Well haven't put anything up here on my blog lately because I have been very busy bowling, working and trying to get outside a little as things warm up here in South Carolina. I am really happy to say that I have finally broken through my 3 month slump bowling and have been posting solid scores and more importantly not missing on important shots nearly as often. I am becoming more and more happy with the reaction I am getting out of my Seismic equipment. I find myself going to my Aftermath Pearl a lot on anything from THS to medium patterns, it is a smooth predictable ball. Most important in pulling out of my slump was putting the ball a bit lower in my pushaway and not "extending it up over an imaginary bar" in my second step. Meaning just letting gravity do its work and not going up and out just down and into the swing on pushaway. I now am more solid coming through at the line. I was struggling getting a bit fast with my feet and getting to the line early too. Little subtle changes make a big difference.
Otherwise in tournaments I have been doing solid not winning anything yet but getting back in the top 5 and throwing the ball a lot better. I find stringing strikes and breaking past 250 much easier again now. Not to mention spare shooting is improving though not what it was before my little layoff and not even close to what it needs to be if I am going to do well in bigger events on tough patterns.
As for other equipment I have been trying out from Seismic I got a Raging Bull Charged which is a pearl version of the strongest ball in the lineup. It is a monster on heavy oil but don't expect to get one and drill it strong and get a lot of use on light patterns or house shots, unless of course you are lower rev or very speed dominant. Mine is 55x5x35 and it is one of the strongest balls I have thrown. I also have one of the Urethane Desperado LE's that Seismic is manufacturing. It is great on lower volumes and still hits with the same powerful core the Aftermath uses.
I am hoping to continue getting back to solid form when I head to another tournament next weekend and States is just around the corner. Heading out to practice tomorrow and will be focusing on targeting different break points and multiple areas. Remember it isn't a "line" if you are only focusing on one spot at the dots/arrows, using two or three target points brings accuracy and the ability to adjust to your balls reaction down lane. Otherwise carry down and missing the breakpoint down lane can leave you scratching your head as you "hit my mark at the arrows" and don't realize why the corner pin didn't fall or your ball went a little high.
As always thanks for stopping by to read my blog! Chris
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Bowling sites to check out
Just wanted to throw a few really good sites out there in case anyone is looking for a good place to read up and interact with other bowlers.
www.bowlingcommunity.com Good bowling forum, not a lot of heated discussion and usually stays really friendly with lots of good people. Just click on "message board" once you get to the home page.
www.bowlingballexchange.com Another great place to browse around and a good place to get used and new equipment. Forums are great and lots of different opinions and views.
www.bowlingchat.net If you like the technical side of the game you need to swing by here and read some of Mo Pinel's posts. The man knows just about as much or more about ball reaction and drilling equipment than anyone else you will find. There are other great people on the forums too.
I will keep adding more new places to go as time passes. Thanks for reading, Chris
www.bowlingcommunity.com Good bowling forum, not a lot of heated discussion and usually stays really friendly with lots of good people. Just click on "message board" once you get to the home page.
www.bowlingballexchange.com Another great place to browse around and a good place to get used and new equipment. Forums are great and lots of different opinions and views.
www.bowlingchat.net If you like the technical side of the game you need to swing by here and read some of Mo Pinel's posts. The man knows just about as much or more about ball reaction and drilling equipment than anyone else you will find. There are other great people on the forums too.
I will keep adding more new places to go as time passes. Thanks for reading, Chris
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Seismic Bowling
Coverstock specifications
| Name: | AVC-ET Pearl |
|---|---|
| Colour: | Royal Blue / Copper Red |
| Box Condition: | 4000 Polished |
| Oil Condition: | Medium |
Core specifications
| Name: | Modified Insignia Core (Asymmetric) |
|---|---|
| Stats: | 14lbs:
RG 2.512,
Diff. 0.054, Mass Bias 0.015 15lbs: RG 2.488, Diff. 0.054, Mass Bias 0.016 16lbs: RG 2.468, Diff. 0.054, Mass Bias 0.017 |
Overall
| Hook Rating: | 78/85/75 (Overall/Length/Backend) |
|---|
I am excited about the Aftermath Pearl as most aggressive pearlized covers tend to be overly responsive to friction downlane and can be a real handful to control. The Aftermath Pearl is much smoother down lane and I plan on demonstrating this from a variety of different angles. Here is an image of the ball and its core:
As always thanks for stopping in to check out my blog! Chris
60' at a time
Hey everyone, I am starting this blog to document and update my return to bowling after a long 10 year hiatus. My return to competitive bowling begins with the turning of one page to another in my book of life. I had a lot of enjoyment traveling around playing beach volleyball tournaments, but with any physically demanding sport there comes a time when injuries and nagging pain offset the enjoyment and it is time to place that activity on the back burner. I will now rarely if ever play tournaments and leave it for a fun weekend activity with other "seasoned friends" here and there. No more spending 8-12 (or more) weekends each summer traveling out of state for the weekend chasing and competing on the volleyball tours. Which brings me back to the reason I starting this page.....Bowling.
Although not the first choice of lots of kids my age my love for bowling began when I was in my late pre teen years. I had participated in several other sports too but really got hooked on Bowling fast. Both my parents had bowled for most of their adult lives and after a layoff for several years my Mom started back into it, at that point I started to go bowling with her. I immediately loved it. I used to light up when I was heading off to my Saturday morning youth league or the frequent Saturday nights I got to go to "Rock and Bowl". I spent many Saturday mornings and afternoons bowling with my coaches and working on improving my game. I became more and more competitive and found I really enjoyed bowling in tournaments and traveling leagues. This continued up until my late teens when volleyball took over. I found myself too busy playing volleyball tournaments indoors all winter and beach tournaments all summer. Up until my early twenties and a nasty ankle fracture I hadn't really bowled hardly at all. In my recovery I really couldn't jump let alone walk well for a while, I discovered quickly that it didn't hurt to bowl with it being my "non slide foot" so back to bowling it was. Dove right back in and got in 3 adult leagues averaging between 210-230 in them. Started bowling in a few bigger tournaments again and practicing several nights a week after work. The equipment had come leaps and bounds more advanced in those 5 or so years I wasn't really bowling. It was amazing the advancements. The only thing that stopped me was moving to the eastern shore of Maryland and that there were not really any bowling centers to stay involved. One dated center with no tournaments and pretty much no leagues. So once again, I stopped this time much longer. Time passed by and while my bowling equipment collected dust other activities and day to day life took over. Several years later here I am once again, eager to get involved in tournaments and ready to have Bowling once again fuel my competitive nature.
A great thing about Bowling which I really love and now appreciate much more is the fact that anyone can participate. Young, old, handicapped, disabled, strong, weak, tall, short....you get the idea. It truly is something everyone can get involved in. It is also an activity that can be highly competitive and on the other end of the spectrum something families and friends can do to get together and enjoy themselves. Some use it as a means to compete, some for stress relief, some just for a fun evening with friends. Bowling truly is whatever you want it to be. Stay tuned in as I update and add pictures of local tournaments, leagues, equipment and of course my journey back into the world of competitive bowling.
Although not the first choice of lots of kids my age my love for bowling began when I was in my late pre teen years. I had participated in several other sports too but really got hooked on Bowling fast. Both my parents had bowled for most of their adult lives and after a layoff for several years my Mom started back into it, at that point I started to go bowling with her. I immediately loved it. I used to light up when I was heading off to my Saturday morning youth league or the frequent Saturday nights I got to go to "Rock and Bowl". I spent many Saturday mornings and afternoons bowling with my coaches and working on improving my game. I became more and more competitive and found I really enjoyed bowling in tournaments and traveling leagues. This continued up until my late teens when volleyball took over. I found myself too busy playing volleyball tournaments indoors all winter and beach tournaments all summer. Up until my early twenties and a nasty ankle fracture I hadn't really bowled hardly at all. In my recovery I really couldn't jump let alone walk well for a while, I discovered quickly that it didn't hurt to bowl with it being my "non slide foot" so back to bowling it was. Dove right back in and got in 3 adult leagues averaging between 210-230 in them. Started bowling in a few bigger tournaments again and practicing several nights a week after work. The equipment had come leaps and bounds more advanced in those 5 or so years I wasn't really bowling. It was amazing the advancements. The only thing that stopped me was moving to the eastern shore of Maryland and that there were not really any bowling centers to stay involved. One dated center with no tournaments and pretty much no leagues. So once again, I stopped this time much longer. Time passed by and while my bowling equipment collected dust other activities and day to day life took over. Several years later here I am once again, eager to get involved in tournaments and ready to have Bowling once again fuel my competitive nature.
A great thing about Bowling which I really love and now appreciate much more is the fact that anyone can participate. Young, old, handicapped, disabled, strong, weak, tall, short....you get the idea. It truly is something everyone can get involved in. It is also an activity that can be highly competitive and on the other end of the spectrum something families and friends can do to get together and enjoy themselves. Some use it as a means to compete, some for stress relief, some just for a fun evening with friends. Bowling truly is whatever you want it to be. Stay tuned in as I update and add pictures of local tournaments, leagues, equipment and of course my journey back into the world of competitive bowling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)