BY MICHELLE MULLEN
Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and I were discussing the presentation I would give to coaches at the 2019 Turbo Tech Collegiate Expo. I chose to talk about how, when it comes to developing your game, some changes are timeless.
Carolyn said she believes that coaches, when reviewing a student’s game, can become overwhelmed about what to change and how to change it — and that sometimes it’s as simple as making the fundamentals stronger.
Yup, that is the point. Sometimes we tend to overlook fundamentals in an attempt to find that Holy Grail to unlock our game, or that of a player we coach. Often, however, strengthening the fundamentals is the key to bowling better, especially when it comes to timing.
Case in point: I recently had a lesson with a guy I’d seen from time to time over the years, and when I saw he was on the schedule I had an instant vision of how likely it was that his timing would be late in the start. But it had been a while, and I certainly could have been wrong this time.
He let me know that he was ready to re-invent himself. The time was now. So frustrated and having tried everything, he was out of ideas on what to do. He warmed up and, sure enough, he was dead late in the start. So the conversation began…
He told me he has to find a way to stay cool, calm and collected when he bowls because he gets so frustrated. In practice, he’d tried everything. But he didn’t seem to be able to hit his target consistently, roll it off his hand, and stay balanced. He tried to do better at these things, but he’d get mad and not do them consistently at all. He practiced and tried, but with little success.
I shot a video to show him his start. It was late. He knew he needed to push it on the first step, but he didn’t. To “reinvent himself,” I suggested he push the ball on step one. Again, it’s what we had worked on during every lesson since I’d known him. The lessons, however, had been sporadic.
We started working on it and he began doing it. The ball rolled better. The pins were reacting. It seemed like we (finally) got it done. So, what else could we work on?
I talked to him about how he practices and how this has to be what he practices. We were in the middle of a lesson and I was chirping in his ear on every shot, just hoping he would…