Ashburton Bowls Club - Coaching


	Coaching Lachlan Tighe Lachlan Tighe, is one of the best bowls coach for Victorian Metropolitan clubs, he has a monthly coaching column and we will be posting it on our site. Please click on the links to read each article. February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 How to Build a Head On Sunday, February 11 2007, Geoff Close will conduct the next Coaching session on the green, discussing, demonstrating and involving the members attending, with the process of how a Skip should "Build a Head". This session is relevant for all players, from the novice to the experienced bowlers, particularly those who have never Skipped a game of bowls, or who aspire to the position in the future. The session, beginning at 1:30pm, will run through the process of developing the Head, from the early discussions with the players, particularly the Lead, to the tactics and Percentage Play that is important to maximise your return and efforts on the green each game! Please come along, the session is free, and will be followed by players taking to the green, and playing the heads set up, to try and "build the head". The Role of Players in a Team Barrie Close, known to many of the members through his origins in earlier Clubs, ran the session on Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 7pm in the Clubrooms. A Take-Away Meal (or BYO) was arranged prior. The discussion/workshop talked about the role and the responsibilities of the players in a team environment. Barrie sought from the floor answers to the questions as to the roles and responsibilities of each player and from his extensive knowledge of the game, discussed what levels of competency each player should be aiming for from state level player down. Barrie, who has extensive experience at premier league and above team play, outlined that although the aim of a state player should be for a lead or second(50% of bowls within the yardstick), quite often the more reasonable measure is actually 10-20% achieved. As the level of play lessons down to the lower divisions of play of pennant competition, leads and seconds could only be reasonable expected to achieve 10%, and perhaps only achieving 5% (i.e.. 3 bowls a match). This percentage varies greatly for the thirds and skips and Barrie stressed that the following rules should apply for skips: If the player has been asked to play a weighted shot with their first bowl, in a game of fours, and they miss, they should be given the opportunity to correct with their second shot rather than given a new shot or hand (unless the head is changed totally). Barrie feels that this is not followed through often enough by skips at a local level. Skippers must be positive at all times, including their body language and expressions. Barrie expressed the desire that skips should discuss with the lead what side of the green the lead will be playing today and discuss tactics with the players prior to the game. That is: do they play long ends, short ends, etc. The evening concluded with a short presentation of thanks to Barrie for coming and the DVD of this session will be available in the near future for everyone to see. The next coaching session, with Barrie, is on Thursday 27 July 2006 at 7pm. Meal available prior at 6pm. On this night Barrie will talk on Practical Practice Routines used by Premier League Clubs to improve their standard and consistency on the green. Hope to see you at Ashburton soon!