‘Talking Tactically’

with Lachlan Tighe..... 

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

"OLYMPIAN SUPPORT FOR MALAYSIA COMMONWEALTH GAMES"

 (edition 179, March 2006  a chapter from the book draft
‘Winning Gold: a measure of coaching performance’)

CHAPTER TWELVE 

OLYMPIAN SUPPORT FOR MALAYSIA COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Storytime

I mentioned two chapters back how I got the idea to use quotes and cliches for 50 days prior to the departure for Manchester for those 2002 Games.  

Though I quoted Armstrong (cycling) and Waugh (cricket) I very much wanted to target other international Olympic sports so as to follow the example those two sporting icons were able to set.

The quotes that follow however are simply just that, quotes, and though helpful were not enough.  I wanted to reinforce to the team their behaviour their attitude to the forthcoming event in Manchester.  

To that end I gave players and two assistant coaches a memo on Friday 12 July 2002 titled ‘Sport quotations: world and Olympic champions and miscellaneous quotes for 50 days’ and asked everyone to read the list and choose one quote they could best relate to.

 Upon choosing one they were to seek out the sports psychologist for an appointment whilst we were all at one location in camp together and describe to him the value of the quote for themselves as an aspiring bowls and 2002 Games medallist.  

Interestingly only 3 people followed through with the process– two of these bowlers went on to win medals, with one of them also announced later as Malaysia’s Olympian of the year.

_          _            _            _            _

‘50 quote 50 days out’ quotes from 2/6/2002 – 25/7/2002.

Wed 10/7            15 days to go

‘..Enjoy and do your best at games 2002 if…….. you made sure you did your best to prepare these past months leading up to games 2002’

I believe, still do, that enjoyment is a necessary facet of competing successfully.  Some elite sportspeople are driven by fear (of failure). 

Me, well I am  the half full (glass) of the half full / half empty storyline; however the enjoyment factor is based on the premise that all the hard work preparation is now behind you as you enter the arena of international competition. Go into an event enjoy knowing you have adequately prepared to your maximum capacity.

Tues 9/7            16 days to go

‘..Attitude…is about practicing habits’

Recall what you do well, recall your team mates good actions, your delivery, your tactical and mental skill transferred from training to competition.

The attitude is inherent to the base line of success.  Without that attitude you as this elite (athlete) bowler would not have got onto this international stage.

Mon 8/7            17 days to go

‘…are you thinking hard or hardly thinking as a competitive bowler’

All the technical skill in the world is lost if the decisions are flawed. Your skill execution has to be rigidly linked to your tactical skill and that choice is linked to your mental skill.

You must have the brain and emotions working jointly to ensure composed choice is made at the right time to give yourself, the team, every chance of maximizing success.

Sun 7/7 18 days to go

‘Great teams’

Great teams…..have attitude, do all things right, enjoys, experiments, has and gets respect, trains exceptionally hard, thinks hard, plans thoroughly, reviews performance, sets goals, tactically superior, learns from losses, has excellent skills, has trust in the team and accepts criticism, expects to win.

Tina Turner sang the song……simply the best….and the great teams are simply and always just that, simply the best.

Sat 6/7              19 days to go

‘….a team is as good as its weakest link…protect and support the weakest in your team’

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games and with the premier league club I coach, I observe with regular monotony the skips in the team trying to ‘walk on water’ as bowlers to save the situation.  

Fools all – the team skip has 25% of the deliveries therefore their role is to get the others to maximise their 75% of the contributions.  I question the choice made of having certain people skip who cannot, and do not, understand people management.

Fri 5/7               20 days to go

Ian Schuback, world champion bowler and appointed to the Australian coaching team late 2004

‘…knew 65% of his draw shots are within two feet (mat length)of the jack (or target) ‘

Ian is a deservedly confident bloke which he is entitled to be as a former world champion.  

He spoke to me over at the 2002 Games and lamented the inability and unwillingness of good players to record their skill levels at training and their training performances.  

He maintained he knew too few determined bowlers who went to that trouble.  He could now add all the Malaysian squad to his small list of determined bowlers as it was a requirement that all of them knew, daily, their performance in training as their current skill level.

My rationale was that if you do not know your current skill level how do you know how far you can go or have to go to excel. It will be interesting to see if the Australian players are encouraged by Ian to record training performances from 2005 and beyond.

Thurs 4/7            21 days to go

David Bryant, greatest bowler ever

‘…knew 93% of his draw shots were within a yard of the jack (target) on any pace green’ 

It constantly raises the question as to how many other bowlers know precisely their standard. Hey, if it is good enough for this icon of bowls, it is good enough for me. What about you in reading this?

Wed 3/7            22 days to go

‘…if you go home to the Games village after the days game and assess each match for tactical and mental strategy you will be the bowler(s) who eventually wins the big game (Games 2002)’

What we did for the Games was analyse the competition day performance daily throughout the year comparing it to the game plan objectives set in place and trained for pre any competition.

Mon 1/7            24 days to go

Tiger Woods

‘….is so mentally tough he chooses the right shot (delivery) at the right time’

My sport science colleague, Craig Fox, tells me it is Tiger knowing when he is playing in his A game, his B game or in his C game, and, accepting that is the present level of application occurring at this point in the game.

And he makes decisions on his shot selection based on which of the three game levels he is in at this moment.

Sun 30/6            25 days to go

New Strait times, Malaysia

‘…..Tiger Woods knows just when to deliver, his mental strength puts him in a class above his rivals’

And I bet he trains to strengthen his attitude.

Fri 28/6 27 days to go

Brazil 2002 world cup soccer coach

‘…we won 5-2 but over the next few days the team will view the video of the first and last 10 minutes to watch our mistakes, game plan and recall our strengths’

            Well hello ! Which country won the 2002 world soccer cup ? Why surprise surprise it was Brazil. Are we learning anything out there in bowls?

Thurs 27/6            28 days to go

Paul Vidmar, Gymnastics gold medallist

‘…sometimes it is necessary to lose as that is how we best learn ( to focus) on what we NEED to do, not on what we want to do (to win) ‘

I see this as a perennial problem as players do what they want to do, not what they need to do.  And it can be zeroed in on the fact that coaches are not an accepted tool at elite level.

Wed 26/6            29 days to go

Croatia soccer coach

‘…they had an agreement as players but as the games continued and we were losing they lacked commitment and concentration‘

This is like our 25% equivalent responsibility for each member of a fours team. Part of a reason for losing ‘the plot’ is an absence of segmenting a game (of bowls) so as to meet and address the issue early as we progress in the contest.

A trained game plan that has segments and team meetings can address the event problem. It amounts to having a number of mini games that accumulate to the overall result of the actual game.

Mon 24/6            31 days to go

Croatia coach world cup 2002

‘…we had a plan but the players were too stressed to apply it ‘. Think back to another comment I made in this book about the Australian bowlers at the world 2004 championships.

A direct application of the phrase I oft use ‘ thinking hard or hardly thinking’. So what happens in tight situations, players revert to familiar unless we train them to be familiar with perceived or simulated pressure.

Sun 23/6            32 days to go

Kiraly

‘…use losses and mistakes to learn important lessons and for motivation and strengthen your commitment’

A constant theme to successful coaching. Ensure you conduct a post game analysis for that specific quoted reason.

Sat 22/6            33 days to go

Kiraly

‘…at the same time, you should not make the same mistake twice’

In training if mistakes occur consecutively I required the player  to have their own version of a red alert system so mistake number three just was not to occur.

Fri 21/6 34 days to go

Kalch Kiraly, triple Olympic gold medallist

‘…each of you will have failures if…you are reaching high enough’

Thurs 20/6            35 days to go

Soviet Olympic volleyball gold medal coach

‘…I do not choose the players who handle success, I choose the players who respond best after a loss’

At both state and national level bowls, the coach and selectors need look closely at this approach.  Very few bowlers, their states and their countries are regularly on the winning dais.

Wed 19/6            36 days to go

Anders Svensen, Sweden world cup 2002

‘…we often did more work after training taking shooting drills with the best striker to prepare for free kicks when the world cup would be on’

We have an instant role model for all coaches and players in all sports from that monumental 2003 Rugby Union world cup that Saturday night where one man after 99.33% of the game complete relies on what he has committed himself to doing physically and mentally in planning and training, applying his skill (kicking ) in the heat of battle.

Jonny Wilkinson, thank you thank you thank you – you have reinforced what all our elite people (players and coaches) have to do to be the best, commitment beyond the next (best) level. And a reminder to us in bowls, Rugby as with bowls is one of the 5 core Commonwealth Games sports, so lets learn.

But don’t listen to me, these experts were quoted in the papers on and since Saturday to reinforce the value of both team and individual commitment –

Wallabies coach, Eddie Jones on Wilkinson

‘…much should be taken from the hours of dedication that allowed him to remain poised under enormous pressure…..his skills come with obvious talent but honed by hours of dedication at training…..it shows if you want to be the best at your sport or at one skill then you’ve got to commit…there will be kids out there using him as a role model buying boots and practicing their field goals, foregoing Xmas dinner so as to practice’

Tues 18/6            37 days to go

‘…don’t get angry, get even’

Emotion plays little part in successful performance, view the success stories to get that message.

Sun 16/6            39 days to go

Nadia Comanci, Gymnastics gold medallist

‘…hang around success minded people’

Tony Allcock subscribes to that theory too.  Seek out the best in other sports and use their success as a role model for your own goals.

Sat 15/6            40 days to go

‘…if you want to soar like an eagle, do not mix with the turkeys’

In 1996 I wrote that most bowlers even at elite level are social bowlers. Here we are in 2005 and I would definitely hold that same view. And a reason for that is the elite player does not set the role model and standard as they appear to not want to bet set apart, to be different.  

Yet that is what elite sport level is, above average, different.

Fri 14/6 41 days to go

Nancy Hogshead, Swimming gold medallist

‘…half hearted trying will just create another disappointment’

Do what you always do and surprise surprise you get what you always got.

Thurs 13/6            42 days to go

Milt Campbell, Decathlon gold medallist

‘…not only must you do the right thing, you must do all things right’

Perfection is an aim, never the end result.

Wed 12/6            43 days to go

Rowdy Gaines, Swimming gold medallist

‘…ignore the details and miss out on the gold’

To perform and win plan and prepare as diligently as you are to perform.

Tues 11/6            44 days to go

Tim Daggett, Gymnastics gold medallist

‘…how bad do you want it(success)’

It is reflected in the phrase of words ‘…involved or committed’.

Sun 9/6             46 days to Games

‘…fail to plan , plan to fail’

The six words underpin all forms of success.

Sat 8/6 47 days to Games

Peter Uberroth, LA Olympics 84 chief

‘…winning is not luck, but preparing every day to be the best you can’

I find the harder I work, the luckier I become, funny that !

Wed 5/6             50 days to Games

‘…failure is not losing, failure is not learning from the loss’

We make mistakes in sport.  Learn from them.

ATTITUDE: ALL ABOUT PRACTISING HABITS