Subject: Psychology

Introduction

One of the chapters in John Snell's book Winning Bowls is entitled 'The Inner Game', and in it he makes the point that the rigours of tournament play are such that a high level of fitness is essential to maintain the necessary physical and mental effort. His next statement may come as a surprise to many bowlers: 'Yet I rate the physical side of bowls at only thirty per cent of the game.' The remainder of the chapter examines the seventy per cent that takes place inside the head which he likes to refer to as the 'inner game'. This, he explains, is the psychology of bowls that the uninitiated fail to see and hence do not understand.

A few other books have sections on bowls psychology, but it forms a central theme in the five titles listed below.

Although geared towards athletics, golf and other mainstream American sports, Peaksports is a sports psychology site with a banner headline of 'Powerful Strategies for Boosting Mental Toughness'. Although essentially a subscription site you can listen here to a number of free radio podcasts by sports psychologist Dr Patrick Cohn on topics such as 'How to cope under pressure', 'How to overcome pre-game jitters' and 'Staying composed after errors'.

Title   (Click title below)	Authors
A to Zen of Lawn Bowls, The	Barry Salter and John Bliss
In the Zone: Developing Mental Toughness in Lawn Bowls	Lee James Schraner
Perfect Bowls	Mark de Lacy with Peter Belliss
Psychology in Lawn Bowls	Rob Judson
Think and Play Better Bowls	Mark de Lacy with Peter Belliss