Haven't posted since end of season last year. I finished both my Sunday and Tuesday Leagues with 169 Averages and towards the end of the year shot my first two 600's. Move forward to this year....

Last Sunday I come in with a 184 ave and shoot 183, 215, 214 for a 612 series. Nice solid night and the team takes all 8 points. So far a very promising start to the season....at least on Sunday.

and then Tuesday league and I come in to the night with a 166 average which is down from last year. Coming in with the confidence from the Sunday before I shoot alot better. 1st game I end up with a 203, only one open, 1st frame Ten Pin. 2nd game is clean for a 221. Last game I start with spare, strike, spare, and then an 8bagger followed by a 9 to finish with a 269 game and 693 series. My highest game and series in one night. Bumps my ave up to 174 on Tuesday.

Getting real excited for the rest of the year.

Travis

No problem - I look forward to reading your update. Sounds like you are keeping a very positive attitude - can you see me smiling for you?

Keep it all straight and if you start to feel down, sing a song or do a little dance - ha ha ha. That's what I do to get my head back in check. Good thing people expect me to act goofy or it would look really funny - ha ha ha. Seriously though, if I sing a song to myself, it gets me thinking straight again so that everything isn't all jumbled up. I will sometimes sing my song all the way through my approach.

Wow Travis - great nights. That is awesome that you kept your positive attitude and confidence from Sunday to help your game on Tuesday.

Keep up the positive thinking, attitude and confidence

Had a lot of work for a 591 series tonight. 177-207-207, we took 2 of 4 points but wow did I struggle. Dry lanes kicked my butt and I have very little to go on for Tuesday which is notoriously dry. So far Tuesdays are disappointing and Fridays are better than expected. I guess that balances out?

ok, now that it looks like things are back to normal here, I can get my update in. I went and spent all of last Saturday with a bowler I know that is really good and I knew he could help me with what needed to be tweaked in my game. He really showed me in away that I understood him and was able to execute what he was telling me. I went into this past Monday nights league with his coaching in my head. first game I started with the front 6, got snake bit on the next two with a 7 and 10 pin, marked the rest of the way out for a 236. then they moved us because one of the pin setters broke down. I struggled to find my lineup and with two opens managed a 173. next game I made a ball change, and played the lanes straighter and shot a clean 243 for a 652 series/217 average. The coaching I got made my average ball speed 14.96 and my follow through was so much better. Hopefully will continue into this next week.

P.S. having to start this all over isn't much fun, re registering and all, but at least things are back up and going.

Great to have the Board back that is terrible what happened. Well I finally made some progress this week by keeping more focused (still need to work on it though) and got my head above the 500 line for the the first time since Week 1 with a 501 (166,179,156). Very exciting match too with the first game going down to the last frame but I strung four so we pulled it out and the last game going into the anchor frame even we ended up winning by one pin even though I left a baby split. Their anchor missed both pins on a sleeper and I just had get one of the 2.

We are now rolling, 3 out of 4 this week, 9 out of 12 last 3 weeks and up to 12-8 and moving up. Just hope we can keep rolling.

Well, except for Tuesday night, I'm back on high 500 series. I just can't keep up.

Tuesday was great 201, 205, 201. Wednesday night started really good with 211, then 203 and down to 177, kept going down with every game.

Friday I believe is the drama going on with the the VP quitting and things are not going great between me and the President. That affected my bowling: 167-184-212 for a 563, my lowest series in a while.

My average on Tuesday night is a 202, on Wednesdays 199 and on Fridays 192, which is the league where i'm secretary.

Well tonight wasn't too fun. Started with a 225, with one open, an 8 after a gutterball. Something got on the sole of my shoe and caused my slide foot to slide out from under me as I released the ball. Rolled a 176 the second game, just couldn't carry. I only struck twice, had six or seven 9 counts, a 4-6-7 split the only open of the game and a few multi pin leaves that I converted. The score just doesn't do justice to just how well I was throwing. Decided on a ball change, went from the Polished Purple Ogre to my Fury at 1000 grit for a little more surface to deal with carry down. I should have made this move half way through the second game. Started the last game good, then the lanes started to dry up and the Fury started hooking earlier and going through the headpin. I made about a 4 board jump on the approach and 3 or so on my target. After leaving two splits, 4-7-10 and the 4-6-7 seven again and having the ball crossover and leaving just a six pin. The jump worked, I atleast go into the pocket the first two frames I made the move which was the eight and nineth. With a couple of strikes in the tenth I could have bowled average, or atleast close to it. On the first ball I let my shoulder dip too much, released it a bit early plus slid three inches over the foul line and dumped the ball in the gutter. I got a nine on the full rack, leaving a 10 pin. I rolled a 158 for a 559 series. It was better than Tuesday, when I missed the easiest of spares. My only opens where the two frames with gutter balls and the three large splits. I converted all five or six of my 10 pins, as well as any non-split or full rack tries. With the change of my inserts to a little tighter insert the ball is feeling good coming off my hand, I just need to learn to change balls sooner, which is a weakness. I try to make the same ball work all night.

Mike, Is that Pocono Summitt you bowl in? If it is, we (meaning the PBA) used to go there a couple of years back. And the pooltables from the Old Showplace here in Staten Island ended up there. Not sure if some of the lanes went there or not, I do know the pool tables did end up there.

Wed, bowled in my "good" house and started off with two opens (4-10),,,for a 172. Even with the two opens its clear I'm not putting much together. Second game, I finally figure out that this pair is 4+ boards different from each other. Second game is 228, then 247.

Friday at 9pm, second shift, my "bad" house, I could not get anything to hook up. Everything I threw went light into the pocket, every place I moved to was light in the pocket. This is a heavy oil house (80units in the middle) and the second shift carry down is brutal. No backends, and still lots of oil. Last game, with a wash out and two chopped buckets just put the icing on my 520 series cake. I'm averaging about 30 pins lower at this house. Previous week I shot 690+, not this week. You never know what you are going to get or what pin spots you will get.

All I can say is that its a long 34 week season. We're just about 7 weeks in. Still have plenty of time. But in my bad house, I stand a darn good chance at being most improved bowler.....again.

Went to the "bad" house to practise to day. Its the closest. I threw a lot of strikes, and picked up 100% of my 10 pin attempts. But could not pick up the 5-7-10 (got the 5-7) I left or the three 7-10 splits I left. But I did pick up the 5-4-10 split I left. Pins are way off spot on that lane and two weeks ago, three sour apples were bowled in one game on that lane. Bad pin spots and heavy oil with tons of carry down and you have as much of a sport shot as you could possibly sanction.

Erin