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WHY DID MY PERFORMANCE DETERIORATE?

Presented by Macka Jensen

Introduction: Why did my performance deteriorate?” If you have ever asked yourself this question, then go a little further and ask yourself the following: “Why did all my dreaded thoughts manifest in my conscious and subconscious mind? Why did my conscious mind take over? Or, what can I sensibly expect from reading this article?” To be frank, I don’t believe it’s going to ease all your concerns, but psychologically it will certainly have an impact on those trying, niggling and escalating stresses of your game and everyday life.

Expectations: Using the following techniques from this article, you could reasonably expect to;

• Find relief from tension, anxiety and fatigue,
• Cope better with your game and everyday problems,
• Be emotionally stronger,
• Be more positive,
• Be more tolerant,
• Get more out of life.

Benefits: Yes, you can expect all of the above. Yes, it’s easy to achieve. And yes, you are going to feel better after reading this article. However, the benefits you derive from using the techniques of this article will be in direct proportion to the efforts you devote to learning them. This is no different to any other form of training; the more you put into your preparation, the more you get out of its usage. To maximise the benefits, therefore, I urge you to do three things;

• Read the whole article,
• Do sound preparatory training,
• Relax and have faith in the technique.

The cause: Certainly the problem with playing in the conscious state is that it’s so distracting compared with playing in an unconscious state. The imploding is caused by your conscious mind interfering with your natural playing process by judging; evaluating, criticising, doubting, comparing yourself with others and so on. In fact, we do it automatically without realising the effects it has on our bowling performance. The interpretation of the states of mind is as follows;

• Conscious mind: The part of our mind that is in present moment awareness. It can only pay attention to a few variables at once and does not see longer term or deep consequences,
• Unconscious mind: Our unconscious mind consists of everything to do with our inner reality that we are unaware of in the present moment.

The effect: An example of the conscious state taking over is when the opposition places pressure on you either by verbal remarks or uplifting their standard of play. Your reaction to the pressure and remarks; although said and done in a jovial manner, endowed with hearty joyous humour, and of course in a spirit of good sportsmanship may have the following effects;

• Some lawn bowlers go very quite and become overcautious, some increase their external chatter, or become aggressive and they may repeatedly attack the head with drive shots when there is no need,
• Internally blame others for their own mistakes,
• Their dreaded thoughts of failure may trigger off their conscious mind to react to past subconscious dreaded childhood imbedded experiences,
• Some neurotically go back to the basic learning stages by methodically checking every action of their delivery,
• Some picture, or mentally feel before them defeat in which would mean missing out in the final rounds and they feel the season’s good work slipping away,
• Some get mentally frustrated because through bad luck or the accidental run of the game they are unable to achieve one’s ends,
• Some have pre-game jitters such as; sleeplessness, over relaxing, over confident, trying to plan and prepare in one week what should have been done months before e.g. balancing out their mental, game and physical fitness,
• Such pressures and effects as above tend to increase adrenaline flows which speeds up the heart action, contracts blood vessels and tighten your body muscles from head to toe. Reaching this body state induces fear and frustration,
• Believe it or not most lawn bowlers do not see or feel what is going on within their mind or their physical reactions, fear and frustration blocks it out. But they are very apt to criticise others on their neurotic behaviour.

Clearheaded:

We all love to judge yet none of us likes to be judged. We all know how to find fault, to criticise, to doubt or to disapprove. Yet how often do we acknowledge our own failings before we turn our attention to those of others? You are in the process of doing something very laudable now. You are being tolerant; wise, understanding and patient. Who knows how long you can manage to continue being quite so wise? But while the mood lasts, you may yet work some real wonders. Try this following practice to avoid imploding; be prepared by being clearheaded prior to, during and after the game e.g. be sensible, perceptive and confident in other words be composed. During the game never show disapproval or disappointment in your facial expressions or by body reactions. Always be happy in your competitiveness! Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of things and analyse the causes of this imploding problem.

• Judging: Firstly you are not qualified to judge yourself on how well you play, or what grade you should play, or the individual peculiarity of your temperament. This should be done by the coach or selectors. I’ll assure you, your judgment will either be under or over done, or you may feel you’ve done well but have performed below the required standard of play,
• Evaluating: This relates to the effectiveness of your training programme whatever level you play. It is evidence required for success at every level, defining the resources needed e.g. performance skills, game, mental and physical fitness, tactical knowledge and values and should only be done by the coach, “what you think you need may not be what you want!”
• Criticising: Never make judgment as to merit or faults about yourself. Self-criticising is dangerous to yourself because in most cases; you’ll criticise the wrong thing in an incorrect manner at an inappropriate time and place,
• Doubting:   Never doubt your ability because it breaks down your confidence and performance,
• Berating: Never resort to the antics of berating yourself on the green. It only makes a fool of yourself and shows others that you have lost control of your emotions,
• Comparing yourself with others:This is like the considering of two things with regards to some characteristic which is common to both, as the likening of a hero’s life time to a lion in a lion den without weapons, or who’s going to eat who! Whether your comparison is better your way or not someone is bound to be bitten.
• Counteraction: As previously stated in other article you play best when you play in an unconscious state of mind, when the conscious mind has stopped striving and interfering in what you are trying to do. The more your conscious mind is out of the way, the better you perform! All you are required to do is go ahead and do it and you’ll find the subconscious part of your brain will kick into operation as did your past unconscious experiences. Let’s hope you get the message about what interferes with your performance, because practice involving these dreaded thoughts does not make perfect, “it stagnates,” think about it, removing these thoughts ensures that “perfect practice makes perfect!”

Preparation and planning: To get the most from your performance, practice the techniques beforehand. Memorise some of them. Learn about breathing. Know how to access these skills automatically. “Think of the four be’s!” as follows;

• Be prepared: Know what your job is in all situations of attack, defence and recovery, balance out your physical, mental and game fitness. Within this article read how things work beforehand, practice a couple of the techniques you feel most comfortable with, then stay with them. For maximum effectiveness, you may have to combine several,
• Be patient: Recognise how stress works. One of its characteristics is restlessness and moving from one thing to another. Ensure the variety of techniques in this article does not become a stress factor in itself,
• Be positive: Concentrate on the solution, not whether the technique is working or not; that is something to evaluate after you’ve applied it for the desired length of time,
• Be practical: How much can you reasonably expect from one reading of this article? Expecting too much can be a stress in itself. There is more than one different techniques discussed here; at least some of them are going to work for you. Put your faith in them and allow adequate time to change the whole prospective and learn to get rid of frustration during the game.

Remember: Check the cause and recognise the effects within yourself and back it up with preparation, planning and training.