Anybody getting ready for Nationals??

[vdubtx]

Starting to get ready for nationals. We bowl May 28th and 29th. Just booked my "free" flight via Southwest Airlines last night. Woohoo!!

So excited to go and bowl on a challenging pattern again. Will also be bowling a lot of the other side tournaments while there.

Once the oil patterns are released, will be getting one of the local centers to put it down for us so we can get a bit of practice on it before heading out there. May also contact the Bowling ITRC to see what they offer in terms of putting down specific patterns for practice.

[tccstudent]

I wish I have never made it to nationals I have a hard enough time getting a team together for stuff closer to home.

[Hampe]

Yes.....but not US Nationals :D

Regional qualifications for singles are this weekend, and my buddy and I already qualified for doubles in April :).

[J Anderson]

Starting to get ready for nationals. We bowl May 28th and 29th. Just booked my "free" flight via Southwest Airlines last night. Woohoo!!

So excited to go and bowl on a challenging pattern again. Will also be bowling a lot of the other side tournaments while there.

Once the oil patterns are released, will be getting one of the local centers to put it down for us so we can get a bit of practice on it before heading out there. May also contact the Bowling ITRC to see what they offer in terms of putting down specific patterns for practice.

While I'm not planning to go, my sport league is bowling only on USBC Open and Masters patterns for the rest of the season, so technically all of us are getting ready for it even though only 10 or so people from the league are going.

[Aslan]

I wish.

[vdubtx]

So, the USBC Open Nationals oil patterns have been released. Looks like some good patterns. Team event is longer at 43ft and the Doubles/Singles are 40ft.

I found out that the ITRC will put down any pattern for $25 per lane per hour. Plan on getting some of my team mates and other teams together to go in on a couple pairs one for Team pattern, one for Double/Singles. Actually pretty good pricing when you put more people into it for an hours worth of bowling on Sport conditions. $100 split between 6-8 people is not so bad.

Team Event pattern 43 ft 24.4ml volume - LINK (http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/usbcongress/bowl/tournaments/pdfs/usbcopenchamp/2014/2014TeamEventOverhead.pdf)

Doubles/Singles event pattern 40ft 26.062ml volume - LINK (http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/usbcongress/bowl/tournaments/pdfs/usbcopenchamp/2014/2014DSEventsOverhead.pdf)

[vdubtx]

Been toying around with the idea to take my U-Turn as my spare ball as another option. May look at getting another ball before heading to Reno and will only be able to take 4 total. I tried using the U-turn as a right side pins pickup and was please with most attempts. Missed a few 10 pins to the left with it, but I think on the Nationals patterns it won't have a chance to hook and miss the 10. When we go to get some practice on the patterns in the upcoming months, will give it a try to see what happens. Leaving the spare ball at home on these patterns, will give me another option if the lanes get real dry towards end of squad and have 4 total ball options vs. 3 with a spare ball.

[ALazySavage]

Vdubtx -

Have you decided on your arsenal yet, mainly dependent on you spare ball decision? Since I'm driving up I have the luxury of taking more equipment but I think I have settled down on the following:

Hyper Cell @ 2000
IQ Fusion @ 1500 polished
Reign Supreme @ 2000/3000
Freeze Hybrid @ 1500 polished
Blue Hammer Faball @ soaked in oil for 20 years

What I have currently seen work well is for team to start with the IQ Fusion; while the pattern is longer the volume of oil seems to work better with the polished finish. Also, it doesn't appear to be as sensitive to speed as the double and singles pattern is. This would transition to the Freeze Hybrid which rolled great when the shot breaks down a bit (this is dependent on what the team chooses to do though, if they decide to stay in the same region and ball down versus jumping in and sawing on the ball).

I think the key with Doubles will be to control the backend of the pattern, since it is heavier it would be better to have something that rolls a little sooner and doesn't scream on the backends (Hyper Cell for me). The transition is the difficult part though, you can see that scores jump once you get to singles, but I think this is because the moves people are making during doubles are too subtle and it takes them a while to catch up. From what I have heard and seen you don't need to ball down for the first transition, rather take the same ball and make a 5 board or so move and maintain the exit point; again this is dependent on what your lane decides to do...the scoring is out there if you break the pattern down together. For the end of singles I have heard that polished/symmetrical is being thrown a fair amount, not yet sure if this is a product of getting too far in (creating bad angles) and having to jump back and get the ball through the heads or if it is simply the better read later.

[vdubtx]

Will be taking 6 balls with me after all. Went ahead and got a 2 ball tote that I will carry on with me.

Will take:
Hyper Cell at 2000
Disturbed at 1500
First blood at 1500 polished
Iq fusion at 1500 polished
Uturn at 1000 polished, hesitant to take this one. May get a better light oil ball before go out.
Maxim spare ball

Was thinking earlier on about not taking spare, but in practice on the patterns they hooked more than I thought they would.

For team will start with the Hyper Cell as I by a real good look on the longer pattern with it in practice. Then ball down to likely the disturbed and the first blood, maybe the iq, but that one is newer and haven't even thrown or received in mail yet.

Double and singles I got a good look with disturbed so will start with that and go down to first blood or iq. Then ball down again to the lighter oil ball I may pickup before going.

We bowl team at 3pm I think on 28th and 7am on 29th.

[J-Dilly]

Good luck vdub and anyone else bowling Nationals. I bowl June 8-9. Im planning on just taking 3 balls with me when I go. Track LX16 - Ebonite 250K - Plastic Spare ball

First time bowling Nationals, so I am going in with absolutely no preconceived notion of how or what I should roll. Just looking forward to the mini-vacation I am getting more than anything LOL

[vdubtx]

Thanks J-Dilly. Good luck to you and also to ALazySavage.