Firstly congratulations to Ange & Dave P who had a win in a very tight game against Laurence & Wolfie in the club Mixed Pairs.

Also congratulations to Tina who beat Dawn 21-20 in the Club Singles.  If only I’d put my last bowl a yard shorter, I might have done it but Tina clinched the match on a 5mm measure.  Well done!  Really enjoyable game.

Most of the Club comps are at or nealy at the semi-final stages.  It’s good to see so many playing.  The Club Open Triples is on Saturday 12th March and will be played up to semi-final.  Finals weekend is 2nd/3rd April.

 

Right, on to Sunday.  There are a couple of tweaks to the team as Laurence is no longer available.

Alasdair, Stella K, Tricia & Steve G

Shaf, Jacqui, Bob & Gym

Karen, Frances, Tony O’B & Dawn

Eileen, Corale, Steve P & Brian N.

Reserves this week Ray & Ranjani

Captain:  Dawn

There are sign up sheets for the Wednseday 16th March 2.00 pm match v Egham at Cambridge Park and also Saturday 26th March v Teddington, so please get your names down!

Well sometimes eyes are alright and sometimes they start failing us.  It can happen at any age.  My Mum had glaucoma for many, many years and my Dad had Age-Related Macular Degeneration, whilst I’ve had two cataract operations.  One of my work colleagues has Macular Degeneration but she’s in her 20’s so it’s certainly not age related in the way we would think.

As most of you know, I recently started work in the Ophthalmology Department at Ashford Hospital booking pre-op assessments mainly for cataract patients.

I am definitely a clerical not a clinical person but the other week, someone came in and ‘borrowed’ a desk space.  She works for the Macular Society and gave me a bit of insight into what they do and how they support both patients and their families.  She concentrates on the mental health side taking a positive approach about what is possible to achieve rather than a negative one.

There’s a link to the society here https://www.macularsociety.org/about/  It’s good to see (no pun intended)  what the various types of macular disease mean, what the society does and what they can do to support patients, famlies and friends, giving them a better understanding of the issues that can arise.  There is a wealth of information available on the site.  I will try and remember to pick up a few leaflets that were left at the hospital and take them to the club.

Also, there is a local group that meets in Richmond (Vestry Hall) on the last Tuesday of the month, and one in Kingston that meets on the 2nd Thursday of every month (in a pub!).  Sometimes it’s hard to explain how you are feeling to someone you know and maybe meeting people in the same boat and sharing experiences can assist in not feeling so isolated as well as gaining tips and ideas which have worked for other sufferers that you might want to try.  Probably the hardest part would be putting a foot over the threshold to attend the first meeting.

 

There are societies, organisations and help groups for all sorts of conditions, so this is just one of many thousands all working to find answers and improve our lives.  The Macular Society wasn’t one that I was aware of and I thought some of you might not know about it either and would like to find out a bit more.

If you are part of any support group that you feel has been really helpful , please let us know.

Happy to St David’s Day to all our Welsh members and friends. Will you be celebrating locally?

What are the traditions? We know about Daffodils, Leeks, Welsh Cakes and Glamorgan Sausages as well as Dylan Thomas, Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews, but what would have been done on this day 40-50 years ago and is it still done today?  Are there parade’s ? Let us know!

Today is also Shrove Tuesday, so a good excuse to make some pancakes. Lemon & sugar on mine, please!

Oh yes, another thing today is the first day of the 22 number plates on new cars!

There were wins for Peter T, Laurence, Andy & Scott this morning in the Fours. There were also wins for Tina and Ange in their respective singles.
Alas, Mike & Steve lost to Tim Smith & partner at Century and Peter, Laurence & Bob lost their triples on Thursday night at Herga.

In the Club comps Scott  & Ange beat Peter C & Dawn in the Drawn Mixed Pairs but I’m sure there have been other results too  so will need to catch up with those during the week.

On Thursday 10th, Steve, Tricia, Tina & Mike take on Ange, Ian, Peter T & Dawn in the Mixed Fours. It should be a very competitive game!

The match v Richmond & Barnes is going ahead on Sunday. We were over-subscribed so have 3 reserves this week, all of whom played last Saturday.  We all have to take it in turns to be on the subs bench. Sometimes, we need our reserves as we did on Saturday. You just never know!

 

For those of you who know Barry & Kylie Jenkins, they have reached the semi-finals of the National Mixed Pairs. Well done to them!  They face Lucy Smith & maybe her Dad(?) next in Nottingham tomorrow morning.

 

Laurence and co are playing in the Middlesex Fours at 10.00 am today.  If anyone is around the club area, it’ll be a good game to watch as they take on Mort Mascarenhas’ Four from Herga.  Go, go, go …. or rather draw, draw, draw!

 

Yesterday we had a close match, as expected, against Hampton led by Kevin Keown.  There was whooping from Rink 1 when Karen drew her bowls near the jack and at one end even Laurence leapt up in the air!  Needless to say Tony O’B and Ann B were equally impressed but kept their feet firmly on the ground.  Great to see the enthusiasm from Karen.   Sometimes we forget the joy and excitement of nailing a bowl or two or three!

With Bob and Audrey being poorly yesterday morning, we ‘retrieved’ Scott who had been on loan to Hampton and ended up with three rinks and a triple.  Gym, Stella S & Ranjani had a slow start but made up a considerable deficit to only lose by 3 shots.  Richard D did help out on one end with a wrong bias!  He wasn’t the only one and I’m sorry I didn’t have enough time to print out some WB certificates before the game!

Andy, Scott, Frances & Lucy stormed away on rink 4 until Richard H’s band of merry men came into their own in the second half of the match.  Andy’s team were top rink, but it was a very courageous fight back from Hampton.

Dawn, Shaf, Steve P & Ray got off to a good start leading 6-0 after 3 ends.  Of course that couldn’t be maintained and it was a pretty close game all the way through until Kevin K nailed a draw bowl and 2 shots putting the Hampton crew 19-18 up after 19 ends.  A tight end followed with the jack moving slightly towards Shaf’s two bowls.  Kevin drew a great bowl leaving Dawn a pretty tricky draw into about 2″.  Confidence. Co-ordination. Control. Courage.  Composure.  I’m not sure which of those five kicked in (or more likely it was just luck to be honest), but Dawn did get the shot, leaving the Captains’ rinks going into the final end 19-19.  Sounds pretty fair and no pressure at all on either Kevin or Dawn to drag their team in for a win!  It was close but it ended with a 20-19 win for CP.  Both Shaf and Ray put the pressure on the Hampton’s front end in the second half of the match, so well done to both of them.

All in all a good morning’s bowls enjoyed by all.  Thanks to Jane for running the bar.  Quite a few hung around to enjoy the odd bevvy or two after the match before beating the traffic through Twickenham before the rugby.

Alas, those who support and/or went to Brentford to watch them play Newcastle were disappointed to find their favourite team 0-2 down playing with only 10 men for most of the match.  Did you agree with the Red Card?   I hope all the other teams you support fared better.   Good win for England in the rugby, although Wales had a fierce fight back.

We’re looking forward to taking on Kevin K and his Hampton team on Saturday morning at 10.00 am. It should be a very competitive match with a considerable amount of banter across the green.

(I must remember to bring out the Wrong Bias Certificates!  Why have I just thought about that?!)

 

Do pop in to watch then you can get home in time to watch the rugby from Twickenham.

Thanks to David H for organising and running the club league programme.
Here are the results up to 22nd February.

Yet  again there are some interesting articles in Bowls International.  One this month is by John Rednall, as he reviews the World Bowls Indoor Tournament.

Confidence

Co-ordination

Contrlol

Courage

Composure

Do all those equal a 6th C – Champion?

It’s best to read the the article yourselves but it talks of having confidence – when you’re playing well, you go for shots you wouldn’t attempt if you were playing an ‘ok’ game.  When Bob, Frances, Ray & Carole reached the semi-finals of the Potters Tournament a couple of years ago, we watched Bob play some brilliant shots.  His confidence grew as the week went on and it was wonderful to see them come off.  That confidence rubbed off on the rest of the team too.

You know yourself if you play more, you play better.  Co-ordination – They talked of ‘muscle memory’ during the championships.  I’ve never thought about that.  Some days you’ll be on song on one side of the green and you draw continuously.  Your brain and arm work in harmony and, consequently, your confidence grows.  It’s good when it happens on forehands and backhands together!

Developing a constant delivery pattern so you know that just minor tweaks in backswing,/follow through will allow you to make adjustments as you move to different club greens indoors and out. You achieve control.

Courage – having the confidence to play a shot to turn the head/game around.  Take a deep breath and go for it.  If it pays off, it will increase your confidence again.  If it doesn’t work the first time, try again.  That running bowl that you need to play with the weight the first time, but the green of the second time, hopefully being on target on the third time.  It doesn’t always work, but sometimes playing a courageous shot which pays off gives you a real high!

Finally,, John Rednall refers to Control.  Control of your actions  – mentally and physically.  Slinging the mat over the edge of the green when you’ve gone from 5 up to one down by your opponent’s shot is maddening.  It’s hard to take a deep breath, step back and focus on the next end.  Throwing your arms in the air in frustration (we’ve all done it) just gives our opponent  a massive boost of confidence!  On the other hand, playing a final shot which could give you the match also requires control.  Control over your nerves, keeping your shoulders relaxed to deliver a bowl in the same way you have all match.  To visualise the bowl leaving your hand to land exactly where you want it does help.  It may not be perfect but you won’t know until you try!

Penalty shoot outs in football require Confidence, Co-ordination, Control, Courage and Composure.  Although the article is aimed at bowlers, it applies to all sports.

Look at a day when you play well and see if the 5 C’s applied to you on that occasion.

You can order a Bowls International subscription in either magazine format or digital.  Check it out!

Lots of comps coming up with Tina heading off to The Lawns on Friday and Ange to Herga on Saturday playing their Middlesex Singles..  Peter T & Co have the triples and fours this week – one of them on Sunday morning at CP, so pop down and watch. Mike C & Co face Dave P in the Triples as well as the Fours.  Mike had also drawn Dave in the Singles.  Who did the draws?!!  In the Pairs, Mike faces different opposition in Tom Smith from Century .

Congratulations to Andy H who has made it through to the Area Semi-Final of hte Singles and awaits the winner of Dave P & Noel  P (Herga).

Barry & Teresa are awaiting their opposition in the Mixed Pairs after Dave P and Paul H (Herga) play.  Ange & Co play Mike & Co in the Mixed Fours on 10th March.  The Ladies’ Pairs still have a few weeks before due dates.

 

The Club competitions are coming on apace.  It’s good to see so many joining in these comps.

 

Must dash.  Work calls!  Have a good day.

Words from Eve Muirhead when she and Jen Dodds spoke to Clare Balding on the final BBC2 Beijing Olympics highlight programme.

The road to the top is oh, so, so tough.  You learn from losing,  you wonder whether it’s all worth it or whether you should give up your dream?  However, you also learn from your teammates.  You believe in them and they believe in you.  You play together and support each other.  The hard work paid off in these Winter Olympics.

Weren’t all the GBR Curling team members absolutely brilliant?  Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds have played every day since 2 days before the official start of the Games.  The men’s and ladies’ teams as a whole haven’t exactly been slacking either!  The physical and mental pressure must be as exhausting as each other.  Their families, friends and coaches must be so proud of each and every one of them.  Will they be nominated in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year?  Hope so!

Well done to all of the GBR Olympic team .  It will be hard going back to ‘normal’ life when they return to the UK!

On Twitter, someone suggested that Bowls and Curling take each other on in each of the sports.  Possibly the main problem would be for us bowlers to (a) get down that low and (b) get up again afterwards – that’s ignoring the fact that ice is involved as well!  Any volunteers……..?