"You can do what you believe you can do?"
I can’t buy this statement, if this means something like, “I know I will bowl a resting toucher with my next bowl” I would be kidding myself. I’m trying to send a lie to my subconscious.
Instead, if the statement means that I know that I might deliver a resting toucher with my next bowl, then it is trivial. Even a tyro bowler has a finite possibility of rolling a perfect bowl. Lawn bowls is not a sport like track and field where no one can deliver a world-class delivery without preparation. The tyro is physically capable of doing it. Sometimes it will happen. In bowls, it is consistency that sets the expert apart— not any single shot.
The corollary seems more likely to be true: you cannot do what you believe you can’t do. Yes, yes- so true, so true. If you visualize failure, you will enable it. If you visualize success, you enhance that possibility.
So how does the confident bowler think? And how does that thinking get expressed in action?
When the confident bowler delivers consecutive bad bowls or has a streak of garbage bowls, (s)he doesn’t question the delivery; doesn’t ask secretly, “What am I doing wrong?” (S)he doesn’t call upon him(her)self to bear down or concentrate more.
Instead, for the confident bowler, it is obvious that something external has intervened. Something just ‘happened’ and there is no reason to get upset or disturbed. To the confident bowler, the misfortune that has happened is most likely due to factors beyond the bowler's control, and most likely these factors can as easily disappear as persist. The last bowl doesn’t affect the present bowl. The deviation could have been the green or the wind or a change in temperature. So of course take these into account, but your delivery can be the same; the same relaxed, smooth, step and swing.
The confident bowler never ‘fixes’ a delivery because ‘fixing’ means making a conscious adjustment from the previous execution. The confident bowler visualizes what is wanted, corrects any deviations from expectations about the environment, and bowls that same groovy delivery with every expectation of a good result.
I think good bowlers need to take care not to cross the line from confidence to hubris. After a streak of 'garbage bowls' I agree it't not useful to get upset - but I also think that a quick mental check is called for.
ReplyDeleteRarely do good bowlers throw a perfect delivery every time. It's a game of constant adjustments. Yes if a bad bowl is clearly due to an externality (wind gust, run on green) - then stop the analysis and quickly decide if an adjustment can help... but also consider internalities. I have a list of common problems that can occasionally crop up (I'm not getting down, not following thru cleanly, rushing my delivery etc..). And after a bad streak - I'm definitely checking myself for these common faults and adjusting if need be.