Coaches Chatter

A newsletter designed specifically for Bowls Coaches in May 2014 the South Island.

What’s On, Off the Green

Bowls New Zealand - National Coaching Advisory Group (NCAG) Kaushik Patel – National Coach Development Manager

The National Coach Advisory is a group tasked with the development and future im- Important Dates provement of the Coach and Talent Development framework for Bowls New Zealand.

The members of the Advisory Group have been selected to provide a broad perspective Coaches Updates - June 6th or 7th on all aspects of Coaching, Coach Development and Talent Development. Burnside BC, or 8th The objective of the Advisory Group is to provide Bowls New Zealand with advice on Bowls NZ Coach Training - June 14th & 15th coaching, coach education/development and Talent Development to guide the creation of Burnside BC, Christchurch a number of key initiatives which will form the core of a coaching plan.

Introductory Coach Training - August 16th Key tasks of the Advisory Group are to: Allenton BC, Ashburton  Establish and define the effectiveness of the National Coach Development Plan Introductory Coach Training - August 17th West End BC, Timaru  Establish and define the effectiveness of the National Player Development Plan Bowls NZ Coach Training - August 23rd &  Make key recommendations from findings Burnside BC, Christchurch 24th

Members of the NCAG for 2013/2014 are: Keep an eye on the Bowls Canterbury and Burn- side websites for more information. Flyers will Kaushik Patel - Chair Bowls NZ National Coach Development Manager be sent to all Centres seeking your registrations. Andrew Eade - Sport New Zealand Senior Advisor, Coach Development Dave Edwards - Bowls NZ National Coach and Performance Course tutor Coaches Updating Reminder Cushla McGillivray - Chair of the Bowls NZ Board, extensive experience in As coaches are aware all are required to be coaching and coach development updated at least every two years. A series of Peter Belliss - Successful former National player and current Blackjacks three hour sessions options are published above. Assistant Coach An email flier has been sent to all coaches and copies sent to all clubs. For those coaches Howard Sandler - Bowls Coaching Director with International assisting with the Classic or Academy those experience as a coach hours will count towards their updating but please advise Cushla McGillivray to allow the The group meet bi-annually with the first meeting held in November 2013 and the records to be updated accordingly. second due in May 2014. Findings from the first meeting found three key focus areas:

Coach Development Coach Engagement Player Development

Under each of these focus areas there were a number of key specifics that need addressing and hence an over-arching coaching plan is currently being designed with each of these key specifics added to ensure a structured approach is taken to combat the issues. The coaching plan will be presented to the NCAG in May 2014 before wider distribution takes place. Junior 5’s Classic Sunday 6th, 13th and 20th July 2014 Hello Mark Watt The Junior 5's Classic will be coordinated by Murray Giles (Bowls Papanui) and will be held on Sunday 6th, 13th and 20th July (9.30 am - 12.30 pm) with the venues to be advised. Mark Watt, Dunedin, played in the Bowls Canterbury Academy 2014 recent New Zealand Development The 2014 Bowls Canterbury Academy will be coordinated by team against Australia in the Trans Roger Munro. The dates will be advised shortly. Tasman event. The following are his thoughts on coaching and developing Keep a watch on the Bowls Canterbury website for registration skills to a higher level. details for both of the above events. Photo courtesy of Otago Daily Times Congratulations to the Blackjacks team What specific things did you work on to get from selected for the to being a new bowler to NZ Development player. represent New Zealand in July at Glasgow To get from a new bowler to a NZ Development player you 2014. need to put in a lot of training. On and off the green, tech- nique and mental skills are the two most important things in my own opinion. As well as been around the right people to The team is: help you learn the game. Men - Singles – Shannon McIlroy - Pairs – and - Triples – Shannon McIlroy, and Goals - how coaching helped you achieve? - Fours – Ali Forsyth, Tony Grantham, Coaching helped me achieve my goals by making me sit down Richard Girvan and Blake Signal and actually physically right them down on to paper. This gave me more focus to achieve my goals in the sport. Women - Singles – - Pairs – Jo Edwards and - Triples – Amy McIlroy, and Best method of coaching that helps you? The best method which helps me is video analysis of my - Fours – Val Smith, Mandy Boyd, Amy McIlroy and technique on the green, and being able to see my faults with Selina Goddard my own eyes. Also from the mental aspect of the game been

able to sit down with my coach and talk through goals and Partially Sighted Pairs - David Stallard and Sue Curran game strategies.

Disabled Triples - , and What you don't like to see in a coach ? I don’t like to see a coach interfere too much with a player’s technique unless it’s called for. Sometimes their own opinions on how to play the game in the way they think it should be played can be wrong. Let the player learn to think for them- selves.

Values that a coach needs to help squads develop Being positive and focused on the game and cutting out negative thoughts is most important in my opinion.

We would like to hear from you

If you have any queries relating to Bowls Coaching or this news- letter please contact: Cushla McGillivray Cell: 021 112 5810 Email: [email protected]