My comments are directed towards competitive play i.e. Club competitions, Pennants, other inter-club games and carnivals. What you do in social bowls is up to you but, remember, bad habits you learn in social bowls are often carried over to competitive games with disastrous results.

The Lead is the backbone of any team. There is an old saying that you cannot win without a good Lead. This is only a half truth. You can win but its very hard work.

A Lead has specific duties. They are:-

The last duty is the one that causes most concern. The average club Lead thinks getting a shot is the most important aspect. It is not. The measure of any Leads success is the number of times he has close bowls. His job is to set up the head for his team mates.

The major attribute of a Lead, other than being a very good draw player, is discipline. He must be prepared to set up the head end after end even though often the opposition will attack his bowls. It takes will power to keep playing a steady draw game while other players have more spectacular shots to play. Another point is a good Lead does not change his hand because of a “bowl in his eye”. He plays around or under it and if he hits it he still has a good second shot.

Good Leads are as scarce as hens teeth. A competent Lead is always assured of a place in a good team. One authority said that the first position he recruits when setting up a competitive team is the Lead.

There is nothing original about the above comments. They merely repeat what every good authority on bowls says. I will be only too happy to talk to anyone who wishes to know more about the position.

In the last newsletter (Corinda Club's "Bias for Bowls")  I covered practice in general and referred you to the article in the Bowler Magazine by Rick Dickson. Let us now look at some practice routines in more detail.

Your practice routines should be directed toward the position in which you would like to specialize. Each position in a team has a role to play and each role requires specific skills.

For example, a Lead has to be able to roll the Jack accurately—not so much as dead straight but certainly to a required length. Therefore any practice routine for a Lead must include a number of ends devoted to rolling the Jack to short, medium and long ends. Importantly, any practice session should be measured as Rick

Dawson pointed out in his article. Set up targets using anything available (paper cups, other Jacks, tennis balls or even kitty markers)  and keep a record of how many times you can put a Jack within 1 metre of your target (distance wise—not necessarily straight) over, say 6 ends—2 short, 2 medium and 2 long.

The other role of a Lead is to put in 2 close bowls. There are a number of tests available for players to measure their drawing skills. Do a test and record your result. The next time do it again and see if you have improved. Also you can try bowling around a “bowl in your eye” as a variation to the normal drawing practice.

The Second is the most underrated position in fours. Traditionally, but wrongly, it has been regarded as the place where you put someone who just scrapes into the team. In other words, where you put your last choice player.

The Second should be the next player selected after the Lead.

Used properly the Second position can be a powerful weapon in your team. Firstly lets look at his or her duties.

The problem is that most mediocre Skips use the Second as just an additional Lead and fail to utilize the attacking potential of this position.

A Seconds attributes are:-

Any practice routine should cover each of these aspects of play. More about practice in our Pennant training sessions. In the meanwhile read the coaching notes in the Bowler Magazine.

It is important to realize that the Lead and the Second form a team within a team. They are the ones who lay the foundations for those following. Without them the Third and the Skip struggle.

A Second should be able to play every shot in the book. Under actual playing conditions, however, the Second is most unlikely  to be asked to play a drive—although  it has been known in elite teams. The most likely shots are—draw to the Jack, draw to offset jacks, draw to position and on-shots.

In every practice session divide the time available into segments which are then allocated to each of the disciplines. For example if you have 1h20m to spare allocate twenty minutes to each type of shot. If you consider you need to put more time into a particular segment then leave one of the disciplines to another day. The main point is to allocate the time available to the best possible use.

The draw shot forms the basis of every type of shot  except the fast drive. Do not neglect it—particularly drawing to a spot between 30 and 90 cm behind the Jack (a position bowl). The greatest sin of a Second is short bowls. A short bowl is one more than 30cm in front of the Jack.

As with Leads there are plenty of draw shot exercises available. See your coach.

To practice off-set Jacks put a Jack on each side of the centre line about 50cm in from the boundary line and deliver two bowls – outside in — to each Jack.

After your allocated time slot move on to practice on-shots. Get a flapjack from the box and put a Jack about 1.5 to 2m behind the flapjack and about 1.5m (use your own judgement) to the side. Try to get your bowl passing through the flapjack and finishing near to the Jack. Anything finishing short of the flapjack is a no-no. Also going well past the Jack is considered a failure particularly if it goes into the ditch. If the flapjack is not available get a spare set of bowls and construct a target.  Here again practice routines are available from your coach.

The Second is a vital position in a good team and should never be considered as just another Lead, which, unfortunately, some uneducated skips do. Nevertheless, at times the Second will be required to cover for his/her Lead.

I will cover Thirds in the next Newsletter.

Remember—practice does not necessarily make perfect only perfect practice does.

A very important position but no more so than any other. Once the Lead and Second have laid the foundations it is up to the Third and Skip to build on them. They form the second half of the team.

Of course the first half of the team is the Lead and Second. The best analogy I heard likens a team to a ship. The Lead and Second are the engine room with the Third and Skip being the navigator and the captain. Without the engine room the ship drifts aimlessly and eventually flounders. Conversely without a navigator and a captain the ship also charges ahead aimlessly and eventually comes to grief. The moral of the story is that both sections of a team must do their job for the team to succeed. Think about it.

The Thirds duties are:-

·        Drive

The Thirds attributes are:-

The Third is a specialist position that can be very rewarding for any player prepared to put time and effort in understanding the ramifications of the position. He/she may be a better player technically than the Skip but the Skip needs other attributes that justify his position.

Once you get away from Leads the type of shots that need to be practiced are much the same for Seconds, Thirds and Skips - position bowls, on shots, drawing (particularly  around short bowls), drawing to offset jacks, drawing to jacks in the ditch, driving etc.

It would be too time consuming to detail every type of practice exercise you need. Thirds and Skips are usually selected for their playing experience rather than just their playing skills. Therefore they should be well aware of the type of shots they need to practice.

Rather than list the routines I will just commence on what you should NOT do. That is to get on the practice green put the Jack and the mat in your favourite position and bowl up and down without variation. You must put yourself under pressure just like in a game. Practice your weaknesses not your strengths.

Another point is those players who think that all they have to do to improve is to play more games.Rubbish!!. All you do in playing games is to maintain your present level of play without improving.

Rather than sit on your backside and whinge about your game get out on the practice green and do something about it.

See your coach for advice.

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