The How's And Why's Of Your Inner Workings - Tom Blasco

[SmilingBowler]

As many of you know, I scour the web for tips and advice daily. This is why I am a part of these boards. In my searches I have found a number of good articles, but the four-part series from Tom Blasco I am about to share with you is one of the greatest I have yet to find. Enjoy.

"The How's And Why's Of Your Inner Workings - The Brain" by Tom Blasco

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV

In this series, Tom breaks down the mental game and does it so any bowler of any level can understand.
Tom has quite a unique background and you can view his BowlingFans.com profile here. (: .)

[Tampabaybob]

Good post. This is excellent information for bowlers of all ages and abilities. Many times we "forget" some of the simpler techniques and the mental game is a big part of this game. Thanks for finding it and posting it here.

[mxjosh]

I kinda lost interest on part 3 and 4 but enjoyed the 1st 2 parts. thanks.

Im way mental with bowling. I tend to be anxious quite a bit. I associate it mostly with lack of experience. I don't know what to expect or sometimes have no past situations to draw from so the anxiety is more intense...a lost feeling. Not knowing what direction to go in. What move do I make when my ball is doing something I've never seen before? Or the mental scramble to find out what part of my form is off and causing me to throw inconsistent.

[J Anderson]

I kinda lost interest on part 3 and 4 but enjoyed the 1st 2 parts. thanks.

Im way mental with bowling. I tend to be anxious quite a bit. I associate it mostly with lack of experience. I don't know what to expect or sometimes have no past situations to draw from so the anxiety is more intense...a lost feeling. Not knowing what direction to go in. What move do I make when my ball is doing something I've never seen before? Or the mental scramble to find out what part of my form is off and causing me to throw inconsistent.

I suppose I could recommend seeing a sports psychologist about your anxiety, but as long as the mere idea trying something new doesn't send you hyperventilating into a panic attack, go out and get some of that experience. Enter a few tournaments, try a more serious league. Whatever it is that will give you a chance to push though that feeling. Probably best to do small steps, pushing the envelope a bit at a time.

On the mental scramble question, Unless you have a teammate who knows how you should look when you're bowling well, it can be very frustrating to figure out what's wrong on your own. Even if you have a friend helping you figure it out it can be self-defeating to try and fix it if you wind up focused on the problem. Some time the best strategy is just to focus on the basics until you start repeating good shots.
Similarly, when the ball does something you haven't seen before, use the basic adjustment of moving in the direction of the miss.

[mxjosh]

Yes for sure. I bowl in 3 leagues during the week. 1 league is the highest I can go in the area in terms of competition. I bowl with my coach. He helps me when things go wrong. But I cant take him everywhere with me. I try not to depend on him too much as I wanna figure it out on my own.

The mental scrambles are more of a checklist i run through each shot when I'm not bowling with him. It wastes frames and i get a bit tighter as the game gets closer to its close without an answer.

I have been in tournaments but not nearly as much as I wanted. Cost a lot when not winning. Im an internal person so I kind of turtle up when things go bad. The more successes I have the easier it is to get out of my head.

[J Anderson]

The more successes I have the easier it is to get out of my head.

The only thing I got from taking Intro to Statistics and Probability is that you can define success to be anything you want it to be. Define your goals for the next tournament so that at least some of them are not dependent on cashing or your pin total. There is no defense in the game of bowling. Even if you bowl well there is no guarantee someone else won't bowl better. There is also just plain bad luck when it comes to pin carry.

For example, suppose that I usually hit my target 60% of the time and make 70% of my non-split leaves. Two of my goals for the next tournament could be to hit my target 75% of the time and convert 80% of my non-split leaves. If I make those goals, even if my scores aren't a lot higher than normal, or I don't cash because some one with a 140 average shoot 263, I can still honestly say that I bowled better than normal in a pressure situation.

[Tampabaybob]

Josh. One of the biggest and most troublesome parts of this game is the mental aspect. It takes many years for most bowlers to "get it right". I bowl with many really, really good bowlers and I see them do exactly what you describe week after week. There are many ways to overcome these things, but experiences that you will have and can draw from will be the best answer.

I'm including a digital copy of the December issue of 'Bowling this Month'. There are a couple of good articles in there that might shed some lift on your dilemma. I would also encourage you to get a subscription to what I refer to as the "Bowlers Bible". The people that write these articles are among the best coaches in the U.S. and they have excellent articles every month that can help bowlers of all abilities.

Check it out and let me know if the articles helped.

http://digitaleditions.bowlingthismo...tion/?i=133311

[mxjosh]

Sends me to a login link.

[SmilingBowler]

Thanks Josh and thank you for sharing that link Bob, but I also get a logon screen.

[Tampabaybob]

Ok just tried it off of the link I sent you. Disregard the log in side and click on the arrows up on top. It should work. Let me know and I'll try to send it another way, maybe by email, because it's 23 megs.