BOWLING

Grey River Argus, 9 February 1929, Page 10

BOWLING

(By “Straight Wood.”) The West Coast Tournament commences on Monday on the Hokitika and Greymouth greens. In the section play six games will be played in the rinks and five in the pairs—the rink play taking place on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday will be devoted* to the pairs. Post section play and finals will take place on the Hokitika green on Friday. In the rinks, three gamjes of 21 heads, limited to three hours, W’ill be played each day and these games have been timed to start at 8 a.ni., noon and 3 p.m. In view of the fact that ”Summer Time” is in . operation there is surely no necessity to start the games in the rinks section, uo early. If the first, game were started at 9 o’clock, the luncheon adjournment could be taken between noon and one o’clock instead of between 11 o’clock and noon as at present agreed. The visiting players could then arrange for luncheon at the hotels at which they are staying, whereas with the adjournment between 11 and noon, they will have to be satisfied with a “snack” on the green. The convenience of the players should be considered in every way possible, and it is not too late even now to make this small alteration in the time table, which would undoubtedly be much appreciated by •the bowlers.

Herewith are a few “Bowling Dout’s” clipped, from a contemporary. —-To the Leader.— Don’t be careless in your throw, Your skip will judge whether a long or short or, medium end best suits his team., or conversely which does no' suit the opposition; therefore don’t regard the length of the throw as being of no consequence. —To th G No. 2.— Don’t think for one moment that your position is of less importance than any of the others. A good No. 2 is just as big a factor in the success' of a rink as a good leader, a good third, or a good skip. —To the No. 3.—• Don’t think that your chief province is to direct your skip. If you are desirous. of being classed as a really good No. 3 don’t give advice until you are asked for it. A good skip will consult you when he thinks the occasion demands it. Until then keep quiet. —To the Skip.— Don’t be querulous. Don’t be sarastic. Don’t shout out “Take the green!” or “Oh. be up!” when the unfortunate player is not doing him self justice. Don’t forget that 8 bad shot probably hurts the dclinqu ent more than it does you. —To th e New Player.— Don’t bring your bowling action from* the elbow. Try to cultivate the penduluhi swing, which is essential to achieving correct distance. Use the whole of your arm—not a part of it. Don’t, choose a bowl that doesn’t fit your hand. Unless you have a large hand you will get more control from a bpwl sin in diameter than one of the bigger variety. Don’t atempt to play fast shots until you have mastered the draw shot. Don’t forget that constant practice is cssen'ial to success in any game.

The West Coast Champion of Championfs 'Singles Competition will be played at Hokitika next Saturday. At the time of writing the players to represent the Runanga, Westport and Reef ton (the la'ter club may not have a. representative) have not been announced, but I understand D. Stevenson will again be the Hokitika Club’s representative, he having won the Singles Championship of his club sqven times in iL’ight years. The Greymojuth champion is D. McKay, ‘who for many years has been in the running and this year succeeded in “landing the bacon”. “Straight Wood” desires to congratulate the genial “Dave” on his success, which was thoroughly deserved. He played great bowls, particularly towards the end of the competition and the fact that he beat Mercer., a triple singles championship winner, twice each game under different conditions as far as weather and greens were concerned, and then won comfortably from Whibley in -the final, proves conclusively that his success was due to good play. The writer has seen this player in action for the past five or six years, and there is no question that this season he is playing better than ever. If he retains his form he should emerge from Saturday’s competition as champion of the West Coast.

PRINCIPLES OF PLAY. THE GOOD LEADER. A SPLENDID ASSET. A good leader is a splendid asset to his rink (says a writer in Bowls, Melbourne). No one denies his worth. Some generous skippers even go so far as to say he is the most important playe r in it. Many even of the leaders themselves have been suspected of secretly encouraging the spread of this idea. But any such conclusions would be hard to establish. Experience furnishes no guide., for no ; serious attempt has yet been made to gather and examine the data it might supply, and it is perfectly ceriain that uo process of cold reasoning will lead you to it. Since every bowl —save the derelicts that find themselves dishonourable graves in the ditch, or get arrested for trespassing on other people’s property—is a potential scorer, it seems a bit gratuitous to assign a special value to the first delivery. But there you are; The eldest of the family is often made a fuss of this way. The leader’s work is clearly visible; its results stand out —quite long enough at least to make a very dis tinct impression. He thus, if he happens to bowl well, gets often far more credit for his share iu the ultimate result than his actual work deserves The rare occasions when his particular

bowls survive the shocks of time and circumstances and keep their value through and to the end are. cited as convincing proof of his high valuj; th G fact that other bowls than his far of tenet do the same being quite and- quite unconsciously perhaps, ignored. The Psychological Factor.

There is, to be sure, the psychological factor to be reckoned with; but to assess the true value of this were indeed a problem. A good leader, we arc told, inspires his side with confidence, and sets them bowling well. But may he not • conceivably make them over-confident and careless through being left with nothing much to do? May he not the other side to greater effort, and consequently do more harm than good with his much-belauded example? Unless his brilliant bowling is to have the effect of paralysing his opponents —it is hard to see where this mysterious psychological factor can quite come in. Principles of Play. Having thus cleared th© ground a bit by tapping the Leader of any superfluous cenceit he may have been afflicted with the time has about come to investigate his job. It is not proposed to enter here into any details of his routine duties. The book or rules will furnish them. The purpose solely is to lay down some general principles that should govern his play, a matter of all the more importance as it has become a sort of tradition in the game that the leader should be left alone. Traditions rarely prove on investigation to have a very substantial foundation and this particular one is far from being altogether sound. The plain fact is that the principles of sound leadership being few and simple a good, or rather an experienced, Leader should be familiar with th<’m, and therefore not require directing. But when a Leader is inexperienced, as he very often is. or when through ignorance, or sheer perversity, he departs from them, and the skipper must in the interests of the rink, assert authority.

Now for his work, .in the first place, the Leader’s task is not so simple as it may appear. Something more than mere mechanical accuracy in the draw is required of him. It should not be, hs it is so frequently considered, a mere private duel between him and his opponent. He is a member of a rink after all., and it is the victory of the rink that matters, not the individual success. If his methods are not beneficial to his side, they are wrong, a-id he must expect to be called upon to mend them. Good Bowling or Goods Bowls? For instance, nothing could be more gratifying to him, as an individual, than to have two bowls on the kitty, one on each hand. To his side, however, they would be of very doubtful value. Such a target will have been created that by nothing short of almost a miracle could either of them survive to figure in the score. It follows, therefore, that a good Leader will not try to place -both bowls too closely on the kitty. It may be good bowling, but it is not good bowls. With one bowl resting on kitty, the second should be some distance away, in some position—usually at the back —where it is likely to be profitable in the not improbable event of the first position being disturbed. The ideal position is considered to b e one bowl in front of the kitty (actually resting on it is not specially advantageous, though naturally to the bowler’s credit), the second some little distance behind. The mere fact that you have succeeded in bowling what were indepenl ently two excellent bowls, and yet have failed to benefit the rink you are supposed to serve, will in itself satisfy you, if you have any doubts on the subject, that there must be some principles t 0 guide your play and that it is not a mere question of drawing on the kitty every time. These principles, though few and comparatively simple, will well deserve careful consideration.