A Proposal How to Signal Questions about Specific Lawn Bowls?

 

The player on the mat often wants to inquire whether a particular bowl in the head is an opponent’s or his/her own team’s bowl.  Identifying the bowl of interest often proves difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming, and often all three. I am here proposing that if all members of a team would  learn to visualize the bowls head as a clock face with the jack at its centre position of this imaginary clock face and the 12 on the centre line closer to the forward ditch, then a specific bowl in the head could be identified to the person at the head by indicating its position on that imaginary clock face.  The inquirer would indicate the position of the bowl being inquired about by placing an outstretched arm like a clock’s hour hand at one of the hour positions from 1-12. This tells the person at the head where to look for the particular bowl being enquired about. Only at most a few bowls would be likely to lie at that ‘hour’. The player directing the head would then point directly at what was thought to be the requisite bowl and signal an answer, such as ‘ours’ or ‘theirs’, in the standard way.

Stretch Your Important Bending Muscles before Delivering any Lawn Bowls

 

Even after your brain knows how to deliver a lawn bowl you still need to get your body to comply with whatever it is- either a conscious teaching or a subconscious muscle memory.  This is only trouble-free if you have already warmed up by stretching the muscles you will be using. At the beginning of a match, if you have not properly warmed up, you will bowl poorly, but then, as this bad bowling finally gets your muscles limbered up, you can expect to improve. By then, however, you may be seriously behind in the game. The signs characteristic of inadequate warming up are: (i) initial bad bowling followed by improvement (ii) muscle pain that disappears as you get into the game and (iii) loss of balance on deliveries in the early ends.

For me, the most important stretching exercise is one for my knees and thighs. Simply squatting with thighs splayed at right angles to each other with your trunk stabilized by your hands is enough so long as you hold this position until the initial stress and pain subsides. Rocking forward and back with the support of your hands on the floor in front of you can speed up this adjustment.