Not that any team wants me on their books particularly, but right or wrong, I've backed out of any interest in Winter League doubles through fear of getting too cold and too cold too easily.
That may sound a lame excuse, but the paradox is that I have no problem running on the moors with next to nowt on in low temperatures. Running pumps the blood around and get's the engine burning, whilst in stark contrast there's a lot of standing around at a bowls fixture with only a few opportunities to walk very short bursts at best. A doubles game is even slower and slower means colder!
I might harden up to it one day, but for now,
recalling feeling the chill on some cooler evenings last Spring and playing a couple of matches with numbed white fingers even then, isn't selling the idea of Winter bowling.
As a result, it just doesn't appeal to me just yet in the infancy of my crown green experience.
"Get some bloody clothes on then?", one might argue - a phrase familiar to me growing up whenever I whinged that I wasn't warm enough. But even state of the art baselayer technology, maximum tog jackets, high end ski gloves, whatever... if I'm not moving around quick enough, my fingers (and knackers) will duly freeze off.
That's not to say I am going to down woods for the Winter altogether.
That's not to say I am going to down woods for the Winter altogether.
Although our club green now closes from November until the start of Spring, the plan is to try and practice elsewhere at least once a week and the project behind the plan is to nurture and execute some fine tuning of my delivery with a mechanical consistency to take in to next season.
So far this has been trialed on council owned greens in Chorley and Astley Park's greens aren't too bad for basic chucking practice. The tweaks to my delivery are very slowly starting to apply themselves as routine, but as my tennis playing boss at work pointed out, they say it takes around 10,000 repetitions of something to tailor it to full effect. Still a bit of practice to do then.
So far this has been trialed on council owned greens in Chorley and Astley Park's greens aren't too bad for basic chucking practice. The tweaks to my delivery are very slowly starting to apply themselves as routine, but as my tennis playing boss at work pointed out, they say it takes around 10,000 repetitions of something to tailor it to full effect. Still a bit of practice to do then.
What I do need to consider for next Winter is membership at another green nearby that is open and kept to a standard during the cold seasons. I'm fairly certain the top players aren't scratching around on their local parks for a bit of practice during the colder months.
Practice is practice though and some sort of practice better than none at all.
As it is, for now my bowling world has shrunk to the humble offerings of Astley Park and perhaps so until that warmly anticipated day next Spring at the Eagle & Child when a groundsman comes along with his drill, set on an anti-clockwise spin, to gently remove the screws from the sign on the door that reads, "GREEN CLOSED".
Practice is practice though and some sort of practice better than none at all.
As it is, for now my bowling world has shrunk to the humble offerings of Astley Park and perhaps so until that warmly anticipated day next Spring at the Eagle & Child when a groundsman comes along with his drill, set on an anti-clockwise spin, to gently remove the screws from the sign on the door that reads, "GREEN CLOSED".