New youth bowler

[GeorgiaStroker]

My 11 year old son has signed up to bowl in the youth league this year. I'm more excited about cheering him on and watching him improve than I ever was about my own bowling.

[floridanative772]

Hope he enjoys it and has fun. My son is 8 and played rec basketball last season and it was so much fun watching him play and cheering for him. He is wanting to start bowling too and im gonna sign him up for the youth saturday league too.

[billf]

My 6 year old nephew is signed up for our Sat morning youth league. When told I was one of the coaches he asked to do another league. When asked why he said, "Uncle Bill will make me listen and do it right." What he doesn't realize is he will be treated like all the rest of the kids, meaning he will get away with a lot more than I would normally allow. I want the kids to learn but having fun will always be the priority for me, just behind safety.

I hope everyone enjoys their time. Just try not to be "one of those parents" and push too hard.

[floridanative772]

I know what you mean Bill. I always tried to lift my sons spirits when they lost a game and tell him how good he did. I have seen parents yelling at their children about what they did wrong. Parents don't let their kids have fun and take youth sports way to serious at times. I agree that instilling good values and trying to teach them proper skillls is important but if the kids aren't having fun its pointless.

[billf]

I have always believed in letting the coaches coach and if as a parent I wanted to participate then when it was just me and my child then I would show them stuff. Fun is important. Who wants to practice or work on something that isn't fun? It won't matter how much talent they have, if they don't want to practice they won't improve consistently over the long haul. I use to practice baseball and football drills all the time because I enjoyed it. It sucked that my dad couldn't be bothered to attend but it was better than the parents that would yell and scream at the kids and undermine the coach. Those were the kids that were stars at 10-14 years old but they didn't work at it and lo and behold, none of those kids were good in high school or went on to play in college.

My daughter quit bowling in college. I was disappointed when she quit the team but she quit because it wasn't fun anymore, that they took themselves too serious. She didn't pick a ball up for 4 years. I just talked her into bowling again this year and is doing her first sanctioned league as a regular player. She was surprised how many people, including me, wanted her on their team. As a sub in the spring she missed setting the house record when she couldn't convert the 7-10 split.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Yeah I've seen too many kids lose their desire because of over demanding parents and coaches. I have tried to teach my son a few things but he gets frustrated quickly so I back off. I have noticed when others try to help him he is much more receptive and patient. I guess no boy likes the old man telling him how to do something, I know I didn't anyway. I just want him to have fun and hopefully the coaches will be able to connect with him. I'm looking forward to the time we will be able to bowl together on a league.

[floridanative772]

I'm sure he will have a blast and learn a lot. I learned more from my Saturday youth leaugue when I was a kid than anywhere else.

[serial bowl]

Do they have coaching in all the youth leagues now?

[J Anderson]

Do they have coaching in all the youth leagues now?

I suspect that it depends on the league, and some coaches may be doing more babysitting than real coaching.
The USBC seems to have good intentions toward getting more and better coaches into the youth program. First is the requirement that all coaches be registered with the RVP program, so all coaches will have passed a national background check. The second is the effort of USA Bowling to provide free coaching workshops around the country.

[billf]

And anybody can take the level 1 classes on-line and become a member of RVP (Registered Volunteer Program). One of my worries is I'm the only volunteer registered in my county. That's a lot of kids for one person.

[J Anderson]

And anybody can take the level 1 classes on-line and become a member of RVP (Registered Volunteer Program). One of my worries is I'm the only volunteer registered in my county. That's a lot of kids for one person.

How did you find out? I just tried looking for registered volunteers in CT and had to go town by town. Most towns that I tried either had no volunteers, or only one or two. On the other hand Milford has six.

[billf]

I went to bowl.com and typed in the zip codes. I know it's odd but I have this weird thing about remembering numbers.

[billf]

Just checked again. This time it wanted city and state. Same results. This is a rural area so there are only 6 towns in the county plus some real small townships.

[J Anderson]

I went to bowl.com and typed in the zip codes. I know it's odd but I have this weird thing about remembering numbers.

Everybody's brain is wired differently. From what you've posted about always doing well in math and physics I'm not surprised that you remember numbers. Unfortunately, I find it very easy to remember trivia and forget the important stuff like where did I leave the tool that I was just using.

[billf]

John, I can't tell you how many time I've climbed off of an engine, walked to my toolbox just to stand there trying to remember what I wanted. I don't understand how my short term can be so bad but I can recall a conversation word for word from ten years ago.

[J Anderson]

Bill, lately I've been going to get something out of my truck, think of something else I should do while there or bring back as well, and get halfway back to where I'm working without the tool I started out after.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Well my son has bowled 2 Saturdays now and has about a 100 average. He asked if we could go practice today and he bowled 100 then 107 I gave him a couple of things to think about on his 3rd game and the kid actually listened and belted out a 173. The guy working the counter today happened to be the youth coach and he got to see it and was as excited as I was. My son was strutting around like he owned the place. I think I have made a new lifelong bowler.

[billf]

That's awesome. I'm surprised, as a parent, the your son actually listened to you lol

[GeorgiaStroker]

That's awesome. I'm surprised, as a parent, the your son actually listened to you lol

I know Bill, my dad was stupid until I turned 20 or so then he became one of the smartest men I knew. Lol

[billf]

I can't tell you how many parents have come to me the first two weeks asking me to help their kids and invariably they say, "they just won't listen to me." I know what they mean and I know they mean well but I have seen some of these parents bowl and it's a good thing the kids are not listening to that advice lol
One of our areas better bowlers has two girls on the high school team that are good. I met his 12 year old son. This kid has all the natural talent in the world. I haven't seen many adults with the speed and revs this boy has. It should be a blast watching him bowl the next few years. Then there is this 11 year old red haired girl. She is a trip. Very friendly, out going girl with the red head temper. I bet a buddy she would roll a 300 during high school. She is very slight and her ball speed is currently low. The rotation, tilt and accuracy are wonderful though. She asked her mother if she could stay later next week so I could work on spare shooting with her. Her dad bowled a 300 against me last year. I bowled a 279 that game, blind. She wants me to help her because as she says, I'm a perfectionist like her (and a red head) and I'm not to hold back and be nice just because she is young. This girl is uber competive and has such desire to be great.