Gamesmanship

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Just ask your club USLBA rep.

It contains a copy of the complete world bowls rules as well as the US Domestic regulations.

GAMESMANSHIP

In the game of bowls like many other sports, and especially in tournament play, one should always guard against Gamesmanship A check of the Webster's dictionary reveals that it is the use of methods that are dubious or unsportmanslike, though not strictly illegal, to win a game or contest. It could further be defined as " tactics of a doubtful or discourteous nature resorted to by a player with a view to obtaining an unfair advantage over their opponent " It could also be described as a subtle means of disturbing your opponent by upsetting their concentration.

Many players subconsciously use gamesmanship to some degree. There are a few, however, who use it as a regular weapon, which in the opinion of the late Dick Folkins is unsportsmanlike. Dick was the USA World Bowls gold medalist Triples Skip in 1972.

It may be continual talking, the manner in which something is said, or the timing of the conversation. It may be excessive following of the bowl, deliberate slow play, or yelling at the marker. There are some bowlers unfortunately, who forget that it is the game that counts; they think only of themselves, and play only for their own benefit. Who doesn't know the bowlers who stand beside their opponent, moves away or picks up their bowl? Or the bowler who deliberately goes to the bank to fetch something and then jumps back on the green when the other bowlers start their delivery? Or who moves about the back of the head during play? Or talks loudly breaking the opponent's concentration.

The Singles players who has to know from the marker the position of every bowl in the head and then goes to check for themselves. Who doesn't know the hundred and one ways of gamesmanship by which your attention can be distracted and you lose the game.

To let the gamesmanship irritate you and force you to lose the game is stupid in the extreme. The easiest way to handle him ( or her ) is to ignore them and carry on as though their antics or ploys do not exist. The chances are that they will defeat themselves. This is the best and only answer to gamesmanship. Try it, it will work for you.

Reproduced in part from Dick Folkin's column in a late 1970's edition of the ALBA magazine and repeated in the Lawn Bowls Almanac.

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