During last week's coaching session, one of my more advanced students raised the question, "why do have all that extra stuff with you?" That "extra stuff" he referred to is my accessory kit. Every athlete, I'm sure, has an accessory kit (aka "personalized first aid kit") that they carry with them hidden away in their bowling bags or lockers.

Well, over the years, there have been situations where I needed certain items while bowling. I was either lucky enough to find someone who had some or I had to suffer through the consequences of not having the item. Once I decided to keep these items in my bowling bag at all times, I have more people asking me than me for the items rather than me asking around for the items.

Some, I use each time I bowl, while others are as back-up just in case a certain thing should happen. Unlike the question that my student asked, there is not "all that extra stuff…" in my accessory kit. There's only 13 things and the majority of them are small in size.

I believe that if you bowl more than once-a-week, or participate in regular league or tournament competition, you should think about investing in your own personalized accessory kit.

Here's a list of what I carry; maybe it'll be a memory jogger towards building your own:

1) Band Aids - a couple of different sizes especially to cover the fingertips and other spots on the hands, wrists and arms. I carry a couple of different sizes which are the regular size and what I call the "pinkie-size."

2) Small pair of scissors - the kind that we had in elementary school. This is for cutting and/or trimming items such as insertion tapes and the 3-yd roll of adhesive tape. It is also helpful as a tape insertion tool because you use the rounded ends to insert the tape into your thumb or finger holes.

3) Super Glue - you never know when an insert will come loose. It has happened to me more than once.

4) New Skin liquid bandage - anyone who has had a split callus or cut somewhere on the hand/finger that touches the surface of the ball, or has to go inside the hole, knows how handy this item is. (I've seen people substitute the Super Glue for this job.)

5) Roll of protective adhesive tape - a new item that you see many bowlers putting on the backs of their thumbs. This not only protects the thumb, but also acts as a hole filler at the beginning stages of your bowling match when your thumb is at its smallest size.
6) 1/2" and 3/4" insertion tapes - I drill my thumb holes a little larger than what my measurement shows. My thumb tends to swell up quite a bit during the course of three games. I start off with 2 to 3 insert tapes and take them out as the games progress.

7) Rosin or hand dryer bag - keep that hand dry between frames. On more than one occasion, I have bowled on a pair of lanes or been in bowling centers that the air blower, or worse, the air conditioner completely malfunctioned.

8) Hand towel - not only to wipe off my hands but also my bowling ball if the lane conditions are oily and it tracks back after every throw.

9) Emery board for sanding down calluses among other things.

10) E-Z slide bag which I don't use often but have had to on occasion because the center we bowled in had sticky approaches and amount of buffing or wiping down would allow me to slide.

11) Ball cleaner made especially for reactive resin bowling balls. I am a believer in cleaning my bowling balls after each session. This is to protect the reactive characteristics of the bowling ball.

12) Brass wire brush for the soles of my bowling shoes.

13) Fingernail clippers. What an all purpose and handy item to have in your kit.

One thing of note here is that I give or loan some of these items to other people more often than I use them myself. Perhaps I see it more because word gets around that I have them?

If you're going to start your personalized accessory kit, I would start with the band aids, hand towel, rosin or hand dryer bags, fingernail clippers, and ball cleaner w/surplus towel for cleaning. If you continue to bowl regularly, you will naturally come across the items that are needed to be added to your kit.

There are a wide variety of small bags, pouches, and plastic freezer bags that can be used to keep everything in one place. As for me, I carry four bowling balls with me whenever I bowl which means two separate 2-ball bags and each has a pocket on the front. All my accessories fit conveniently in these pockets.

A Hui Hou! (See you again!)