All new coaching staff for the high school team this year. Our first practice was Thursday. On three lanes we had the "targeting tool" set up at 40'. Another three lanes had a dime placed at the arrows (12 board). This was to help with targeting AND not becoming fixated on having to hit an arrow but a board. Three more lanes with a towel at the foul line, edge at the 30 board. This was to keep them from starting deep and drifting back to their comfort level. The last three lanes were for the new bowlers that we didn't know as much about.
The previous coaching team had no coaching experience and only one of them had ever bowled a league before. All these kids knew was what I could teach them at youth league and clinics I held PLUS parental help. Our center manager (owner's son) is the head coach and I'm an assistant. The kids know us yet they still had culture shock seeing what we were going to have them do. All they had done the previous three years was shoot for score. I expect to have more than the four that went to State last season qualify this season.
USBC SILVER CERTIFIED COACH
Gold Coach Candidate
Owner/Operator of Bowlerz Score Coaching
Tweener Rev Rate of 420, Speed 19 mph
Key Bowling Staff Member
Key Bowling Coaching Staff
IBPSIA member
Former Staff Bowler at www.BowlerX.com
Coaching should have a structure for each day of practice. Your coaching staff and team are doing a good job and these kids can benifit from the drills you provide.Originally Posted by billf
I remember seeing high school kids practice (overseas) and before they rolled one ball, their warm ups was walking to the foul line and posting without the ball. After their arm stopped swinging, they all looked down to see where their foot were. No ball used for this drill.
Talking the late 70s here...
Think when I was a youth player, what benefited my game the most was bowling under a mirror positioned over the arrows.
Seeing my shoulders, arm swing, what my other arm was doing and how I finished in real time was an eye opener and this enabled me to make adjustments fairly quickly.
Did use video, and practice a lot (lots)
I like the mirror idea. Gonna have to try it.
USBC SILVER CERTIFIED COACH
Gold Coach Candidate
Owner/Operator of Bowlerz Score Coaching
Tweener Rev Rate of 420, Speed 19 mph
Key Bowling Staff Member
Key Bowling Coaching Staff
IBPSIA member
Former Staff Bowler at www.BowlerX.com
whats the point?
Whats the point of practicing when you virtually never get freshly oiled conditions???
I try to practice at the center I live right next to...1.5 minute walk from my apartment...yet they only oil the lanes before leagues in the morning and before leagues at night and only oil the lanes the league is using. So I can just show up and bowl on dry...which shows me nothing other than I can't really play left of about the 12-board. OR...I can try to get there as soon as leagues are done...hope there's no waiting list of casual bowlers...and bowl on burnt league conditions.
My only real option is to show up on Saturdays for a little $20 tournament...which there's no way to actually re-coup the $20 unless you make a really tough split or something...which I do mainly just to practice on league-like conditions.
It's insane. We wonder why the sport is fading into the background...we want people to actually practice and not just show up for league nights each week...yet the lanes are so dry during practice that my spare ball hooks left of the 7-pin I'm lined up to hit.
In Bag: (: .) Zen Master Solid; (: .) Perfect Mindset; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 192; Lifetime Average = 172;
Ball Speed: 14.7mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 198
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
At my alley can't even practice weeknights as they are full with leagues (which is a good thing I guess for long term viability) Only options are weekends which many times I want to do other things than bowl.
Depends on what you are calling dry. If I can play from 10-17 I'm fine with that. I don't mind practicing on the leftovers from league play or even yesterdays oil on most synthetics. Now on the wood it can be more difficult for me if I'm trying to bowl on them I have to move to 20 or more it forces me to make changes that I don't like in my approach and delivery and I think it harms my game more than helps it on those conditions. It doesn't require fresh oil to work on your footwork or timing.
I am a proud member of Bowlingboards.com bowling forums and ball contest winner
Current arsenal
900 Global Badger Claw - Radical Ridiculous Pearl - Spare Ball Ebonite T Zone
It eludes as to why a center would only condition lanes needed for a league. What happens if a pair breaks down? The two teams get moved to a pair that was not conditioned the same. Wow
It sounds like you've become to reliant on oil keeping for ball off the nose.
If your spare ball hooks that much, try increasing your launch angle (left to right release) to bring the destination from the 7 pin to the pocket.
It allows them to always have people bowling. They don't have leagues that take up the entire house all at once...so they oil 1-20 pre-league while open/casual bowlers are on 21-40. Then they clear out 21-30 and oil those for the next small league. By the time that league is bowling, the first league is done.
The PROBLEM is...lanes 31-40 haven't been oiled in 36 hours because no leagues were ever using them...and lanes 1-20 are burnt.
And it affects my game negatively because I'll practice and end up throwing over the 18 board...standing 29...then I show up for league play on fresh conditions and I'm throwing over 13 and standing on 21 and missing way right. I spend the entire practice trying to move right and trying to figure out where the poo the oil pattern actually ends.
Bowling is the only sport that does this. Figure skaters aren't forced to practice on cement because the ice is only present for competitions. Football players don't practice on gravel because they only put in the turf for games. They don't make golfers practice at a 9-hole executive municipal course the day before a PGA event. They don't change the Formula 1 track the day of the race.
In the old days...it didn't matter. The lanes were what they were and they were all about the same and the ball movement was mostly dependent on the bowler. Now you got balls and lane conditions that are almost as important as the skill of the bowler. Don't believe that?? Watch the FORM of some of the high average bowlers in your leagues. I've seen 190-210 average bowlers that fall off nearly every shot, they don't come through the ball, their footwork is insanely horrible...yet these guys strike and they score well. How many other sports can a person's form be below average yet they are still able to compete at a high level? Boxing? Bean Bag throwing? I don't know.
In Bag: (: .) Zen Master Solid; (: .) Perfect Mindset; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 192; Lifetime Average = 172;
Ball Speed: 14.7mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 198
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks