Hello Again!

(continued from previous post)

As grateful as I am for being able to bowl as well as I did, I STILL realize that I have a loooong way to go to reach the level that I know that I am capable of reaching. The reason that I know... because someone else has reached that level. If someone else can, I CAN!!! It is a simple as that.

What I have found in my years of bowling is there are (at least) 10 things that make a great bowler and they are:

1. Desire - MUST want to be great
2. Physical Ability - MUST be able to roll a ball down the lane
3. Bowling Knowledge - MUST know HOW to bowl
4. Bowling Skill - MUST be able to consistently hit the pocket AND convert spares
5. Bowling Equipment - MUST have at least, a bowling ball and bowling shoes
6. Knowledge of Bowling Equipment - MUST know the dynamics of a bowling ball as it relates to: 

• Coverstock
• Weight Block
• Radius of Gyration (RG)
• Differential (Diff)
• Pin
• Center of Gravity (CG)
• Mass Bias
• Axis Point

7. Knowledge of Lane Conditions - MUST be familiar with the varying layouts of oil patterns on the lanes you will be competing on AND how they breakdown
8. Ability to Match Equipment to Lane Condition QUICKLY!!! - MUST be able make decisions faster than your opponent about WHICH bowling ball to use and WHERE to play on the lane that will give you the greatest advantage
9. STRONG Mental Game - MUST be able to have a "short memory" about GOOD and BAD shots while at the same time, understanding what needs to be done to give yourslf the best opportunity to WIN!!!
10. Belief that YOU CAN!!! - MUST believe you can.  Otherwise, numbers 1 thru 9 does not matter

And to be truly honest, you only REALLY need numbers 1 and 10!!! If you have those, the rest will come...

Until later,

PBA UnderDog

Hello again!

(continued from previous post)

Well... Do you want to know what was sooooo "unexpected?"

I go from barely being able to get a three-bagger to shooting a 774!!! That's right 774!!! After taking a break from bowling for nearly 3 years and my body being upset with me for taking such a long break, I shoot 774!!! I remember it almost as if it were yesterday. It bears mentioning, I went 30 clean for the set. 

The first game I was getting low count but making my spares. I make an adjustment in the 6th frame and punch out for a 228. The next game I started to strike and I did not stop until the 11th frame and then I get 9 on my fill ball (blasted 10 pin!!!) for 299. That's RIGHT! 299!!! I am saying to myself... "What in the world is going on???"

As is mostly always the case, I strike on my first ball of the next game (the strike that eluded me in the 10th frame of the previous game). Then, I get three more... I am saying to myself "who is this guy?" No sooner than I began to question what I was doing and who I was... having the nerve to shoot 299 while previously being unable to string three strikes together.  That is not supposed to happen!!!  Or is it???  Well... IT DID!!!  I am sitting on a 4 bagger after shooting a 299 and rather than embracing the moment, I began to question the moment.

I shoot spare, spare and now I begin to refocus to have a chance to go off the sheet to be in the 260s...  I get the next three and now have a shot in the 10th for 268.  I get tapped, cover the spare and strike on my fill ball for 247 and a 774 set with, might I add, 30 CLEAN frames!!! That was exciting for me considering my return to bowling just a few weeks prior.  As great as I feel about my performance, it is tempered by the fact that it was house conditions.  Any bowler that desires to compete at the level that I aspire to SHOULD put up these type of numbers on house conditions!!!

PERIOD!!!

Until later,

PBA UnderDog