The person who arranges the teams for games of
social bowls at the local lawn bowling club never faces all the problems that
the draw master at an open tournament encounters, but there is one problem this
club volunteer faces more often, indeed, at least half the time: what to do
when you have an odd number who want to play?
The answer, wherever I have gone in the world, is to have a ‘swing lead’. A swing
lead delivers bowls for each team alternately. In some places, the number of
bowls that the lead delivers is reduced. For example, in a game of triples a
swing lead may play two bowls for each side rather than the three bowls that a regular lead would play. Half of the swing lead’s bowls are
marked with tape and the other half are without. This is so, at the completion
of each end, the lead bowls delivered for each side can be identified for the
count.
Some players don’t mind being in a game where there is a swing lead; others
hate it. There are some who would rather not play than participate in a game
with a swing lead! There are certainly disadvantages. When playing a game with
a swing lead the skip can and should always give away the mat, because you want
the swing lead to deliver bowls for your side after weight and line from the
other side’s bowls. Particularly, you want that first lead bowl to be delivered
for the other side! Looking at the
situation another way, the swing lead bowler gets no thrill of competition
because (s)he is not up against any opponent but part of both teams. All the
swing lead can do is practice technique. Also, the swing lead is doing the
raking in every end.
I would like to propose an alternative applicable to games of triples; the most
common social game.
A team of four players can compete against a regular triples team. Each team
will deliver 9 bowls as in regular triples, the difference being that for the
team of four the lead will deliver two bowls, the second two bowls, the vice two
bowls and the skip the usual three bowls. For the three person team, each member will
deliver three bowls as usual. Each team will have grassed nine bowls each end. In
this way seven players will be engaged on one rink and each player will be part
of just one team.
The same trick can be used in a competitive tournament with multiple rounds of
competition. Some teams will have four players other teams three. No correction
needs to be made to the scores because all teams have bowled the same number of
bowls in a match.
A healthy retiree discovers Lawn Bowls, a sport he can compete in for 20 years! After 12 years of playing year-round, he tells what seems to work. What doesn't. What can be changed quickly; what slowly, and what apparently left to chance.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Playing Bowls in Honolulu: Leads as Greenskeepers’ Assistants
As you might imagine keeping up a natural grass green with only a small group of player-volunteers is a challenge and I could see that not all the rinks were playable at one time. This reminded me of something very important for novice bowlers to remember. Novices very often are lead bowlers and they have the freedom(at least within 3 or 4 meters) to decide where to place the mat. Leads should choose the position of the mat with respect for the condition of the rink. They are the most important assistants to the greenskeeper because they can keep the heavy traffic away from areas where the grass needs time to recover. Most often this is the area two meters out from the back ditch where so many players think the mat must be placed!
Try moving the mat five meters up the rink. When the mat has been centered with the help of your skip, on the green mark the position of the front center of the mat with chalk. That way you will be putting your mat down where there is less wear and tear while still making it quick to center the mat at the same place again and get on with the next end.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Another Reason for Lawn Bowling’s Decline
A couple of generations ago very few women worked outside the home. As
homemakers they could arrange their affairs to free-up three or four hours
during the working week to bowl. Men in contrast by and large were only available
on the weekends. It was in this era that the customary practices at lawn bowling
clubs were established. Women played during the week. The weekends were
reserved for the men. In many bowling
clubs in Australia this practice seems to have continued. That is how things
operated both at Burleigh Heads and North Turramurra, two of the clubs I played
at during this past Canadian winter.
If I had discovered lawn bowls while my wife and I were still both working, I
would never have taken up the sport because, first, my wife would not have been
able to bowl during women’s hours that coincide with her work and, second, I
would choose a weekend sport that we could both play at the same time.
Fortunately, the situation is better in Canada than in Australia. Social
bowling is more often than not mixed and there are many more mixed competitive
events as well.
If bowlers who have played for 25 years or more want to preserve their beloved
game they will have to give up playing arrangements from another era! I know
you love those old boys’ club arrangements but don’t you love this great game
even more?
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