I've been bowling for almost 8 yrs. now, with my game getting progressively better until this past season. I had upped my average from a 175 my first year to a 212 in 2006-2007. But I took off the summer last year and missed the beginning of the winter league. When I returned I struggled mightily...couldn't break 200 for the first 8 wks, 600 was unheard of. I started pulling it back together toward the latter part of the season and eventually 'settled' for a 189, 23 pins less than my previous book average.

Now I'm bowling a summer league (which I felt I had to do) just to try to get on Track for next winter. I don't desire to practice like I used to, can't throw more than 3 balls decently before losing my focus and doing something brain damaged, hitting 200 and being ecstatic about it when 200 used to constitute an off game for me...I truly feel like I don't want to bowl, but I'm worried that if I put down my balls I won't pick them up for a long time.

I love the game, I've been bowling tournaments (donating), and still desire to get better, but I don't know how to recommit myself...any suggestions, please? I never thought I'd feel this way about bowling as much as I've loved it, even before I actually started bowling myself.

Show 300, when you come back and your average drops considerable it is depressing. Have you tried getting on a mixed league or taking some one under your wing and teaching them. When you bowl as good as you were, you know the ropes. When you are starting some one new out, your going over all the ropes with them. This will be going over some of your problems and freshening you up. I did this a few times and it pulled me outta the slump more than once. I bowl low on league but I only bowl scratch tourneys. I bowl good in the tourneys, I just don't get with it on league unless I am working with some one. It's strictly phsycological. The VA says my problem is phsychiatric! Ha! They're probably right. Don't get depressed, just get some one depending on you and see what that does. I'll try to see you guy's at the High- roller before long. Have a good day. Eddie

Show,
Maybe fun or social league will get you out of this rut. No pressure to perform just a league to have fun.Like No tap or pizza beer league something a long those lines.

I felt that way end of high school i love the sport but needed a brake. It was suppose to be just the summer but somehow ended up being 10 years anc ame back in August of 2006.

I would bring on a coach. A good elevated coach can not only refine your physical game but stimulate your mental approach as well. You're gunna have to dig deep, because this is going to cost money. And if you want to get back to where you were, you're going to need to invest time and money.

I know how you feel. I went through a 3 year slump. Getting down to the center to practice was like trying to get a 13 year old to do their homework. But I did it. I did it even when I didn't want to do it. I treated it almost like a job, something I HAD to do. I scheduled lessons about every month or so with a very high level coach (Kim Terrell) and knew her time was precious so I could not stand her up or be cancelling here and there. It took a lot of determination to fight back.

It sounds like you got a bit lackadazical, and took a summer off. I don't take summers off, due to exactly what you are going through. I know that if I take a summer off, its going to be H ell getting back to the level I was at at the end of winter. And that struggle is just too frustrating for me. So I don't risk it. I bowl at least one summer league. This summer its a Rock and Roll to Reno handicap mixed league. They play music, lots of side pots, card games and other side contests. Its been a struggle for me, since its on Sunday evening and getting there means leaving my nice comfy home and dinner when I don't necessarily want to. But we're doing it. The lane conditions on Sunday night (even though they oil) are also totally different from week nights. So I'm maybe 190 average now after 3 weeks. But I'm going to plug away at it, learn the condition get more comfortable with it and have some fun.

Once winter comes around again, I'll be ready and not rusty. I am however, looking for a new coach. :-( Since Kim is now in Delaware.

Erin

Show,

I thought I remember you telling us last summer that you had family commitments or something which was why you decided not to bowl.

Evaluating your commitment to the game...what a scary feeling and I'm nowhere near 30 yet. I'm afraid I may get to that point sometime in life.

Sounds to me like you are putting undue pressure on yourself. You say you are only bowling this summer so you can score well next season. Its gotta be more than that, or its just a grind and I am sure you get enough grind in your life, so don't let it creep into your leisure time.

I know a lot of people that have taken the summer off and find themselves in a struggle the next winter season. It just a fact. So this past winter would be 'normal' from anyone that took a summer off. The whys of the summer break don't matter. You have to make a decision and if you cannot bowl then you cannot bowl. Everyone has priorities and yours are certainly as good as anyone elses. So don't beat yourself up over taking the summer off and having to fight back all winter. You had to make a decision and deal with it. After all, bowling scores in most of our lives is pretty low on the priority list of life. You just have to accept that. What you gave up in your bowling, you contributed to other aspects of your life that needed it at that time. You have to have reasonable expectations.

Now if your mental game doesn't mind fighting back from the layoff then fine. And most bowlers do not bowl in the summer. Whether they are competative bowlers or not. The fact is that most bowlers do not bowl the summer season. HOWEVER,....most competative high level bowlers do bowl the summer. They bowl something, might not be the high level scratch league in the winter, but they bowl something.

Your reached a goal before, you can do it again. But its going to take work, just like it did before.

Erin

Show, I struggle if I miss practice that week. I have no talent for bowling, I do nothing natural, I have to work hard to get my game in shape and bowl at a high level. If I miss even one week I struggle for a few weeks after.

You have to decide why you are there, if you are there just for scores, you are there for the wrong reasons. If you are there to have a good time, then it doesn't matter what your scores are as long as you are having fun. If you are not bowling well you shouldn't let that affect why you are there, it is just a bad shot or a bad game it doesn't reflect who you are as a person, so don't take it personally, figure out what you are doing wrong and correct it, or just focus on hitting your target and don't worry about how you are getting there as you may start over thinking things.

If you are struggling with your physical game then do as Erin suggested and seek out a top level coach to help punch up your game and rejuvenate your excitement for bowling. Everyone gets tired of bowling bad or not being challenged it is not just you, you need to learn to self motivate and pull yourself up out of these low mental spots and just have fun.

I read this last week, but with some things going on at the time I wasn't active on the boards.

Show, I know the feeling. I'm been recently thinking of giving up the game. I've been bowling for the better part of 8 years as well. Some of it is based on my performance on the lanes during the last half of the season which is due to some serious mechanical issues that started sometime during the season. I don't have the drive to go to the center to practice or even open bowl for fun like I once did. Again part of this is the hopelessness of trying to improve but not seeing any progress and actually going backwards. Seeing a coach I know would change this but it's not economically viable right now. I think that's maybe the biggest problem this summer, being able to afford to go to the lanes to try to work on something. Between gas, lineage and having to fix my truck that cost a good bit just for the parts, since I did the work myself bowling just doesn't seem important. Add in other factors such as not working every day and other things in life, and trying to bowl and struggling just doesn't seem worth it. At one point bowling was my outlet to just get away from it all but now it seems harder than work. I believe some of the stuff outside of bowling is more of my issue than the bowling itself, even though bowling bad on a regular basis doesn't help my desire.

Wow yall are really scaring me right now in terms of time and commitments in the future of life.

I think if I wasn't doing so bad, bowling would be a little more enjoyable, but I probably would have still took the summer off from competitive bowling. Sometimes life just wants to try to beat you down but its how you handle it and get through it that counts. I rarely let anything get to me mentally but when things add up it starts to take its toll.

Guns, don't worry. I gave up the game when my children were born. It was the right decision then, and I wouldn't question it today. there were so many other competing things for my time through those years, Kids school, PTA, School board, Little League, Cub Scouts, Soccer, basketball. And, all the while, working with my kids doing homework, carving the soap box derby car, swinging the bat in the yard, I rarely took then bowling. It was always in the back of my mind, but just rarely happened.

I took off quite a few years. But those years were some of the most enjoyable years of my life watching kid's growth, skill development, thought processes. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Others still got their league night or 2 into their schedule. I didn't.

Well, now I'm back, and there is nothing stopping me from returning to my old level of play.

Through your life you will make decisions. And, when you do, you will do them for the best for you and for your family. Enjoy your life. Work hard and play hard. And, never fret on the decision you made. Looking back or looking forward, your perspective is different. At the time of the decision, it was the right thing to do.[

Enjoy bowling, and your life.

When you have things going on in your life that is causing stress it transfers to your bowling. You think you are keeping them seperate but its impossible. You think its not effecting you, but it is. Things like a new job, loss of a job, divorce, legal trouble, relocating, family death etc.....all these things gang up on you and can take the enjoyment from things you normally enjoy. I think its normal.

You have to put bowling on the priority list where it belongs. Take care of business at home and don't worry about bowling. Once your life evens out (if this is the case) you will have a fresh look on things and hopefully a different attitude.

I have a girlfriend that went through this thinking she was fine and it didn't effect her. She was bowling 4 leagues in three houses, lost her job, looking for a job, relocating because she was in the process of buying a home when this happened and then her mom (who has some medical issues) needed to sell her home and be moved into a nursing home in another state. Now how can that kind of stuff not impact your bowling game and how you perceive it? She thought she was doing fine and that it wasn't effecting her bowling. Quitting all but one league helped. She found a job; that helped. But the moving, new home purchase and moving mom could not be avoided. It was just something she had to work through with as much help as she could get. After everything was settled and things had calmed down did she finally realize how much these stresses were effecting her life.

Erin

I will agree with you there Erin, with many things going on in a persons life that adds stress, that stress weighs on one mentally and we all know how mental this game is. All the things going on outside of bowling just compounds the frustration I've had on the lanes, and the lack of wanting to go to the lanes. I'm sure once the biggest part, the job aspect gets worked out things will be different, since that's where the biggest issue is coming from.

Take your time Inferno...take care of busiess first. Bowling will still be there when you are in a better situation to enjoy it.

I did the same thing. Got so over whelmed and then told myself that I had no clue as to why I was bowling so bad.

Erin

Well. I can related to this topic and the point is that I never gave up.

I took a break from league bowling after 4 weeks into the beginning of regular season and doing so when bowling my first year with 3 different leagues. Monday being the sport shot, Wednesday being league shot and Sunday being the fun league.

The money and travel was not the main reason but one of them. I went to bowling school before the season started. Everything was fine.

Until. My first car died on my driveway just weeks afer I returned from bowling school and I had no vehicle for a month to practice.

You know how much that messed up my thinking bowling and how to roll the ball when you had no place to go to bowl? It was a major burn out on me. I was getting pissed, frustrated, upset and everything with myself.

So.. regardless of scores or how I bowled. I was not confidence in myself or in my bowling. So quited all 3 leagues and committed myself to bowling when I wanted to which were on weekend like glow in the dark or something.

Almost 10 months later. I have found my joy for bowling. I went back to bowling school and rediscover myself. The practice and fun that I did during the 8 before I went back to school. I was frustrated and trying to understand myself.

I was a bit frustrated after going to school because I didn't get what I was doing wrong.

Tuesday, I went with a simulated tournament plan in my head since I am bowling in tournament Saturday. I never bowled with pride and confidence in my game before. The scores didn't mean anything to me and I felt like I just unleashed my potential in this game.

But, the point is. Never give up on yourself if you enjoy the sport. Make room for the game when you can even if you are burnt out. The longer you stay away from the game, the harder it is going to get back to where you were before you got burnt out.

But, but, but.

The most important point is. Try to have fun. Even if you are slumping. I went thru them before but I learn how to work thru them now. Just work on your mental game before you hit the lanes.

But there are many things that are more important than bowling and bowling will have to be put on the back burner, or even stored in the back of the pantry for years. There are a few bowlers on this site that stepped away at one point or another because they had kids, others for college and any number of other reasons.

I struggled through the last half of the season, partly due to my mechanics and mostly because I wasn't mentally there due to things in my life off the lanes, and that added to the frustration I was having on the lanes. It became a chore to just go to the center for league, especially being committed to two leagues of my own and then agreeing to be a full time sub for a third. I've actually went to bowl maybe 4 times since the season ended a week before Memorial Day, and I pretty much forced myself to do so. I'm too competitive to just bowl for fun.

If there are things going on outside of bowling that weighs on the mind, then the mental game isn't going to be any good. If someone is stressed out its hard to have fun, especially when struggling. And at that point a person isn't enjoying the sport. At some point a person just has to know when to just cut their losses and step away, this goes for bowling as well as other things in life.

info, Dont step away.Just take it easy on yourself.If life isn't going the way you want then everything seems to be against you.Even the game you love.When your mind is occupied with things other than bowling ( even when u think u put them aside for night ) it will affect your bowling.You are just not yourself rolling the ball.Mechanics are there but not being let out fully by the brain.See it as an emergency brake on the train.Somebody or something pushed it and the train goes to a halt.Perfectly normal what is happening to you.
We all know the feeling of seemingly perfect bowling one night.Returning to the alley the next day to kill some more pins but it's just not there.Who would not get a bit frustrated ..."heck it was there last night"
It happened a few times when i was hot and a day later i was shooting 40 pins a game less.
To cut this short.....enjoy the game even when you are in a slumb.It's still there and it will return.REALLY!!!

grz from the netherlands

I never said I was going to stop bowling, but that there are plenty of reasons why people would and a few of them are going through my head currently. I stepped away from the game before, and the only reason I would do so now is money. If I can't afford to bowl, or even drive to the center to bowl, then I won't be bowling. Also its useless to try to bowl if someone doesn't have the drive and hunger to want to bowl regardless of how well one is bowling/scoring. Also as I stated before, bowling can't be enjoyed when you have to worry about other things that are of a higher priority, and then bowling bad adds to the stress. If I had serious thoughts of quitting I would not have spent a good bit of money have my ball fit re-evaluated and re-done to improve.

As for my mechanics, they aren't there, and without some serious one on one coaching will be hard to get there. They might have never been there to begin with. Right now coaching isn't a financially viable option, even going to the lanes to try to practice isn't a very financially viable option, even though that was the plan for this summer. No leagues, no competition, just getting my game in order.

Cal I will be at Bowl America Gaithersburg tomorrow morning (Sunday the 29th) if you would like my help I will be there around 9:30 or 10am depending on traffic.

Some of the comments about costs presented earlier and elsewhere make me wonder about some things: why do so many bowlers complain about line fees of $3 or $5 per game but cheerfully pay $50 or more for a round of golf? why do so many decry the cost of coaching yet see nothing wrong with paying a profssional golf coach high fees? why do we complain about the cost of a bowling ball for $200 but take pride in laying out hundreds of dollars for a single golf club? and why do so many moan and whine about tough lane conditions but glow with pride when they play a really difficult course even if they don't even approach a par score? It is somewhat similar to those folks who weep when paying $4 for a gallon of gas, which is a necessity, but don't even consider the cost of bottled water at $8+ a gallon, which is pure indulgence.
Okotte

Well I don't golf so that's a non-issue, but I have seen the comparison many times over the last few years when people complain about the cost of bowling including equipment, sanction dues, lineage fees and so on, yet the golfers will think nothing of the equipment, USGA dues and greens fees that are much more. I've never got the whole buying bottled water just to have it thing either. If I buy it its because I can't get drinkable water any other way, and I usually prefer Gatorade anyway.

okorimbo. why are you being sensible, when people just want to complain?

I can comfortably bowl 5 games in an hour. At $5 per game, that's $25 per hour, which is the going rate. A round of golf at $50, takes 4 hours. Fours of bowling is $100.

I will admit, the cost of a bowling coach is far less than a golf coach by about half.

Equipment cost, well, I carry close to $1000 of equipment to the lanes. Four balls, shoes, 4-ball roller and other stuff. That is about the same that is in my golf bag.

But, you have a good point, and I will never understand paying for a bottle of water which is free at any fountain. Filtered or natural, or spring fed, makes no difference.

I even heard that some places make you prepay for gas. As if you are going to drive off and steel it. What is this world coming to?

To most of us its odd to hear about a station that lets you gas up before paying and people still find a way to steal it, especially now. Even in the more rural areas in Maryland you have to prepay, there is no trust in the world anymore and for good reason.

Jim, somehow I missed this until now. Thanks for the offer, I would have liked to been able to, but it would have been hard to do this week, especially with the time I'm reading this. Maybe sometime in the near future.

Right now the thing is to just drill a hole into the gas tank and let it run out into a container. They don't even bother with trying to get through the gas cap or syphoning. Many stations are now closed in our area. The news said that many stations cannot afford the gas themselves to refill their own tanks. Others are eliminating debit and credit cards because of the percentages and fees attached to taking those as a retailer. We already pay $.10 more a gallon (at most stations) to use a debit or credit card. Guess that's not enough for them. I use a Debit card for gas. I'd have to carry around $100 just to fill my tank.

It all comes back to the economy. People in general are pretty depressed about it and it makes getting excited over things like bowling harder, especially if you are doing well.

Erin

Paid $4.06 for regular yesterday in the Western Suburbs of Chgo. Was in Chgo last night where I found the price to be $4.45 from the same retailer.

It's the EPA emission cost added in the Metropolitan area, plus the higher taxes in the City. Get rid of both and the price is cut in half.

Credit will kill this Country. Now, you can't buy auto insurance without a credit check, and it's a law to have it. You can't get a job, even at Home Depot, without a credit check. Somehow, we have our priorities out of order. We sign up for privacy rights every time we sign up on an internet connection for pleasure, then give them away when we want to work. It's no one's business what my credit standing is but myown.

My Insurance man told me of a story that a retired widow, conservatively worth well over a few Mill, was turned down for Auto Insurance because she owed no one anything and had NO DEBT, and never applied for credit under her name. And, she had retirement income over 6 figures. She went elsewhere for insurance on her Mercedes. This is absurd.

Where is the ACLU when we have real rights fights on our hands?

Around here its usually only a $.05 difference from credit to cash, of course we are still paying at least $.50 a gallon less than in California. Most of the stations still accept credit, at least the ones I normally use. At the stations that give a "discount" for using cash I might save $2 over the 34 gallons that constitutes a full fill up, so its only one game I would have to cut back on using league discounts.



I think this right here sums up my situation. Over the last 3 or 4 months work as been sporadic and the important things had to take priority.

there were a couple of times when i found myself questioning why exactly i was continuing to bowl. the junior league i was previously on had "graduated" all of its top average members, and suddenly i felt like there was no one there to spur me to do better (i was about 20 pins above everyone who was left in average the year before), and consequently my average suffered a bit (only down from 194 to 185, but at 17 that was a considerable drop. also, i fought from a 160 average at the beginning of the season to get to that 185) i found a different junior league last year, and found an old tournament buddy with whom i always competed in local tournaments and saw my average jump to 203, while his also jumped to 201 from 190. i suppose the point of this whole vignette is that sometimes all you need is someone to push you to be better.

I don't know what I can add, other than words of encouragement and my own "slump" story. Last season I started off on fire, rolling 683 and 692 out of the gate. Then the slump hit. Out of 21 series (2 weekly leagues plus a few sets subbing) I had 4 600's, the rest 500's. Then I hit another prolonged slump, going nearly a month without a 600. Then, a former teammate of mine who is also a coach saw me one day and told me my armswing was all off. I was holding the ball in front of me and pushing out to the side instead of holding the ball to the side and pushing straight out. As soon as I shifted it was like a light went on and I began crushing the pins. My final 19 series of the year, I averaged 206. Now I'm averaging 180 (ok, 179.61 but who's counting?) in my PBAX league.

Dan, I must have missed your intro, welcome to the site. I see you are a fellow Northern VA resident like myself, where do you bowl at?

Jim, I've been here over a year. Actually we have met before, as I took an excellent footwork lesson off you last year up in Gaithersburg. I'd have been back for more but my schedule and budget both were a bit fouled up for awhile.

Right now I bowl at Dranesville, but I'm moving to Woodbridge in a month and will start bowling leagues down there.

I thought that was you, I never heard back from you, and I have been in and out of the hospital since then.

Where do you bowl PBAX at?

Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital. Nothing serious I hope.

I'm doing PBAX at Dranesville. Unfortunately it's not sanctioned as such, but we're using the oil patterns as well as a couple sport shot patterns coming up in a few weeks.

I have been out of bowling since last November. I tore my quad from both of my kneecaps practicing at Gaithersburg one Sunday morning. That's what I get for not checking the approaches when they have cosmic the night before.

Let me know if they are going to run it during the fall, I am interested in bowling in PBAX leagues as much as possible.

OWWWWWWWW!! I take it your legs are heal(ing/ed)?

Once in December I went down hard after sticking and wrenched my knee. Wasn't bad enough to stop me from bowling but I was wearing a knee brace from then until the end of the season. Lucky, too, because in late April I went down again, this time someone's child spilled a drink and nobody said anything and of course I got it on the bottom of my shoe. That one I thought I'd done some real damage, and went to the hospital. But no damage and it feels great now. I think the knee brace saved me there.

I don't know about a fall PBAX league at Dranesville. They tried last year and had 8 people show up. I think it was a combination of having it on Sunday morning and that so many people were burned out after the summer PBAX. Spring PBAX ended up with 8 3-person teams and summer has 28 3-person teams. Who knows what this fall will bring. I'll check it out and email you with details.

Like I said, I'm moving to Woodbridge so will be looking for a PBAX league down there. I'm interested in doing it in the fall as well.

I am getting better, I am still not working and am going to therapy 3 times a week.

If there isn't a pbax league in woodbridge, your average will jump about 10 pins, that house is one of the highest scoring houses around.

Did you see the most recent NCAUSBCBA magazine with all the honor scores listed. Woodbridge had both the highest series and most honor scores of all the houses in the area. Part of me is looking forward to it, but on the other hand I like challenges and if it's too easy it'll be boring.

No I haven't seen this years magazine, I was basing it on the last 7 or so years' stats in that same magazine.

Either way enjoy it and have fun. Much of the high scores and averages are attributed to many of the higher average bowlers in our area sitting in 2 or more hours of traffic to bowl there, so the numbers are skewed a little. You would think they would sit in traffic to bowl in a PBAX league, but apparently it is better to burn gas to bowl on the easiest shot in town. I have seen more than a few of their addresses change over the years so they don't have to drive down there.

Gaithersburg has many of the same bowlers, but the house average is 10 pins less. So to combat this Gaithersburg has bought a new lane oiling machine to make the shot easier and their averages are all up at least 5 over last year. I am looking forward to picking up a copy of the local Bowl magazine to check and see if they improved or not, they may not because the machine was broken for most of the year, but just wait until next year. I will probably average 220 on two bad legs and a one step delivery

Wow! I can't believe anyone, with today's gas prices among other things, would drive 1-2 hours to bowl on easier conditions. Just unreal.

One thing I heard last night is that the manager of AMF Dale City lanes is really good. Since I'm probably equidistant from the two I'm going to check into those lanes as well. What I'd really like to do is find one regular PBAX league and then sub in other leagues on a regular basis. But if I can't find a PBAX league then I'll go into a competitive mens league.

BTW, I posted my games from last night at bowlSK. I'm listed as double.wood.dan, I think.

BTW, I posted my games from last night at bowlSK. I'm listed as double.wood.dan, I think.

Saw that, Nice set on a Chameleon.

I have recently started coaching someone from Dale city, we have also had lessons at Capital plaza. The same bowler at Capital plaza can't hit the head pin hardly without going straight at it, where he is throwing everything in the pocket even his plastic ball at Dale City.

So not good then, huh? I'm gonna give the lanes a try this weekend, and Woodbridge as well. Any other houses down that way to be aware of? I think there's one near or on Ft. Belvoir, and one in Stafford, but those would be a bit of a haul for me, especially during the week after a long commute.