Paying Attention and Concentrating

What really makes a bowler perform better? Is it natural ability? Is it luck? Is it pure skill? I believe we can all agree that some of those attributes can play into the picture; yet, they do not account for consistently high levels of performance. There are countless numbers of bowlers that seem to have more talent and luck than we do but, we seem to bowl better than them regularly.

The other night, our team bowled against one of my muses, Perry. As we were practicing, he said to me, "Your posting at the foul line is getting better and better." I think I said something to the effect of, "I must be, 'cause my scores and averages are getting higher and higher."

Later that evening, the thought occurred to me that over the past several months, the key words that describe my improvement process are, "awareness" and "focus." Yes, I've discovered, learned, and tried new techniques and methods to raise my game to another level, but, it still had to come down to paying attention and concentrating on what I was doing.

What a "novel" concept - paying attention and concentrating. In everything we do, work or play, if we focus on the task at hand, we will always perform better. Watch professional sports and you'll see that the majority of errors occur when an individual, or the entire team, gets distracted. Have you ever heard the old story/joke about the young baseball player "picking daisies in right field when the ball is suddenly hit toward him?" Are you like that when you're bowling?

Here's a starting "Choc-List" of questions you can ask yourself so your mind won't be wandering all over the place while you are wanting to bowl better:

1) Where is your non-throwing arm/hand during your approach and your posting position? Is it up, down, flailing all over the place? Earl Anthony used to keep his right hand low and pointing ahead during his move to the foul line. He said it helped him to keep moving in a straight direction and kept him in balance. There are pros now advocating keeping it straight in front of you, at shoulder level through the approach, and then "whipping" it back at the release to give you a slingshot effect. Another theory is that if you flip the pal upward at your release, it will help keep you in perfect balance at the line.

2) Is your pre-shot routine the same for your first ball and your second ball? Are you faster on one ball than the other? Remember that consistency is one of the keys to a higher performance level, your game should be at the same pace at all the times you are bowling. Whatever you do to prepare for your strike ball should be the same for your spare ball.

3) Can you say, without question, what mark your ball hit on every throw down the lane? Where was it at the arrows, at 39 feet, at the breakpoint? What did it do at those points? Did it skid a lot? Did it break early or late? In the greater majority of bowling balls, you can see how your ball goes down the lane by watching the bowling ball PIN and/or the ball label. Can you see them make the turn to the pocket?

4) Are you keeping your mind on your own game, frame-by-frame? Remember that tip by many of the high-level coaches and pro bowlers? Keep your mind in the present; do not look back at what has already occurred and do not look forward to what might happen because you cannot control either of them. What you can control is what you are doing right here and right now. Put another way, you cannot determine what the other bowlers will do, but, you can determine what you will do.

Add to this list. Expand the thoughts. Look at details of your physical and mental bowling game. What should you be doing when you practice, during the game, in-between frames, and at all times when you are bowling? I should remind you that you shouldn't try to fix every aspect of your bowling at one time. Doing too many things at one time will only confuse you. As the old adage goes, "You cannot do everything at once; but, you can do something at once."

A Hui Hou!