When I first started bowling I was a stroker with a full roller release. Lately my coach and I have been working on an under/over or whatever it's called when the back of my hand starts parallel and by the time I release its perpendicular to the ground.

This has given my ball a little more skid and seems to work better on high oil conditions. Now, for my own curiosity's sake, I just wonder how these crankers get such revs on the ball. Can someone explain how this happens to me?

By keeping their fingers inside the ball until the release point.

http://www.bowlingknowledge.info/images/stories/slowinskiapr08.pdf

Practice, practice and knowing how to properly execute the strong release with a strong hand position that Cgeorg described.

Revs are created by the fingers' movement around the surface of the ball in the moment between the thumb's release and the point where the fingers exit the ball. Generally speaking, crankers try to speed up their fingers by establishing a finger position at the release that's as distant as possible from the spot where their fingers exit the ball.

Semirollers have two sources of rotation--a vertical component caused by the hand's changing position as the arm pivots around the shoulder, and a horizontal component caused by turning the wrist--so a cranker has two ways to establish stronger position. The first is sometimes called "getting under the ball"; it's the hand that stays under the ball, not the fingers, and it stays there because the wrist is c0cked or cupped (in extreme cases, the arm is bent at the elbow) during the armswing.

The horizontal component is what's being talked about in Slowinski's article; you'll notice he uses clock positions to describe wrist movement, so when you say "parallel" to "perpendicular" he would say six o'clock to three o'clock (if you're right-handed). Obviously, the further from three o'clock your release is, the more revs you can expect...my guess is that it's difficult to hold a position inside of seven o'clock all the way through the release, but maybe it hasn't been tried enough yet.

Anyway, that's how the crankers do it nowadays...once upon a time, some crankers would accelerate through the release into extreme follow-throughs, but that's discouraged today for a number of reasons. 'Tweener' Barnes c0cks his wrist a bit and goes from six to three, Belmonte goes with a fully cupped wrist, bent elbow, and goes seven to three, and most crankers fall somewhere along that continuum.

Hi Untutored,


hm, I thought Chris Barnes was one of power stroker or cranker... How could you consider him as a tweener?

While, Jason Belmonte is a two hands bowler... not sure if he apply a cupped wrist...

That's all I know so far...

Eddy

Barnes puts a little more effort into his release than a power stroker. Look at PDW as the essence of the power stroker - tons of power, high rev rate, but does nothing at the bottom of the swing - it's pure technique. Chris Barnes, if you watch his release close up, does some unhinging/rehinging of his wrist at the bottom of the swing. His rev rate is also higher than PDWs, in the mid-upper 400s, although he can change that at will.

The most important thing to realize is that revs today are not achieved by hitting up on the ball. They are achieved through strong hand positions and fluid technique.

Creating a higher rev rate reminders

Set the fingers in a strong position in the
stance. Specifically, the RH bowler should have the
fingers approximately in the 7 (ring) & 8 (middle)
o’clock position while the LH in the 4 (middle) & 5
(ring) position. Be sure to support the wrist by placing
the balance arm hand under the bowling ball or
under the wrist.

Consciously keep the ring finger in this
position through the pushaway and into the swing.

Be patient. Don’t do anything with the ball until
your ball-side hand reaches the intersection of the
slide shoe heel. At this point, you should accelerate.

Be sure you are fitted by an IBPSIA certified
Pro Shop technician and your fit is current

I always think of a power stroker as a stroker with talent--he has the same technique as a stroker, but gets more revs because he's quicker and has better timing. I called Barnes a tweener because he has (slightly) different technique.

Most of the time, though, people seem to use power stroker and tweener interchangeably to describe mid-revs players.