Carla’s Corner – Edition Nine
Dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world champion Carla Krizanic continues to share her insights in her ninth column for bowls.com.au, as she eagerly awaits the arrival of her second child.
The reality for any sportsperson, whether an elite athlete or recreational player, is that you can’t play perfectly all the time, no matter how good you are.
As bowlers we always want to be drawing touchers and never missing our conversions, but if it was possible to play the perfect game, then it would probably get a bit boring after a while.
We go through periods when we are playing extremely well and feel like we can draw touchers with our eyes closed, then other days where it doesn’t matter how hard we try we just can’t get things to work.
It’s a frustrating game, it really is.
I thought I would share a few tips to try and emerge from a slump in your performance or a dampener in motivation to get on the green for practice.
For me, the number one thing has always been to take a break.
I generally play all year round and often have an abundance of events, so it’s inevitable at times I will feel burnt out which is never good for my performance.
This is the same for anyone, sometimes you just need to put the bowls in the cupboard for a couple of weeks and completely forget about them.
Get the golf clubs out instead or find another hobby to enjoy for a little while so your bowls head can refuel and after a break you often come back refreshed and hungry for competition.
Another valuable method if you are enduring a slump is to ask for help from someone like your club coach, a fellow bowler or anyone that you feel you can trust to have a look at your delivery for you or someone with a good bowling mind that you can discuss your troubles with.
We can’t see ourselves bowling so it might just take another set of eyes to pick up something simple that is affecting your game, or a discussion to talk over what the certain issues are.
Finally, you could even get someone to film you while bowling so you can have a look yourself and physically see what the problem might be. This always helps me if I’m trying to change something in my delivery.
I’ve definitely gone through periods where I’m having a slump in motivation to go down for a practice, so for me it’s about keeping my training varied so it doesn’t become monotonous.
This might mean trying some different drills, organising a training partner or even having a training session at a different club for a bit of variety and a challenge.
Just this week I had a session with Victorian state and emerging players coach Ian Ewing and he ran us through some fun little games and drills that despite playing for a longtime, I’ve never seen before.
A bit of variety in the practice session made for an enjoyable and valuable day and something new for me to add to my own training regime.
Take care and stay safe,
Carla Krizanic.
