My Terrible Mental Game

[floridanative772]

Bill, lets just say my coach isn't the most technical person

I can understand that, when i bowled on my high school team the coach was a teacher that had pretty much no knowledge of the game and i imagine was just there to chaperone us to the games lol

[mrbowling300]

I would recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Th.../dp/0933554184

I would recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Th.../dp/0933554184

[billf]

Our local high school chose not to renew the contract of the bronze certified bowling coach that built the program from scratch and replaced her with two teachers that have ZERO bowling experience. I was asked to apply for the position but I can't leave work at 2:00pm to be at the bowling alley in time (2:45pm) for practice. Not to mention the fact the pay sucks lol

[Fatal]

The only thing I do in my "pre-shot routine" is wipe my ball and swing my arm. Thats not enough is it?

[billf]

Sure it is as long as it's enough for you to get focused. What line, release, speed, etc should already be decided before that point. Pre-shot routine is just to relax and clear your mind so the body can take over. You may want to add taking a deep breath just before your push away.

[motorpsykler]

I recently made great improvements to my mental game. Attitude is everything. When your making good shots, the mental game is easy. When you make a bad one, that's when you need to take control of yourself. Ever bowl 4 or 5 great frames and then crap the bed the rest of the game? I did that all the time. I always thought, "What the hell am I doing to cause this?". Then I noticed when I finished a bad game and started another, often times I was able to turn it back around. Why did that keep happening? Because between games I told myself, "OK that was a bad game, put it behind you and bowl a winner." Then one day I realized, why do I wait to do that until between games, why not just do that immediately after throwing a bad ball? So that's what I started doing and it has dramatically changed my game and my enjoyment of bowling as a whole. I no longer have huge swings in my level of play. Sure I throw bad balls, but I don't let a bad ball torpedo my whole game anymore. It's good advice to not pay attention to the score or more specifically, don't let the score have any effect on how you approach the next ball. The beauty of bowling is that every frame you get a fresh rack to start over. Think of every frame as a new game and a new chance to strike. Know what you want to do (adjustments) before you step on the lane, perform your pre-shot routine, take a deep breath, focus your eyes on the target and deliver the ball. Do it during practice as well, blocking out pressure and distractions is part of the game and as with everything else, practice makes it easier.

Oh yeah, and since you're team captain make a 'No negativity' rule on your team. Negativity is like an infectious disease, it will infect everybody.

[MinnesotaBowler]

Motorpsykler, thank you for the advice! I too seem to always wait until a new game to start fresh. I will take your advice in taking things shot by shot and try not to focus on the score. Also, I like the 'No negativity rule' idea. I think that is just what our team needs!

[Hot_pocket]

One thing that helps me is making sure out of all things i have that "good feel" with the ball while on the approach. What i mean is find that comfortable feeling of the ball on your hand because for me it increases confidence do to a good feeling release. If your releasing the ball good off your hand and everything feels right its always easier in my opinion to adjust from there. Also like Bill ,Bob and anyone who said breath find out what kind of breathes short and quick or 1 deep one with a slow exhale. I was the same way as you , except my reason was i didn't take bowling in H.S. seriously because we didn't have that many actual bowlers and my coach was a teacher who knew nothing. When i got to college it was a different story because there were actual bowlers and my coach was a bowler even though he was only a 160avg bowler. Just take your time and you will find what works

[Fatal]

The biggest thing I need to fix the most is getting angry. Once I get pissed my game goes to ****.

[billf]

Why get angry? Was making that shot going to change your life or your family's life for the better? Did not making it change it for the worse? Control what you can and blow off those things that are beyond your control. IP use the 15 second rule. After 15 seconds all emotions are gone. Deal with it fast and move on.