I would not suggest a Sport League. At your current level I dont' think it will help you recognize your faults (which is all a sport shot does). And it can be very frustrating. Since a Sport Shot will expose any slight varience in your physical game, including targetting, it may be impossible to decide which variable is at fault on any given shot.
Since you are familiar with golf here's an analogy. Take a recreational putter, who has never been off the mini putt putt field and take them to Pebble Beach. Besides the "I'm at Pebble Beach" feeling, I don't think they'd learn much. Its just too big a jump in what's needed for skills. Get the skills first through lessons, handicap leagues and maybe some local house tournaments. Then gradually move onto tougher conditions.
Another good analogy, point taken. Thanks, maybe it is a better idea to bowl the tuesady and friday night mixed leaugues I originally planed on and keep working on fundamentals. The crawl before you can walk thing has always been hard for me. The ABT has tournaments in my area almost every week. What do you think of their tournaments?
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A man who thinks he can and a man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?
Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 162
A/S/L: 25/M/Northern California
I know the desire to bowl a tougher shot. Based on your profile avg and the posts it seems, Zack, that you and I are at about the same level so I'll give you what I've been told.
I am itching to try a sport shot league, but what my coach suggested was to ask one of the managers for a more competitive hdcp league first. This way I can get used to the more focused competitive environment and hopefully bowl with some higher avg bowlers to learn from, but also still work on my skills. Plus, he added and Erin pointed out, a sport shot might be too much for me to diagnose what I'm doing wrong at this point.
This is a good enough compromise for me, I'll re-evaluate in the fall (with my coach) whether I'm ready for a sport league. Plus, the house that runs the sport league puts the same shot out on 6 lanes Monday nights for practice, so I can always try it out and see how I do on it as the summer progresses. You might want to see if the house near you does the same, or if you can practice after the sport league finishes some nights to see how you do.
That all makes sense to me Chris. The last thing I guess I really want to do is commit to a team, get out there a realize I wasnt ready and then regret not continuing to improve at my current level. Consistency is a bigger issue than i'd care to admit right now, i'm flopping between 540's and 640's in league right now. Keep me posted on your progress Chris, it would be nice to make some serious improvement this summer. thanks zack
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A man who thinks he can and a man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">The ABT has tournaments in my area almost every week. What do you think of their tournaments? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">I think ABTs are a great way to get your feet wet in the tournament environment. Its a good way to participate in a competative environment without having to get blown away by the 230 averagers. Normally the 230 and local PBA guys don't/can't do ABT. Depending on the local chapter of ABT they may use a house shot, or like Santa Clara CA have their own oiling machine they bring to do the oiling. And its not a house shot. You will have to deal with handicap though. And being rerated within the tournament if you continually do well. At an improving 180 range handicap helps you. At 200 or slightly over, it hurts.
Thats what I thought, Rose the high lady bowler in my friday night league (215 ave) said it is next to impossible for her to cash in those events, but she loves them and recommended those to me. The way you described sounds like a perfect way to get some small tournaments in this summer.
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A man who thinks he can and a man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?
Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 162
A/S/L: 25/M/Northern California
I'll keep you updated Zack, you do the same. What is ABT, what does it stand for? It sounds like the perfect type of tournament for me to hop into at this point and if there are any in my area (East SF Bay area) I'll have to check them out.
ABT is the amateur bowlers tour. Its handicapped, you get 80% of 225. They have local tournaments (60 entries or so in this area is typical) and bigger regional tournaments. (the one next month regionally will have about 500 entries and pay 10,000 for first) and they have nationals also (much bigger and pay out 25,000 or more for first) . Here's the link so you can see if they are in your area. http://www.amateurbowlerstour.com/
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A man who thinks he can and a man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?
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