Rolled Gold
March 2010
Rolled gold, Kelvin Kerkow (KK)
Kelvin, together with Steve Glasson, Karen Murphy, Kay Moran & Mark Jacobsen were hosts at the Steve Glasson Sportsmen's night and Classic Fours event at Mt Waverley last week in Melbourne. KK had his book on sale so I bought it and read it overnight.
It is a good read, an easy read. Buy it.
Summarily it covers his tough yet loving childhood, the people who influenced his bowls, the competitive bowls story, his approach to our sport, some gossip on the Commonwealth Games 2006, and, tips for bowlers.
I learnt a lot from it.
I learnt KK and I had some of the same people have most influence us - Dobbins, Snell, Yates. KK had Williams and Purcell too. What pearls of wisdom leapt from the page from his men of influence that included:
...Play with and against top class bowlers to improve your game
...Learn how to read a head
...Determine the correct, preferred shot to deliver
...Technically, value the merit of pointing your feet and shoulders in the direction of the flight of the delivery
...Stay down, and, follow through
...The merit of 'ditch to ditch' or long ends to win games.
KK, how often I say the same or something similar to those I coach.
As a coach trying to continuously improve my craft, I was drawn to KK's praise of his coaches who had such influence and I share a few comments. I liked as I read these contributions:
...Learn adaptability in training
...Know why we do things at training
...Be relaxed, supportive, positive in body language
...Coach like a footy team instilling confidence, team spirit, positivity, relaxed, respect and enjoy the opposition.
KK added his own and the surprise ones to me were
...Alcohol - forget it boys on event day at any event
...Agrees that the game is mental(80-90%) and technique is the rest.
...Total confidence in his practice or training habits to take into the game
...Fostered the value of having a training routine, and, rating the training performance.
This final one delighted me as it is the aspect of bowls coaching least taken up by squads I have coached. Individual bowlers I coach tend to take on that requirement (guess if they don't I stop coaching them), squad members see it as a chore and hide behind (mediocre) safety in others, numbers.
So you bowlers read page 160 of Kelvin's book to self appraise yourself. Good enough for Kel, but are you too good to do it - in your dreams boys!
For those liking gossip well he has a bit on the 2006 Games and we have the same view on some mentionables in that chapter.
Congrats KK - gold medallist and an OAM to boot. A treasure to our sport.
P.s... ..refer to practical training diagram on Henselite's website for this month - go to www.henselite.com.au (enter Hints & Tips, then Performance technique) for a read and maybe application for yourself and your home club.
Regards,
Lachlan Tighe.
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