EVERYONE HAS A CROQUET SWING
RAOUF ALLIM The Swing Doctor
end up with split hands, because the right arm action is ‘straight arm’ and the position of the left hand at the top of the shaft seems pretty logical, as nothing has to move on the left side, so there’s little to go wrong. If you compare this to trying to learn a two shoulder swing, most of us don’t have the relevant program, so nothing ‘clicks’ in our brain, and we have to learn it from scratch – really tough. Happily, it turns out that everyone has a croquet swing, but sadly, not necessarily a CqE recommended one. QUICK STARTERS Over the years I have noted some sports which give people a bit of a lead on developing a two shoulder swing. Cricketers seem to have underarm bowling skills in both arms, and combined with their familiarity with holding a cricket bat, they often want to play a two shoulder Irish grip swing. There is a similar, but lesser tendency in hockey players. People who have done dancing or gymnastics can often move their non-dominant shoulder quite rhythmically, so they can take to a two shoulder swing quite quickly. BACK TO BEGINNERS So what does this all mean when coaching beginners? My routine is to demonstrate both a one shoulder and two shoulder swing, and I am happy with people to start with either. I point out that in the long run, those who want to become competitive strong players should at some stage make an attempt to learn the two shoulder swing (which I would help them with), but basically I’m happy if everyone gets going and playing the game. I demonstrate the additional power which the two shoulder technique offers, and leave it to people to draw their own conclusions. At my club (High Wycombe), the Golf Croquet roll-up is very social (and sociable) and most people use a one shoulder swing (75%). In the AC roll-up we have a lot of keen and competitive improvers (who do their socialising over the lunchtime wine), and the majority use a two shoulder technique. EVEN BEFORE YOU PICK UP A MALLET I think that there may even be some useful thoughts here for croquet parents who are incubating our future world champions. It would be worth helping them build two shoulder skills, not just when playing croquet. Learning underarm bowling and throwing with either hand is one
Grade 2 CqE Coach specialising in swing coaching
I recently enjoyed reading a letter to the Gazette, from a coach (John Sayce) who had been working with a group of beginners, and managed to get them happily playing the game – result! In the process he noted that despite demonstrating a swing with the hands together (which I would describe as a two shoulder swing), his students all opted for a split hands technique (which I would categorise as a one shoulder swing). It’s a pattern which I have observed many times, and I hope I can offer some insight into what’s happening, as it affects the route you might want The main thing to understand is that everyone has a library of movement patterns (motor programs is the term I usually use) which have been learnt from previous activities, and these programs are stored in your brain. There are programs for running, jumping, hopping, throwing things, as well as more specialised programs which might relate to various sports we have done. When you are faced with a new task your brain riffles through the various skills, to see if anything helps. In the case of playing croquet most people find a close match with a common program, and that is the underarm bowling or throwing technique. Most of us have learnt to do this, mainly with our dominant arm, and it is usually a straight arm technique with the brain using the relevant shoulder to provide control, rhythm, timing and power. Describing the technique for a right handed person, if you use your left wrist as a pivot at the top of your mallet, and put your right arm straight, so that you end up holding the mallet about halfway down the shaft, then you can use your right sided underarm bowling action to propel the mallet shaft, and thereby hit the ball. It’s actually a pretty good match of a learnt program enabling a new task, so you can see why people do it. They get a sense of control, rhythm and power almost immediately. You can also see why they to take when coaching beginners. WE’VE GOT IT IN US!
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