Lawn Bowling Team Harmonization
PSYCHOLOGICAL TRANSITION
Meaning: In Lawn Bowls, team harmonisation is the science of sport that is marked by mentally controlling agreement, feelings and actions that brings bowlers into a harmonious team or side.
Development: Merely being together at practice or competition does not necessarily increase mutual liking or harmony among lawn bowling team or side members. For harmonisation to develop, individuals must commit to a common mission or goal, or be linked in some interdependent way so that they rely on one another and help one another in pursuit of that goal. This begins with the individual by first learning to control the following transitional points as follows;
1. Agreement: Being obedient by agreeing to comply with and fulfilling the commands or instructions. Responding conformably in action or willingness to obey. Submissive to the authority or constraint by placing yourself in a state or fact of being obedient. Involving your self in the act or practice of obeying dutiful or submissive, subject to some particular person or authority. Being compatible by orderly efficient integration with other elements in the team system. Capable of working in conjunction with one another with goals to improve and win. Refrain from being critical by over questioning the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be knowledge, or becoming one who mistrusts and who maintains a doubting pessimistic attitude towards the lawn bowls coach, team or side members, plans and ideas.
2. Feelings: Withholding your feelings which are the effects of determining by your emotions rather than sound judgement or good sense. Looking for an area to contribute your knowledge and bowls playing skills, ridding your mind of emotional blackmail that attempts to control the behaviour of others by deliberate manipulation of their emotions as by threatening to withdraw.
3. Actions: Creating motivational actions that produce the ability by which given quantities of playing skills are multiplied to produce a greater performance e.g. training to improve performance strengths and weaknesses, assisting or constructing a game plan prior to the game and debriefing the performance after the lawn bowls game.
SUPPORT
Staff: Players are among the most important people in the club without them the competitive challenge of bowls means nothing. The point here is that the supporting elements should set their goals towards giving players every assistance as far as possible to achieve success for the club. Players should not lose track of the fact that they also are playing for the club or association. Many lawn bowls players seem to misplace their main goal and set off in the wrong direction of self achievement rather then the benefit of the very sporting body they belong to. That is why team and side harmonisation must be strongly developed and maintained throughout the entire season.
COURSES
Skips and Thirds: Combined skips and thirds training courses should be conducted by the coach or coaching committee annually during the transition period of the year, and should be open to all potential skips, thirds and experience playing members. The presentation of a course certificates would encourage many to participate in these important positions. The skips and thirds play an important part in the promotion of team harmonisation by their leadership, for example; some lead by personal example and inspire fellow players by their verbal exhortations and presence and the others, who are the generals or play makers, who dictate the game by directing and persuading other team players. The role of skips and thirds is to act as the bridge between the coach and players, assisting with the communication of information, creating team harmonisation and taking responsibility for tactical changes or decisions which they deems necessary during the game. To avoid any misunderstanding the role of skips and thirds should be explained at the start of the season and made quite clear what they are, and what they are not responsible for, both during competition games and during lawn bowls training. It will be of great value if they share a mutual respect and liking for the way that each other works and their principles of how the game should be approached and played.
Leads and Seconds: Leads and seconds training courses should also be conducted by the bowls coaching committee during the transition period of the year and should be open to all potential leads, seconds and experience playing members. The presentation of a course certificates would also encourage many to participate in these important playing positions. Leads and seconds play an important part in the building of the head and the tactics to be played.
DIFFICULTIES
Player difficulties: Successful or unsuccessful teams have pride and harmonisation in abundance. It can be dormant or infectious. Stimulating and maintaining it can be a very difficult undertaking for the coach because players differ in their degrees of responsibility to the team; some are there for their own benefit doing only things that make them look good, whilst others display inconsistent performances or duties which cause irritation to the majority. They blame something or someone else for their failures and shortcomings. The team coach must also be aware that there can be underground elements of disharmony in the team environment, e.g. personality conflicts, jealously of other players, rivalry between two or more players for team positions, player preference of coaches, indifference’s between skips and coaches, player and coach, or even coaches against coach conflict. The important management problem for the coach is developing and maintaining team harmonisation that directs players to work with, not against, each other for as long as it takes success to be achieved.
DISCONTENTMENT
Problem players: A large amount of problem players in the team are so wrapped up in their ambitions of being a great player they ultimately fail to understand that their success or failure depends on the team’s performance, whilst other players restrict themselves to play safe and will not take risks, which in effect does not help their team-mates when such skills could uplift the team to a greater performance levels. There are other players who continually cause disharmony and discreditably by expressing innuendo’s and their indifference’s to side tactics, training, coaching programmes, or club administrative rules. These types of problems players can destroy the side or team harmony very quickly if not checked. Strange as it may seem, on many occasions it is often the most talented individuals who cause problems by their unreasonable and uncooperative behaviour which in most cases can be solved if the parties concerned just sit down and talk. Alert coaches must identify the problem immediately and bring such discontentment to a positive resolution.
SELECTION
Player reaction: Many problems arise when selectors by poor management fail to give early warning or sound logical reason to player selection or movement, which in turn cause players to feel that they are unjustly treated and to react in a hostile attitude. Many express their justifiable grievance to all in ear shot and may cause disruption by the lack effort in training, forming cliques, spreading gossip designed to stimulate disunion among other team or side members. It is only natural for players to feel dissatisfied and irate about being dropped or repositioned to another team position. However, nothing is gained by anger or retribution. Lawn bowls players have to reset their goals with a positive attitude and settle down to regain confidence in training or their new team position. If they work to improve their standard of play it will place pressure on the people concerned to place them back into the old or higher position.
CLASSIFICATION
Player classification: Basically individuals mould themselves by their psychological make-up. It can generally be influenced by the stronger personality or personalities within the group. Although individuals may differ slightly, experience has shown that they will generally fit into anyone of three following types:
1. Type A: This type is concerned about playing their best performance. They set team and self goal, have good team spirit and mix well with team members. Give excellent team support during the game and are dedicated to training sessions to improve their performance strengths and weaknesses.
2. Type B: They have a strong need for friendship and cooperation among team members and do not get over-upset about losing, even though they are very disappointed they will tend to support each other through thick and thin. Team harmony becomes infectious when they win. Attend regular training sessions to improve their game. About 60 percent set the required goals.
3. Type C: This type is mainly concerned with winning and success. They are sometimes aloft and not worried about forming relationships but about functioning well as a team in order to win matches. They are inclined to blame others or anything for their losses are reluctant to attend training sessions. They see everyone else’s faults bar their own. Although they work well as a team, team harmony is the last thing on their mind and they are only interested in setting their own personal goals.
Management: Lawn bowling coaches must as quickly as possible distinguish the classification of each individual and approach them on that intellectual foundation when developing and maintaining harmony. Individuals differ in their psychological needs, such as self-esteem, being liked and respected by team members, and feeling part of a working team. Training together as a team consolidates an understanding of what playing skills each team member can perform on the green. They experience various situations such as laid-down training drills and tactical moves which tend to improve team harmony. The coach has to seek out how hard they are prepared to train and what they are prepared to do to achieve success because each one of them has a part to play in the team. Throughout the season team harmony will change, depending on the sides experiences it will tend to rise to great heights and fall to low levels The presence of older players, who have been through the cycle of winning and loosing are very good stabiliser when the going get tough. Teams function well with a good spread of the different player classification as depicted above. Each oriented player will support the other with their own overt character.
Filed Under: lawn bowls,lawn bowls coaching,gt for bowls,lawn bowling,Performance Lawn Bowls,Macka Jensen,Lawn Bowls Team,Bowls Team Harmony
