Thursday, January 26, 2012

Working out the kinks

     So I have been back for a bit now and the average isn't what it was before and frustration starts to set in some nights. If you take a long time off you notice little subtle changes i.e. I used to be all the way back on the approach but found now that finished me a good two feet from the line so I had to move up quite a bit, I now walk to the left 3-4 boards...if the shot is tight it certainly has an influence on an errant shot or two, I pull one or two shots a game usually at the wrong times. You go from shooting high 250+ games with ease to battling to hit 230 plus and some nights barely able to get there at all. You go from "living in the pocket" to blowling balls through the break point and scratching your head as you refect on how the ball could hit your target and not make it back as it did just one shot ago. All I have to say about this if you can't get another set of trained eyes directly on you (remember over the net video feeds can show false issues and mask problems in your game due to loading issues and video glitches) watch what you are doing...wait a minute...watch what you are doing? How can you do that if you are bowling, right? I can direct you to a man that will help show you how....Brian Voss. If you don't know who he is and you bowl I will be a bit shocked. He was, and still is, about as good as you can be. The man is still winning bowling tournaments into his 50's. Here is a quick link to a video (hope the original poster doesn't mind me linking to it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZadcWDLD8NU&feature=related In this video Voss demonstrates how to find little subtle issues in your game and correct. He actually goes over a LOT of information. It is a long video but worth the time. Watch it. Back to my point: I had video taped myself multiple times and noticed a few things but wasn't sure exactly what was going on. I watched some clips and angels countless times and still missed a few things. I could see some things weren't exactly right but it took really paying attention to my footwork and why it had changed to realize the issues. I have developed a small step to the left which is causing me to still hit my target but inconsistently slide in different boards, missing my desired reaction/result. I can fix this using some of the techniques in the video. For example keep the feet walking one in front of the other. I noticed a few other small things but won't go into detail on those, my point here is that we can always improve and if you want to get the results you have to put in the time. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Always keep an open mind to improving.
     I hope the video link gives you all some insight and gets the idea in your head that you can always improve and taking a step back to look at yourself and even watch yourself as you bowl (as demonstrated in the Voss seminar) can really open your eyes. Even though some activities and sports can be like "just like riding a bike all over again" remember age, time off and other variables can cause things to inadvertently change and throw off your game. I managed to watch this video and go back to look at some of mine noticing the exact problems I had developed which are turning my 250+ games into a blown spare here or a open there and inconsistent scoring. Everything is still there in my game it just needs a little rust sanded off. I am really hoping these small subtle issues I found, and will now be working on, are going to help me get the consistency back in my game. Thanks for reading, Chris.

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