Complaints from Leads and Vices about Skips

I played in a pretty prestigious tournament at the Toronto Cricket Club a few days ago and I can tell you there is rebellion brewing in the ranks. While the skips are down at the head, leads and seconds are talking quietly among themselves. Perhaps this has been so since time immemorial. Perhaps it is something new. I don’t know; remember, I am just a second-year novice.

But what the foot soldiers are saying rather generally is that skips don’t take account of the limitations of team members. The skips may be correct about the shots they are calling for from a tactical or strategic point of view.  No-one’s arguing about that; but, they are more often wrong about what the person on the mat is confident about trying or comfortable with. The skip cannot know we have a wonderful aim point on the side (s)he is calling you off of, or that you have no idea of the correct grass on the hand where you are being asked to bowl. The skip cannot know that there is nothing wrong with your line, you just haven’t hit it yet! Perhaps some skips should stop subconsciously trying to show off their experience and think more about the actual capabilities of their team members.

What would I do if I were a skip for a young team with partially developed skills?  I would tell them that I was instituting a new system. I would continue to signal my preferred choices of hand and target, but I would implement a system more like baseball, where the pitcher can shake off a sign from the catcher. My bowler on the mat, would just shake his or her head indicating, “I am not comfortable with what you are asking.” If as a skip, mine is only a mild preference, I would signal for the bowler to make the choice. If I felt that there was a very strong reason for what I was asking, I would call the bowler up to the head and point it out. My impression is that this would occur rather infrequently. Much less frequent for example than skips visit the head when they are bowling themselves.

As for draw games where the skips know their team members almost not at all, I think a wise skip should almost always invite a choice by the bowler. It will make the game more enjoyable for all and, I think, produce better outcomes. Nothing is really more ridiculous than for a skip to call for a refined draw through a narrow port, when the poor novice, like myself, feels lucky to get anywhere within three meters of the kitty.

Pushers: Difficulties with the Backswing When Using the Cradle Grip

Image for the comment below

The other day I was helping my coach to supervise the first lessons of new bowlers and I met a beginner who could not use her thumb in opposition to her other fingers to hold the bowl, as is required in the variations of the claw grip. She was already using a 0-0 size bowl. This lady explained her difficulty and showed me her hand. Apparently, because of arthritis, her thumb was effectively confined to the plane of her palm. The thumb was not immobile but even when it was assisted to take an out-of-plane position it had no strength to hold a bowl.  For this reason, she had to palm the bowl in what is called the cradle grip with all her fingers and her thumb on the same side of the bowl. 

It seems to me that people with this slight disability cannot dependably use the standard delivery, because they cannot grasp their bowl sufficiently tightly for a standard backswing. My pedagogical comments to her had been all, not exactly wrong but just useless. It seems to me that bowlers who use a cradle grip for whatever reason must employ a very modest to non-existent backswing; must step forward with an exaggerated long stride; and must accompany it with a matching long follow-through. The power required to reach long jacks needs to come from the acceleration in the push they apply to the bowl since they cannot use the energy (called potential energy by physicists) gained by elevating the bowl in the backswing. ‘Pushers’, as they are called, very often also begin their delivery arm motion from a stance with their foot opposite slightly ahead of the nearer foot. Push bowlers can be very good bowlers. There is no automatic impediment to their estimation of line and weight derived from the grip and delivery. I warn you from experience not to underestimate these people. If you wish to explore a related weakness, I sense that bowling to long jacks could more easily tire them on heavy greens.   

Bowling Long is Much Harder on Grass

As regular readers know, at my home club, James Gardens in Toronto Canada, I bowl outdoors on a very fast synthetic surface. My tournament matches however are played predominantly on natural grass. For this reason, I am also a member of the Willowdale Lawn Bowling Club so I can practice on that surface. When I went to Willowdale this morning, the grass was still wet with dew. I was using a groundsheet. I found it very difficult to deliver, much less accurately deliver, a bowl that maximum distance: from two meters from the back ditch to within two meters of the front ditch.
My chosen style is to bowl using only the potential energy from a high backswing, without using too much muscular energy. My arm muscles are only used to control my arm to try to maintain the aim line. My hope is that this way I will still be able to be fresh enough for multiple matches in a day even as I get even older. On the synthetic surface, I had been successfully controlling my length by hesitating at the top of a calibrated backswing, stepping firmly forward, and then swinging through to release the bowl. This worked well for the James Gardens synthetic surface because just a moderate 45 degree-from-the-vertical backswing was all that was needed for the longest jack; however, at Willowdale, on the wet green, a backswing of about 90 degrees, almost to the horizontal, seemed to be needed and this tended to throw off my line and cause me to bowl narrow too often. One solution seems to be not to pause, even hesitatingly, at the top of my backswing but to step forward briskly, plant that forward foot, and get the bowl grassed. For some reason this speeding up of the motion increased the bowl’s travel and reduced the deviations from my stare point. The reason for the greater distance, may be,  that my forward step tends to be longer when the pendulum motion is continuous. Only time and trials will substantiate or challenge this remedy.  

A Tip playing Lawn Bowls: Keep your Weight Essentially Completely on Your Planted Foot When your Backswing Begins

The Balmy Beach Fours team needed a replacement lead because of injury in one of their Ontario district playdown matches on Sunday last. I had the chance to substitute. The match was against last year’s Canadian gold fours team modified only in that Steve McKerihen, last year’s skip, was being substituted by Jeff Harding, who is the reigning Canadian singles champion. The other members of the opposition were David Anderson (vice), Adam McKerihen (2^nd) and Steve Walbank (lead). Here I was a novice, who had played exactly 12 months, getting to play with a group of the best lawn bowlers in Canada! Pretty awesome right?

Thank goodness for those two trial ends. On my second of four bowls, I grassed the wrong bias?!#
Fortunatel for me, it was very much up and up from there. Although our Balmy Beach squad lost,  our competition did win this district 10 qualification tournament; and, I think it is fair to say, we lost because our team was outmatched not just the substitute lead.

Did I learn anything that might support improvement? Well one thing is certainly rather interesting. Jeff Harding has a smooth conventional delivery, just like we novices are taught by coaches when we take up the game; except for one thing. He stands in the ready position, crouched with both feet touching the mat, but with all his weight on the leg that remains stationary during delivery. This is so pronounced that you can actually see this leg, which he will step forward onto, dangling loosely in the air just occasionally brushing the mat as he begins his backswing. This seems to compel Harding to do two very desirable things. He must take a  gradual, very controlled backswing, because otherwise he would lose his balance. Also this necessitates another simplification in delivery. There can be no uncertainty about the amount of weight that goes to the back foot in his delivery. It has to be all his weight, since his other foot is essentially off the ground.

Good Habits that haven’t become Second Nature can Break Down under Pressure

My partners are in this picture from another club and another day

This past Sunday I was privileged to play in the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club’s mixed triples tournament here in Toronto Canada. I have very self-sacrificing partners (my bowling coach and her husband) who seem to set aside their own prospects of winning in order to provide me with the maximum in learning opportunities. In the first two of the three games, I played skip and learned a valuable lesson: What makes being skip difficult is not just the shots that are required but the pressure of knowing that those shots determine the score for the team. Apparently, it is one thing to know what to do and to execute it properly when the pressure is moderate but when those actions have not become second nature, performance breaks down under pressure. After the second game, we called the experiment complete. I reverted to being a passably competent lead and we won our last match with everyone bowling better.

The second element besides psychological pressure, a combination of factors really, that causes a breakdown from proper form is long jacks on heavy greens. The natural inclination in this situation is to throw more energetically; but this is wrong, I think. One does not throw harder one simply elevates the bowl more in the backswing before getting down to grass the bowl. The increased energy as the bowl falls further towards the ground in your swing supplies the extra power needed. If I try to throw harder, my timing is affected and I find my arm swinging forward before I have stepped forward and before I have firmly planted that forward foot. When that happens I cannot roll the bowl over my aiming point and it travels-well, elsewhere!  That certainly is what happened too often on Sunday last.

The Advantage of Winning the Toss in Lawn Bowls

At the start of a lawn bowls match there is a coin flip or some other random means to select the team that has the right to take the mat first,   roll the jack, and grass the first bowl. At my club in Canada, James Gardens, there is a widespread opinion that playing first is judged a disadvantage, and winning the toss invariably results in a request for the other side to lead off first. That is, very often, even in tournament play, the team winning the toss chooses to bowl second. It seems to me this is an immediate admission that your lead does not have good control of the jack. Winning the toss should be an advantage, so long as the lead is skilled enough to use it. Bowling the jack followed expeditiously by grassing the first bowl is the only time in an end that one bowler has the opportunity to bowl twice in immediate succession. But it is an advantage only if the jack is bowled with exactly the same motion that you use for your bowls. This allows the lead to get a reading of the weight that will be needed and to apply that information immediately.

Suppose that the opposition has won the toss but elects to bowl second. This gives your side an immediate opportunity to play, for example, a short end with the jack close to the ditch. Your lead should already have practiced to bring the mat forward to the 14-meter line and to bowl the jack to within two meters of the ditch. If the placement of the jack succeeds, your lead gets to grass his first bowl at a target (s)he has just placed. The opposing lead, usually also a less experienced player, is faced with the task of not bowling short because this is strategically inferior and not bowling into the ditch where the shot would be lost completely. Moreover, the opposing lead has had no more than the practice ends to determine the aiming angles and the proper weight. Isn’t this just the kind of pressure situation you want to create quickly for an opponent? 

Now suppose the least favorable situation plays out and your lead ditches the jack when trying to place it. The consequence is nothing more than that the other lead gets the chance to set the length for the end which (s)he could have chosen when the toss was first won, but (s)he still losses the opportunity to bowl immediately afterward delivering the jack. Your side still gets to grass the first bowl and has had the opportunity to work with the jack to get a better idea of the appropriate weight.

This is only one set play strategy; others are possible. Another opening strategy is simply to set up the longest end possible with the mat as close to the back ditch and the jack as close as possible to the front ditch. Having to bowl long is the most stressful for bowlers with poor style and imperfect balance.  Having to bowl long increases the tendency to bowl narrowly on the forehand and too wide on the backhand, because there is a tendency to hold onto the bowl longer and the arm may start to be pulled across one’s body just as the bowl is released.

Whatever the case, the team provided the first roll of the jack should most often have a preferred position of the mat that is not the standard 6 feet from the back gutter, and a preferred length, which might be, for example, a long jack from a position more forward than 2 meters. Your lead may have a length of jack that s(he) is most comfortable with. This 'natural length' can be determined by using the standard bowling motion as for a delivery to a long jack. Measure this length of travel for the jack, add two meters to it, and count this length back from the forward ditch. This is the preferred mat position for your lead. Now measure the mat’s distance from the back ditch. This is how much your lead should bring the mat forward if your side wins the toss or is ceded it.

If a team has practiced using these parameters and the opposition has not, this can be a distinct advantage. I noticed this when I played last year in a regular game wherein the opposing lead always moved the mat about 18 feet out from the back gutter. It led to me wrongly estimate my length.

Every time that your team wins the mat the jack can be placed at your preferred ‘practice position and length’. The opposition may soon choose to take the mat rather than give it away.

Whatever one does; whether one takes the mat when one wins the toss or ceded it to the opposition, what you choose should be part of a pre-established strategy. That is, it should be worked out beforehand, understood by all the team, practiced, and executed without any discussion. In this way, no team member will be flustered, while all the opponents will be surprised. This is an excellent way to start a match! You are clearly in control of the action. 

It is important to start briskly. For example, the lead can immediately bring the mat forward and center it with the help of the skip. Mark the center-front of the mat with chalk so you can easily find the place again. If the jack is successfully placed near the ditch, the second carries the lead’s, and then the rest of the team’s bowls up to close behind the mat. The opponents can be left to move their own bowls. The skip quickly centers the jack with the help of the rink markers and gets minor adjustments from the lead. Then the lead smartly grasses that first bowl. The other lead now has the mat but is unlikely to be set to play.

If you are going to try this, your lead needs to practice for it. In Canada, the springtime is a good time to practice it. Do it before everyone gets their bowling season started because it is easier to get hold of a half-dozen jacks to practice with when the green is not busy. 

This is an opportunity to emphasize again that that between two bad choices it is better if that first bowl is ditched rather than having it substantially short; err on the side of length. With a short jack near the ditch, the probability is highest that the jack will end up in the ditch before all the bowls have been played. Short bowls will not score. Back bowls will be precious.

The Tyro Lead Bowler in Triples

When you are the tyro lead bowler in triples, weight is a more important concern than line. If you are within three feet either side of the jack that is probably good enough for a back bowl, but being three feet in front of the jack almost guarantees that that bowl of yours will not enter into the scoring. Think of being lead as being slightly blind. You see the jack position but that is quite likely not where the jack will be resting when the score is taken; therefore, what one should focus on is depth. If the jack moves it almost certainly will be away from you towards the forward ditch; consequently, it is rather desirable to be a yard on and indeed one should err on the side of being longer rather than shorter. Four feet short is a bad bowl; four feet long can be useful for the development of the head. Four feet short cannot be promoted easily so it is likely out of the scoring. Grassing two yard on-bowls gives your second and skip some things to work with in developing a scoring situation. A close bowl by a lead in triples rarely survives as shot. There are too many good bowlers to follow and a bowl close up to the jack makes an excellent target for through shots. Even if both the opposing lead’s bowls are 1^st and 2^nd shots, your side’s situation is not too bad so long as your bowls are behind the jack. Logic requires that if the opponent is first and second shot but you have all your bowls at a reasonable distance behind the jack, you must outnumber the opponent in back bowls. 

Lawn Bowling Strategies for Competition

Strategy is an overarching action plan established before the action begins. In lawn bowls, strategy is set before a match, at a stage when you know nothing more than the identity of your opponents.  Tactics, on the other hand, are applied when the opponent is already engaged. Tactics therefore change as the situation on the rink evolves.

Strategy is invoked for serious competitions where winning is the overriding purpose. In bowls, both strategy and tactics are decided by the skip and executed by the team. Never apply strategies such as proposed here in friendly games. Strategies can embarrass opponents. It draws attention to and belabors their shortcomings. This of course causes bad feelings. Similarly, being a stickler for the rules, which often is part of a strategy, is bad form in a social game. When playing for fun, the uncontested unanimous purpose is for everyone to have an enjoyable experience; so be friendly, helpful, and accommodating to teammates and opponents alike.

Yes- a skip should still take advantage of opponents’ weaknesses during a social game in a tactical way, but he or she should not share this estimation of opposing individual weaknesses with other team members, as one does with a strategy, because that insight is a criticism of another person’s game. Similarly in ‘friendlies’, the skip should not pound away at the opponent’s weaknesses, end after end, but only use that advantage at critical points in the game. Even in a casual game someone must win and it might as well be your side.

So that being said here are some Battle Strategies for Cutthroat Competition

Against Less Well Conditioned Opponents.

 Competition here should be like war. Take advantage of the terrain. If it is hot and sunny, take a sun umbrella so your representative at the head is shaded. Wear hats, sun glasses, and wear sun screen as needed. Play steadily but not quickly. If it is within the house rules insist upon the two practice ends. Do not agree to shorten the required number of ends in a match if the tournament director proposes taking a vote on this.  Take time to measure. Move the mat up and  back regularly. Do not get discouraged if down at first but just try to remain close. Wait for the opponents to tire, sicken, or get angry.

Against a Generally Weaker Team.

Play long jacks almost exclusively. Having to bowl with  more force exaggerates defects in a bowler’s delivery. If a bowler is off balance at the end of the delivery, long jacks will exaggerate the damage. Jacks near the ditch frighten inexperienced players who do not want to lose their bowl in the ditch. They do not sufficiently appreciate the weakness of bowling short.

Against a Frail Skip.

Bowlers are promoted from lead to second to vice to skip as they become experienced, but, out of courtesy, (which thankfully lawn bowling is full of at the social level) they are not demoted as they age. Often a person continues to play skip even after frailty has reduced performance. Their tactical insight may still be strong but the actual bowling has weakened. Again play long jacks. More pressure will be on the skip to save when bowling long. Requiring more force in the delivery exaggerates delivery defects.

Against a Relatively Weak/Inexperienced Lead.

Bring up the mat to about 2 meters short of the first hog line so that your own lead can easily and reproducibly  place the jack near the ditch. Fear of the ditch will result in short bowls from an inexperienced lead. A strong head may be built before their skip comes to the mat. Your more experienced lead should recognize the importance of positional play generally and its added importance when it is easier to move the jack into the ditch.

Against a Team of Technically Better Players.

 If within the house rules, insist upon the two practice ends. If you exceed the time limit for the game it will usually be to your advantage. The more ends played, the more likely your opponents are to win. Good luck can get you ahead but given enough time it will not keep you ahead. Let it be the opponents who must play faster to speed up the game. Watch for foot faulting and call the umpire. Taking a picture of the foot faulting on your  cell phone camera could be unnerving! This can really throw off the concentration of an opponent or create friction within that team. Call the umpire if the opponents disturb bowls or otherwise misplay. Don’t try shots beyond your skill level trying to draw even. Just aim to stay close and look for a lucky break or that situation where their concentration is lost. Give the opposing side the impression that you think they should win easily. Be friendly and respectful but do not be bullied. Know the rules down pat because you are going to be a stickler about them. Express surprise and attribute your good shots to luck. The further the match proceeds before the other side realizes it could lose the better for you.

Against Evenly Matched Opponents

Don’t beat yourself. Don’t disturb the head when you are shot and have the last bowl particularly when you are ahead. If ahead only try to add safely to the count. If you have shot with two bowls remaining but they have last bowl,  put a safe shot at the back. Force them to make the shot that beats you, don’t do it for them. If you have one of the other specific advantages named here apply that strategy as well.

Against Less Skilled Opponents

In a tournament, the margin of all your victories often determines the overall winners. Also, there are prizes for high game etc.. Do not be casual, relaxed, over-friendly with those you overmatch. The time to mentor is during friendly social games. In competition concentrate and pile up the score. Beginners play more slowly, so you may need to speed up to be sure you finish in the required time and have the opportunity to score in all the ends.

Against Older Players with Joint Problems

Call for a measure when competing bowls are close. Usually the other side will invite you to go right ahead with it. With longer measurements, however,  you will need to ask for the assistance of the opposing second, which necessarily involves that player getting down on the playing surface. I have seen situations where it seems the other side concedes the point, rather than have to take the trouble to measure! I do not encourage you to do this in a seniors event. That seems too cruel; but in an open competition, it is the best competitors in every respect that should win.

Playing Away against a Home Team

Arrive early to take practice at right angles to the direction of play in the competition to get a feel for the weight needed to deliver bowls to both short and long jacks. Know in advance the tournament director’s ruling about practice ends before starting play. If within the house rules, insist upon the two practice ends. You will be unfamiliar both with the speed of the greens and which is the narrow and which the wide side for your draw shots. Your opponents know this. You could fall quickly and irrevocably behind if you don’t use every opportunity to learn quickly in practice.

Playing at Home Against a Visiting Team

All the opposite of the suggests above apply. Try to get the game started immediately.