‘Talking Tactically’

with Lachlan Tighe..... 

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

"Conquerors : Adversity; LANCE ARMSTRONG CYCLING FOR MALAYSIA"

 (edition 180, March 2006  a chapter from the book draft
‘Winning Gold: a measure of coaching performance’)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Conquerors : Adversity; LANCE ARMSTRONG CYCLING FOR MALAYSIA

Storytime

Overcoming adversity in the form of (inadequate) bowls skips

Maybe at some of our playing levels in bowls, the adversity we have to overcome is the skip.  Or should that dagger be pointed directly at selectors for their poor skill judgement – I shall leave you to ponder as you read.

If we measured the skill capacities of some players seen as perennial skips, we would come up with a zero rating.

In a recent competition series, I watched with great humour the ‘Hollywood’ antics of a skip who was a mixture of Captain Bligh (Mutiny) and Captain Smith (Titanic) and had results equivalent to those two infamous captains / skippers – disaster.

The difference to Bligh / Smith on the bowls scene is that our skipper (and selectors) have at times the effrontery to come back and steer the ship with that same crew.

If only the crew could mutineer!!!

_          _            _            _            _            -            _          

Kamu Boleh ! (the Malaysian expression for ‘…you can do it’)

From the outset when joining the squad in Malaysia five (5) months prior to the Games 2002, I used words, cliches and phrases borrowed from (any) source that I hoped might prod and prompt each squad member to reach for their ultimate best (goal).  

Who knows what works ! 

What I do know is that as the coach you prepare to try anything and everything, hoping it ‘hits the button’ for some(one) to achieve.  

Using the computer for copious notes and handouts I used the header on every page to insert the statement ‘ …in your dreams, Commonwealth Games 2002’ and the footer on each page to read ‘…attitude: all about practising habits’ as a means of constant and daily reinforcement of what each person, myself included, dreamt of achieving at the 2002 Games.

One of those international sources for (hopeful) inspiration was the cyclist Lance Armstrong.  

As a fan of the Tour de France I realized it was looming again in July, just prior to the 2002 Games.

Coincidentally I found his book ‘It’s not about the bike’ whilst browsing through a Kuala Lumpur bookshop in KLCC.  As I read this book I got the idea to commence a quote a day from 3 June to the time we had to leave over 50 days time for the squad to use these for their own reinforcement

The daily format for the final 50 days pre the Games followed a similar pattern. When the squad was at the Malaysian bowls complex, the players arrived and at the entrance to the squad meeting room was a whiteboard with a greeting from me ‘Good morning’, and the quote for the day.  The players may then be asked what significance the quote had to any one of them as squad members.

Later in the final week prior to departing for the Games, I asked team members to read the list of 50 daily quotes ass provided to them, and choose one quote they could best relate to and once chosen they were to arrange to meet Vckee, the Malaysian sports psychologist, later in the week and describe the value of the quote as an aspiring bowls and games 2002 medallist. 

Here are a few of the quotes from those 50 days and how and why I used the words to reinforce the campaign and their goals.

Tues 2/7 - 23 days to go

Lance Armstrong

‘….there is a point in every world event where the athlete encounters his real opponent and understands it is…himself’.

Note: I was endeavouring to convince the Malaysians of the strength of their preparation, not withstanding the nerves and uncertainty that prevail especially as we got closer to the Games.  As the coach your job is to tackle the players uncertainties, their nerves and confidence levels, in whatever skilful way you can that suits your personality.

Even two years on and watching a televised national bowls series in Australia, I hear the expert TV commentator refer to the apparent nervousness of the finalists.  It seems to me little is done in the way of mental skill training to allay this competitive deficiency.

Sat 29/6  -  26 days to go

Lance Armstrong

‘…even as world champion, he had a lot to learn…to seek the smallest margins….to separate him from the other elite athletes…there was a science to winning.

Note: Probably this quote from a world champion best applies to Lina in her gold medal game as her preparation was based on precise attention to small detail in training.

Her level of preparation and training became a science of exactitude. 

As coach I had to rise to her standard as the ‘invisible team member’ or become the liability and baggage she did not need to carry as an inferior support base to her pursuit for gold.

Tues 25/6  -  30 days to go

Lance Armstrong

‘…think the competition through and play a smart game’

Note: I placed this Armstrong quote on the whiteboard just prior to going to Scotland to continue developing our game on a mental and tactical skill level.  

Part of the lesson as it applied to thinking during a game was the observation that Scotland, like all UK teams, had the third join the skip at the head in fours.  This approach leaves the lead and second up that other end.  

Given the development of job descriptions, the increased team responsibility for the vice skip/ captain, I thought this Armstrong quote was aptly applied in Malaysia’s preparation.

So much so that to see the Malaysian mens fours lose in Manchester, I could put my finger literally on the problem  - they hesitated, thought other countries approach was superior and (the third) followed the UK practice of joining the skip at the head too.

 Thus in the most important of events, I regret to say our fours team, on that occasion, did not think and play a smart game, that’s sport !

That’s the difference between the winners and losers, on the day.

Mon 17/6  -  38 days to go

Lance Armstrong

‘…everyone is strong at international level, what separates the winners is the tactics and mental toughness’.

Note: Even a few years after the Games 2002 after winning four medals for Malaysia, there are some bowlers around in Australia who do not concede the success to the Malaysians.  The inference is the medal success was a fluke.

Why Malaysia won medals is as much due to the truism in Armstrong’s quote.  

Not long after Lina won her medal game some Australian international opponents spoke to me saying they could not (prepare and score) in playing the way she did – my retort was, and still is, that is why the young lady won the blue ribbon event in female bowls. 

Her capacity to train with an understanding of the tactical value requires toughness, especially as the training preparation was so foreign to the squad compared to the orthodox world and Australian approach to coaching bowls.

At elite level, talent is abundant, mental skill is at a premium.

Mon 10/6  -  45 days to Games

Lance Armstrong

‘…you sit down and do a mental check of everything because you do not want to get there’ (the games) and not have it.

Note: I only need you the reader to make a quick reference to the earlier chapters on Program planning (chapter 3) and Game Plans (chapter 6) for an example of the level of detail I suggest needs to apply. 

What I gleaned specifically from this was, per instance, the Malaysians, not being used to the cold and wet conditions, were able to draw on our brief trip to Scotland to gauge the need to have a wet weather gear, extra jumpers, hand warmers and importantly a little thing such as taking ten (10) bowls towel cloths to cope with the anticipated miserable (as they were ) playing conditions.  

Yet, of all 14 players in the squad, who was the only player to take ten bowls cloths, yes you guessed it, the gold medal girl, Siti Zalina Ahmed. 

Other players understandably thought 4 cloths sufficient to take to the Games.  

Too much is never enough, too little is too late.

Fri 7/6   -  48 days to Games

Lance Armstrong

‘…what makes a great athlete is the ability to absorb embarrassment and to suffer without complaint’

Note: Elite bowlers are humans. Elite bowlers as humans are, on one side of the ledger, fragile and vulnerable like all of us are at times.

Coaches are no different, might I point out !

However, those players put themselves on a field of public scrutiny.  The test is will they become defensive (about their losses) or simply accept it, learn from it, use it for greater victory in the future.

Tues 4/6  -  51 days to Games

Lance Armstrong, Tours de france champion

‘…make an obstacle an opportunity, a negative a positive’.

Note: This is the coaches pivotal role.  Keep the focus on the lessons, the positives.

Getting the players to go from doubt to belief, from disaster to victory, from uncertainty to certainty.  

Gee that sounds easy.  Wish it were !!!  Lina is a prime example.  

Apparently the year before I came to Malaysia, she was admonished within their bowls community for losing a singles game against a lady from the Philippines where Lina was regarded a certainty in victory.

 After that episode she was viewed as a choker, too immature a player.  A familiar tone to that sounded for Port Adelaide, who later went on to win the 2004 AFL championship.

How sweet it is to see her victorious, trying out my new approaches on coaching, convincing her it will come good and she will be the ultimate beneficiary.  

Even in her final weeks she wanted assurance, which I could not guarantee, that she had everything going for her to succeed. Heck, we had no idea how the opposition had developed- what I knew and believed in was how much she had developed in those other skills- mental and tactical.  

Her preparation was faultless and I wanted that impression and belief conveyed to her in that one on one interview.

Mon 3/6   -  52 days to Games

Lance Armstrong, Tours de france champion

‘…you deny all the pain to win the race’.

Note: Chooie, my delightful intelligent female national coaching colleague, advised me once of the solitude Lina encountered by being away from family to stay at our training camp and living quarters in KL every weekend, 200km from her family home.  

All in the quest for success. Her family situation is not the typical middle class western society model so many of us are familiar with.  Her life was not without emotional pain, her heart burnt for success, her success came with sacrifice in being away from family, her pain would only be erased with the ultimate success.

In coaching elite bowlers since returning to Australia, I gain an impression these bowlers take no heed of the success stories from other sporting champions.

Sacrifice is a by product of success.  It is a major ingredient of the menu of commitment. Success is not meant to be easy or else we would all be enjoying it.

Lance Armstrong went on in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to be the greatest cyclist in history.  Though he gains that accolade, it is obvious there have been personal sacrifices over those years.

Armstrong does not gain the accolade, he earns it.

Success is a relative commodity.  However if it is what was ultimately the top priority in tour bowls (life), it is the only commodity.

ATTITUDE: ALL ABOUT PRACTISING HABITS