is not foremost in your attitude; even our best bowls squads have not got that 100% commitment to follow Waugh as my eyes and ears tell me that away from the squad training scene many a squad bowler reverts back to what they knew before…comfort zone.

‘WINNING WAYS’

Winning is all about wanting to win.  I used to subscribe to that phrase.  Now I believe the approach is I want to win and I do that by planning and preparing to win.

Being competitive is more than being emotional / being hot under the collar.  Anyone can do that, no skill required !

It is also about management of your preparation that includes your time: time well spent - your training and management of attitude.

Look and learn from the Australian cricket team.  

We in bowls do very little about working on mental and tactical skill development. The minimal amount occurs in the form of occasional seminars or guest presentation near an event. Ineffectual !!!

Everyone practices some technical skill but we need to go further in skill development so as to be able to learn how to come back after a defeat to ensure we are tough in a competitive crisis having the strength to ‘get back on the bike after the fall’ because the loss, or form slump, will happen.

;..it is just not cricket !’

I was talking recently to cricket’s national development and training manager, and he gave me a copy of the ACB review of the future of cricket (coaching) and it is interesting to parallel the approaches to issues that also prevail in lawn bowls.

Here is a select summary of some of the issues facing cricket, the best national sporting side in sport in Australia, and the pertinence of these issues and approaches to bowls coaching development:

The salient point is that coaching is the central driver to broader game development at all levels

A current weakness is the inability to allow youth coaches to develop a specialisation as a youth coach

There is a need to have a specialised stream of study in skills of the game, thus undertaking an area of specialisation in batting, spin bowling, wicketkeeping- equate that in bowls an example .. either playing positions, differing game formats, different delivery types

Cricket, and so too bowls, need to defend the role of coaches in a broader cricket development sense, as coaches are the shopfront for cricket with the potential to shape and foster the attitudes of players at all levels

The AIS program expand its objectives to become the centre and focus of elite coaching consistent with the aim of preparing aspiring cricketers

And, within the ACB establish a cricket coaches association to recognise and encourage cricket coaching excellence in Australia at all levels.  Those of us in Queensland and Victoria know all about the merit of a coaches association in lawn bowls.

 ‘...culture starts from the top’

An interesting few years of dominance in cricket is a lesson for us all in sport, as we watch and read about the exploits of our test cricket side.  

It just does’nt happen, that level of success out on the cricket field.  And you ought note which type of professional support staff sits in the dressing room with the elite cricketers.

So when I go and present a number of talks at bowls clubs on the topic (mental) preparation for competition I urge them to restate that topic as preparation for competition, and then for the individual in the audience to address the areas of goals, preparation and performance analysis to satisfy their own expectations.

What I observe though is that the great bulk of the players simply repeat the accepted practices of playing games in semi social settings because there is a reluctance at leadership level to impress upon them the value they gain if these bowlers were to sit and develop what they want in their bowls, how to go about achieving and training for it and then to make reasonably regular reviews of how they are progressing, and, to go back and repeat that cycle of preparation.  

My dear colleague coach reading thus far, that should be your job….however I do not blame you as the chiefs in charge of the regional bowls associations would appear not to know how to provide a structure to enhance the skills of all the players willing to work at the game.  Like us coaches they inherit the situation without question or analysis.

Even at Manchester the countries practised by playing games similar to what you and I see as training with real ordinary bowlers. Kids play games so we are just big kids in the approach to skill development.  Skill development for all levels of bowler is done with a portion of time allocated to diligence to intense training

And don’t tell me just to lead for 5 years “son”…that is no answer as it alludes to a position in a pennant format.  

All keen bowlers should be able to develop the full range of technical skills whilst having a resource to access for mental and tactical skill development as they keep proceeding in their path to glory.

Craig F ox as a sports science professional informed me recently he had referred a young gun bowler to me for coaching. I had not heard from the young bowler so I contacted him and was not surprised to discover that he has no firm goals, plan or analysis in mind for his bowls career and yet this guy is as I say a young gun. The bowler was later selected into the Australian squad.  Pity is there is no apparent change in his attitude.

He should previously have been in the care of a coach who not only would be helping with technical skill work but starting the process of preparing and evaluating performance to ensure the goals can be realized.  

Let’s see the change at bowls clubs through the coach(es) who are taking up the reins and steering all (interested) bowlers toward the individuals search for skill development.

Oh, finally if you think all I say is poppycock, that’s OK but note where the English have been in cricket these past few years due to their indifference to what is done by the best in the world of cricket 

In Australian bowls, we should watch out for our slide in world bowls as the standard Aussie approach is a reflection of our approach commenced right back at your bowls club…so don’t blame them, the Australian world bowls representatives or our leaders,  we need to alter our culture where we have control……in our club.

 ‘...gifted, self assured, human: a great team’

Selections are occurring all over the place in sport, lawn bowls being no different.

The Sports Commission recently distributed a ‘guidelines on selection’ book in part co written by lawyers with an emphasis on justice and fair play.

For all the jargon and literary value coming from that legal / bureaucratic sector, the words in the heading above struck me the most as these were the words I borrowed from an article on Waugh’s cricket team.

Lawn bowls selectors, club through to national, should read what the greatest contemporary bowler said about Waugh’s team contrasted to the (English) opposition.

‘....there’s not much difference in raw talent, but the Australian team was a great one for its attributes of intensity, discipline, desire, passion and (finally) camaraderie as crucial distinctions.’ 

The Australian bowlers, the state bowlers, our group or zone bowlers, down to the club bowlers should heed what was said, and, so too should selectors at all those levels of play.

Oh, incidentally, that great contemporary bowler....a cricketer who bowls spin (not lawn bowls) named Warne.

Too big a name to ignore.

 ‘...Games sense: a spin on a sense to success’

In conversations had this past year within bowls and sport generally, one topic has been games sense (in coaching).  Might I say there is some brief reference to Games Sense on page 160 of the National Bowls Coaching Manual.

Now one interesting thing about bowls is that for some it is defined as an individual game and others interpret it as a team game.  One thing about sorting out the definition is that there are extra dimensions to use our senses in a team game as those senses can be observed in (our) team spirit and leadership.

We can train team spirit and likewise train to control our use of senses.  It was quoted recently that (Steve) Waugh long ago learnt to control his emotions (senses), training himself so that mind and body found harmony.  If he was nervous or dismayed he did not betray the secret as he did not want to comfort his opponents.

There again Waugh, going through tough uncertain times of late, spoke about the support (from the team) indicating the care of team mates and their joy at any one individual’s success.  He used the word compassion in describing how the others felt for any team mate who was down, out of form, and the capacity of the mates to express support for one another in those tough / slump periods.

What I twig from that is a sense of prevailing leadership, not limited to the nominated leader (captain).  

Leadership glues great teams together.  

Within bowls the barrier is tradition in that leadership is bestowed upon the skipper and it is presumed to be their sole domain.  We may well need to alter the mindset to strengthen the sense of team and spirit by encouraging, training and developing leadership qualities in all those who bowl with us, not for us.

If Lawn Bowls is a team game (which it is for 3 of the 4 disciplines) then games sense coaching might take a novel path (a different spin) and introduce training to include the art of supportive communication which in anyone’s language appears common sense. Maybe it has been more an absence of common use and training of senses.

A successful culture is a supportive culture in a team full of common spirit and common (use of) senses.

‘…great cricketer, gun cricketer ’

Gilchrist is great.  

I sought views on Adam Gilchrist’s walking from the wicket actions from sports coaching students, read opinions from journos and scribes, watched the ABC ‘The Fat’ panel and even had a firm opinion given to me by someone connected to our bowls national competition level.

Well for all that, ‘Gilly’ is great because he showed character and with great teams you want great players and one prerequisite quality of a great player is the one with character, so walk tall alongside John Landy Adam Gilchrist as I would instil that type of model character value into anyone I was coaching.

And as I seek to use examples of world class people and teams, let me say that Tendulkar is the gun cricketer.  Ladies and gents in bowls (coaching) hear what he does to prepare ‘…he will think, and put his game plans into operation.   He will spend as much time watching videos of himself and opponents as he does practising inn the nets.’

Too few top notch lawn bowlers have ever seen video analysis of themselves and (probably) too few bowls coaches, given the voluntary nature of the role, would take this time to provide the service of both videoing the player and helping then to analyse and discuss what they view.  

We have to foster the feeling within bowls coaching ranks that professionalism equates with attitude and approach, not money earnt as a coach…we all know the money is’nt there but that should not mean the professionalism also does not appear.

And while talking about bowlers, there is one bowler featuring prominently lately who has consciously gone off the grog to enable him to deliver more effectively…somewhat of an issue with bowlers…he was quoted as saying it was a sacrifice worth making if he was to perform well enough at world level.  

Apart from the initial jibes from team mates about his resorting to drinking water/ soft drinks, he would still enjoy joining them in socialising though he has never felt better in competition and training and preparation.

Oh, I forgot to mention the bowlers name……..cricketer, Brett Lee.

‘…Pressure’

Like others I have watched recent AFL footy games, the Windies play us in cricket, etc, so when I was asked in a recent bowls coaching session what I defined as pressure it seemed strange to provide a one answer fits all, because pressure is such a nebulous thing in that it differs from person to person.

For instance in bowls forty (40) top players were generally named in national squads.  Are they under pressure?  Or are those left off for the moment under pressure?  Only the individual people can respond to that.

Was the Southampton soccer team under pressure that Saturday night in the FA cup final when Arsenal scores at the 40 minute mark of the game ?  Remember there are 50 minutes still to play so what plans, strategies would the coach / players adopt and apply to contend with the game setting. 

Interestingly, talking to a soccer coach, he said you could not plan for that – why not ?.  

And what may have been the definition of pressure if Southampton had scored at the 83 rd minute mark of the final ?  At that precise moment which coach takes what action (reaction) to the game scenario – 7 minutes to go ???

Pressure as it might apply to bowls.  My club is in premier league here in Melbourne.  Our best four players depart for (wealthier) pastures.  

Does that mean pressure is placed on the remaining players, and the club ? Does it place pressure on the coach(es) ?  Does it put pressure to realign the set goals, targets, plans, personnel, strategies and application for the club ?  

Ah ha, is that the new pressure…asking players to step up and take the added responsibility.  Is that so different from club to national level ?  

Is that any different to other sports viz Western Bulldogs in the AFL ?  Is there any difference in the solving of the (pressure) problem between one sport at elite level and any other ? Who knows ? I doubt if there is any difference between sports if I see soccer and footy in the same light as bowls at that level.

Well one who may have to know is you, the coach.  You have an interesting job ahead of you at your club , zone, group, state or national level. Why, because guess what…you may have to know for the team/ club etc to succeed.

ATTITUDE: ALL ABOUT PRACTISING HABITS