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All players need coaches
(The Citizen - April 7, 2006)
TOP players in all sports need coaches at all levels of their involvement not least of all our international bowlers.
It would be catastrophic if say Tiger Woods or Ernie Els did not have highly professional coaches to consult when things go wrong as they do with all sportsmen and women in all sports. Recall how Woods went through a massive slump some while back and the consulted at length with his coaching guru and was soon back on his winning way. South Africa’s Ernie Els has had problems too in the past and had them ironed out after talking to a coach.
So why no national coach with the South African bowlers in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games? National coach, Simon Botha, was always there during the preparation of the team for the Games, but did not travel with them.
National bowls president Piet Breitenbach when posed with the question this week said the decision was made not to send the national coach with the team as the manager, Theuns Fraser, was a level four coach and had been involved in the preparation of the team from the start.
Fraser is of course a been there, done that, worn the tee-shirt out person when it comes to bowls and is understandably highly respected by the top players in the country and himself still competes at the highest level as witness his recent winning of the onerous Glen Pairs in Cape Town with Tony Doyle.
So South Africa did not lose anything by not having the national coach with the side, if that answers the questions of the so-called bowls experts that discuss this sort of thing over a few jugs every evening at the club.
There is a feeling that the team may have suffered from the surfeit of training camps they had to attend but this will be looked at for the future.
Many feel players were lacking in their competitive edge by not being able to play in all the competitions at district and national level. Despite this fact, there is another: Players sitting on the sidelines because of national commitments could well say when seeing someone else win a district title, “That could easily have been me there”
However, with the progressive attitude that is obvious in the 2006 version of the national executive a large number of ideas and thoughts that may have been sidelined before could be put into action now.
IT looks as though Ellie van Coller from Alberton is trying to make the Spar Classic singles her own private tournament. She recently won it again in beating Roosevelt Park’s Jacqui Atkinson 21-16.
Van Coller, until recently a member of the national squad continues to make herself felt in the upper echelons of bowls and it cannot be too long before she is a regular member of the national team.
Leone du Rand whose comeback in the Masters in Pretoria some weeks back did not provide much success made up for it when she and Beryl Katz from PHSOB beat Glenne Carris and Pam Landau for the Spar Classic [pairs title with a score of 15-14.
Unlucky Landau was also on the losing end in the final of Classic fours when she and her team, Gail Gebhard, lost to the holders, also from Roosevelt Park, Heather Pembroke, Esme Steyn, Iris Hill and Gill Fish 21-19.
Landau also did not feature in the finals of the CGBA triples played last Sunday. That title was won by Ferndale (Maureen Snashall, Sheena Absalom, and Colleen Davies) who beat Sharon Glenn, Dee Tucker and Val Taylor from Belgravia 17-13.
The men’s tile was won by Roosevelt Park (Constant Steyn Franco Regnani and John Ravenscroft) beating Morningside CC (Malcolm Michel, Jan van Niekerk and Mark Struwig) 22-16.
And let’s not forget the seniors where Aubrey Elin, John Gillis and Hymie Becker beat Rod Lurie, Arnie Port and Gerald Lampert 16-15 in an extra end. Both sides were from Killarney.
It ws also great to see fairly new bowlers reaching the late stages of the vent. Andre de Villiers, Paul Dines and Lionel van Niekerk reached the semifonals of the open triples. Lionel has benn playing for nine months and Andre for just over two years.
If any of our readers know the whereabouts of or can get hold of a coaching video called either “In the Groove” or “Playing the Groove”, Richard Pickford at pickford@netactive.co.za would love to know.
OUR marketing reference last week seems to have evoked considerable interest and if you have any thoughts please e-mail me at john@yourbowls.com and we can let the rest of the world know about them through the webpage.
SUE Benjamin tells me there is still room at the Lilian Brown Houghton Trips entries will be accepted until Sunday. These should be phoned or faxed to Sue at (011) 640-3396 as soon as possible. (Her Cellphone No is 082 922 5489)
THERE are still quite a few places available in the Wanderers (in their new clubhouse) Easter Tournament and you should call Debra Bremner now on 082-255-0833 to make sure of a place in this prestigious event.
Younger players benefit by absence of stars
The Citizen - April 28, 2006
Several districts playing in the annual inter-districts tournament in Johannesburg were denuded by the unavailability of many players, but this has been to the benefit of many others who have the opportunity to further their own causes.
The absence of some players has definitely shown in the form of some teams, more particularly Western Province where they have lost four of their top players to retirement and lack of leave left for bowls has become obvious.
Without Neil Burkett, (in Australia), Eric Johannes (no longer available), Kevin Campbell (reportedly retired) and Shaun Addinall (no more leave) they are much less the team they have been.. However, this is not say that the team put together has not acquitted itself well and the younger players drafted into the side have coped admirably with the task.
Not least of these is 40-year-old Peter Harvey, son of one of South Africa’s greatest bowlers, Tommy Harvey, who passed away at the age of 42 in the prime of his bowls career. Just to watch the son play one sees the father in him and that recognizable push delivery is so evident in the son.
Western Province manager, Bobby Cron said Harvey would soon be skipping one of the WP teams in inter-district tournaments.
It was also fortuitous for Western Province that former international Alan Lofthouse was able to make himself available to skip one of the WP fours after it became obvious Neil Burkett would not be back from Australia in time . His experience at this and international level has been a definite factor in helping the WP younger players..
There is a lot of youth in this tournament not least of all from Bloemfontein where we have Clinton Roets, Wayne Perry – both already internationals – Handre Marais who made such an impressions in gaining a bronze medal in the SA Masters, together with Wayne York and Jarred Oracki. With this talent, the future of the game in Bloemfontein looks very alive and well, if not now, as they lead their section after the sixth of the nine rounds.
Talk of younger players brings us to thoughts about upcoming international events and the national selectors are expected to go for youth when they pick their sides for the African States tournament in August. They are due to announce their sides at the end of the inter-districts this evening (Friday).
When I say going for youth I apply that more to the men than the women for there is a definite lack of younger players of established caliber among the women, a matter that should receive the urgent consideration of national and district executives.
So with youth in mind what do you think – and I expect brickbats – of my side for the African States.
Men: Fours: Brian Dixon, Wayne Perry, Duane Abrahams and Handre Marais. Singles: Nic Rusling.
Women: Fours: Loraine Victor, Cheryl Cox, Colleen Webb and Esme Steyn, although I would like to see Leone Durand, recently returned to the game among those names. For the singles there is only Lorna Trigwell.
Men’s national tournament chair Nicky Parker has been at the inter-provincials as a spectator and tells me all is in readiness for the tournament that begins in Cape Town on May 13 with the pairs competition. Headquarters is at Constantia.
One thing the inter-provincials have brought out is that there are some better bowlers on the national executive. National president Piet Breitenbach skips one of the two North West fours while executive member Tys Pringle has the same job for Limpopo.