my faded trigger - a short story

[fokai73]

from the beginning.....

My Experiences: During my 20 some years of Martial arts, 7 of those years I spent training to compete in Kumite. Being short (5'6") and competing against taller, heavier, and more experienced Kumite fighters (not point fighting) where head blows are league with knees and kicks only, I was an easy reach. I had to have a mind set, or mental game to accept my fears, anxiety, and focus not getting it in the head or knocked out. (which happened often ) It helped me to use my skills without thinking. The pressure irked me, my opponent irked me, and I was better focused being pissed. I had to hate my opponent even though I liked him or don't even know him. It wasn't hard to find my trigger.

My first career was in the culinary field. I worked and trained under a grandmaster chef (japan) which isn't easy. Later in my culinary career, I had cooked for famous people in the entertainment business, professional athletes (NBA/NFL), and billionaires. There was a lot of pressure, and with pressure comes focus and failure wasn't an option in this business. And the image of failing irked me, it wasn't going to happen. It got me a position that many cooks today hopes to achieve - Executive Chef with high end clienteles. But I changed careers when my father almost died of renal failure. Which lead me to the medical field.

When I took my (medical) Board exams years ago, my mind set was of anger when I got to the computer. I told myself I wasn't going to fail after years of study, I wasn't going to walk out of the room as a failure. I was so pumped up before the exam, but I was in mental control. There was a lot of pressure on me cause I had changed careers and being an executive chef.

Bowling: My trigger in bowling is just as similar to what I stated above in my return 15 years ago. I bowled well being irked or under a lot of pressure in the first several years. It could be a bad performance/repeated bad results, to a cocky loud mouth who can't shut up, or conditions I bowled on for example. But these days it's tough to get in that mind set in bowling. I just enjoy everyone around me. Likewise, being pissed, though it seems like a negative tone, it's what works for me - being pissed off is my trigger. I'm sure PDW uses this trigger as well. I just don't have it anymore.

These days it takes a lot to get me going in bowling. There is no pressure like I experienced in Kumite fighting, being a professional cook, taking a board exam, or just being a good father to my kids everyday. In bowling, I'm just an average bowler slightly above par who enjoys his company with very little pressure. Even at tourneys, I see the same people and it's more of a reunion than a competition for me lol.

Finally, I realize that the lack of "triggers" which I don't experience in bowling every week and every tourney, isn't a bad thing. It's what happens when I bowl at the same house, bowl in the same tournaments every year, compete with the same nice people, and even the softer conditions I bowl on had something to do with it. That's okay, because every week I get to bowl. A hobby I enjoy. I'm sure if I had access to tougher conditions, compete in a competitive league, or wanted more in bowling things would be different. For now, I'm happy and maybe I need a new trigger, a happy trigger.... Enjoy the game for what it is, no matter what it is at that moment. Losing a "trigger" isn't always a bad thing. This is why I continue to bowl....

[J Anderson]

This is why the mental game is endlessly fascinating. I have a friend who will get angry if he goes more than two or three "pocket" hits without a strike. I use quotes because I'm convinced his definition of a pocket hit is any ball that makes contact with the 1 and 3 pins. This sends him into a spiral of missing easy spares and then to missing even his broad definition of the pocket. And yet sometimes, actually quite often, he will after one of these death spiral games throw a really good game despite still being angry.

One of the older bowlers that I know tell how in his first league, back in the early 1970s, when he was having a hard time hitting the pocket, he was told to picture the face of someone he hated in the pocket. He chose Richard Nixon and immediately improved his accuracy.

[fokai73]

J Anderson that was funny, the Richard Nixon one. It is true, when I had to break 2" 6x9 boards which isn't as easy like 1" longer ones you see on TV lol, I pictured my sister ex-boyfriend. I wrote his name on the boards when I did 5 way breaks.

When bowling, I never "kick and scream" or show my anger. I just walk back to the settee with a smile or my "poker face" lol. I do show emotions, but not the negative ones. I take it to the pins on the next frame when I miss or throw a bad shot.

My old bowling buddy just told me this morning to look at pins like chicken wings. Apparently that's what he does when he's hungry. It helps speed up play by striking more I guess. Everyone has their own triggers.