Tuesday, February 19, 2013

PRO TIPS: Learning how to grind IT out

One characteristic all great bowlers have is knowing how to grind it out in competition. I have seen some of the most talented bowlers come out on the short end of the stick because they do not have the discipline to grind it out when things are not going their way. When a bowler is struggling or dealing with an unfamiliar situation they should always use it as a learning experience and never give up. I have seen bowlers start a tournament or league session with a bad game and immediately accept that this is going to be a bad night or tournament. Sometimes our egos get in the way and we are afraid to fail so we avoid situations that are unfamiliar or situations that push us beyond our comfort zone. To improve we must not get too comfortable, we should learn to push ourselves a little and compete against better bowlers and on conditions that challenge our abilities more.

When you are in competition and you find yourself on difficult lane conditions you must have a mental and physical game plan. Your physical game plan is to try to select equipment that will allow you to keep the ball in the pocket area and leave spares that are easy to pick up. Even if your carry is not as good with that piece of equipment it may be a better choice if you can keep it in play more and not leave a lot of splits and spare clusters. Your mental game plan is to be patient because in many cases the lane condition will open up and become more favorable. Try to avoid negative conversations about the conditions and look at it as a challenge. When you are bowling tournaments and moving from pair to pair, some pairs will be tougher than others and you will want to just stay out of trouble. If you remain patient and don’t get frustrated you will be better able to take advantage of the easier pairs. 

The ABC, WIBC and Team Challenge tournament conditions are much more demanding than league conditions and will test anybody’s patients. No matter how much you may struggle you should always try to learn something from that experience so that you will be better prepared the next time you run into a similar condition. Learning to grind it out is learned behavior and you cannot become a better player without failing sometimes first.

For more PRO TIPS visit: http://sport-r-us.blogspot.com/2013/02/pro-tips-breaking-out-of-slump.html