At Home Drills for a Better Bowling Release | USBC Bowling Academy

[bowl1820]

[zdawg]

Ok I'm kinda confused by what I'm actually seeing, and what they're actually saying about the guy bowling (who I assume is a pro).

At around 1:12 they say the modern day players go a different direction, then procede to show the pro whose fingers are clearly going counter-clockwise which is the exact same direction they describe seconds earlier in the old school release...How is that a different direction?

They said something about they go "backwards" and I fail to see that. Do they mean on the downswing (which isn't shown in the clip) that the fingers go backwards? Because the way they phrase it, to me it sounds like they're saying the fingers are rotating clockwise which my eyes tell me is clearly not the case.

One guy also states that the ball is "rotating" down the fingers, does he mean "rolling" down the fingers? Or does he mean that the ball "rotated" down the fingers in the part of the swing they didn't show? Because to me it looks like the bowler rotated his hand clockwise PRIOR to the release to get it in position (again this part is not shown), then lets the ball ROLL down his fingers to get his thumb to exit cleanly, and then at the last second used his fingers to push the rotation counter-clockwise.

Am I misunderstanding what they're saying and showing (entirely possible). I wish they had shown an entire swing and broken it down piece by piece so I could see when/where those fingers are moving clockwise.

[bowl1820]

When they say "go in a different direction" they don't mean that literally, it's a figure of speech. They mean more that they are using a different method, coming through the ball instead of around it.

The backwards comment is basically a figure of speech also.

It would be something like when a electronics company say's "We went in a new direction with this circuit design" (as opposed to the old method)

[zdawg]

When they say "go in a different direction" they don't mean that literally, it's a figure of speech. They mean more that they are using a different method, coming through the ball instead of around it.

The backwards comment is basically a figure of speech also.

It would be something like when a electronics company say's "We went in a new direction with this circuit design" (as opposed to the old method)

Ok fair enough, that makes a bunch more sense

[Hendu71]

I watched that video several weeks ago and I too wondered wth they were talking about. They specifically say stuff like "backwards" and "clockwise", when the football is very obviously going counter-clockwise both ways (from the perspective of the bowler). I do not think these were figures of speech, I think it was plain bad wording.

[rv driver]

The very last clip of the guy with the softball is the best example of what they're talking about. They're turning their wrist counterclockwise -- just not as much. And at the end, the ball is flicking off the end of the fingers. It's the ball that's rotating counterclockwise at that point, while the fingers move in the opposite direction from the rotation of the ball. I get it. At the end of the release, the fingers are moving in the opposite direction. The hand starts at, say, the 5:00 position. As the ball rolls down the hand and off the fingers, the fingers flick so that the pinky is coming up and the index is going down. (It's a subtle move.) It keeps the elbow locked and the wrist from overstating over the ball.

[Hendu71]

Yeah, they look identical to me, except in the second football one it looks like his fingers are about to go into a fist. I literally cannot tell the difference at all in the softball ones. Be nice if there was a video overlay or side-by-side. In any case, it doesn't look like the end result is having a noticeable effect (e.g. more revs) on the ball.

[rv driver]

Yeah, they look identical to me, except in the second football one it looks like his fingers are about to go into a fist. I literally cannot tell the difference at all in the softball ones. Be nice if there was a video overlay or side-by-side. In any case, it doesn't look like the end result is having a noticeable effect (e.g. more revs) on the ball.

Not to beat a dead horse, but think about it. Newton's third law of motion states that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If the ball is rolling off the edge of the fingertips, it's rolling counterclockwise. If the fingers are flicked, just as the ball rolls of the edge, they will flick in a clockwise motion -- opposite to the direction the ball is rotating. It's a subtle difference between old-school releases, where the fingers didn't "flick," but the whole wrist rotated around the ball at the release. What they're saying and demonstrating is that nowadays, the wrist doesn't turn as much, but rather stays behind the ball; it's the ball that rotates -- not the wrist. The fingers, at the point of release, now flick (appearing, as you noted, to make more of a fist). My guess is that the finger flick is caused by the sudden release of weight from the fingertips as the ball leaves the fingers, where the fingers have been "pulling" against the fingerholes as they begin to rotate the ball, and stretched straight by the ball's weight as it drops. When the ball is completely released, the fingers, having no more resistance, snap backward toward the palm, in a direction opposite to the rotation of the ball.

[bowl1820]

Newton......Everyone I think is really over thinking this.

The football is like turning a doorknob. (Turning a doorknob was the old way of describing the release)

The softball is like rolling a can across the floor. (A little more to it than that, but basically the same. Your staying behind it and it's rolling off your fingers.)