my name is steven manier and im 14 years old turning 15 in two days. i got first introduced to bowling when i was able to walk because my parents bowled alot. i bowl 3 leagues and average at least 200 in all of them. i win many tournaments and i find bowling fun but over the last year or so its become very frustrating... i realized that even though i have been bowling for so long and i average pretty high that i cant seem to bowl a 300 game. my high game is a 287 and ive had at least 20 279 games. when im bowling and i get about 6 or 7 in a row then i leave a pocket 10 or tug it and miss it makes me not even want to bowl anymore because it seems i just cant get to perfection. i plan on trying to get a scholarship to a decent school and maybe go pro some day. any suggestions on what i should do would be appreciaated

First, Steve, welcome to the board. Sounds like you're a pretty accomplished junior bowler and I hope that carries on into your adult bowling someday. Now, for your post...


I have one suggestion and one only - be patient. You're 15 years old and this game isn't easy. If you keep working at your game (especially your mental game), you'll find that the game will come easier. Believe me, you have a lot to learn. If it was easy we'd all have a basket full of honor scores before we got 5 years into the game. But to appreciate success, you also need to taste the agony of defeat.

I admire the fact that you're pursuing perfection, but don't let it consume you. When I was your age I was in the 190+ average range, had quite a few 270 games but my one and only 300 eluded me for many years until I was 29 years old. During those 14 years, though, I averaged in the 190+ range in 4 different states and bowled on some really tough conditions that made me a much better overall bowler

The moral is the more you press, the worse you'll do. Take what the lanes give you and don't try to do too much. If you shoot a 279 then that's what you shoot. Do it 3 times and it's an 837. But stay within yourself and don't be too consumed with "posting scores" because the more you worry about numbers, the harder you will find it is to achieve them. Just focus on the moment - that ball - and you'll find your scores will be even better.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

thanks brian. and i bowl JBT tournaments (junior bowlers tournament) so i have tasted the agony of defeat a few times haha. thanks for the advice and i bowl a league tonight so ill let you know how i do with the advice.

If you can shoot the scores, then you most likely have a good physical game. I'm sure you can improve in a few areas (we all can), but it might be worthwhile to begin working on your mental game a lot more, and I gave you a start. Use your leagues to work on your game so you'll bowl better in tournaments.

I can tell you from personal experience (because I used to press for a 300 and an 800 before I got both), and others on this board will tell you the same, but once you start changing your vision from "what I need to do to shoot such-and-such" to "what I need to do to carry this ball", you'll find better results around the corner. Don't look at the "big picture" too soon because there are a lot of steps that compose that big picture. If you miss any of those steps, then the picture doesn't shape up like you envisioned it.

Just focus on the ball that you need to shoot at that time, whether it's a first ball or second ball. Get pin count when you leave a split, especially if you're on a strike. If you miss a spare, it's ok to get upset at yourself but at the same time you need to realize that you're human and you'll make mistakes, so don't dwell on "what happened last frame", but instead focus on what you need to do to walk away from the next frame throwing only one ball (in other words, focus on what you need to do to strike) and only let that ball enter your head.

Like any sport, when you make a mistake, you have to have a "short memory" otherwise your mistakes will eat you alive. You can't change the past. You can't change the future, either. The only thing you can do is work within the present. Everything else will shape itself for you.

Hi Steven, welcome to the site.

If you could post a video of yourself bowling from the side and from behind I might be able to see if you can do something to improve your physical game.

First here are some check points that will help you improve:

1. Hold your balance until the ball hits the pins

2. Watch the ball all the way through the pins

3. Develop a feel for where on the lane you want the ball to hook (break point).

4. Watch the ball reaction and break point of other bowlers who are doing well and try to get your ball to hook back to the pocket from the same area. If you are a power player and the straighter players are doing well playing up the 5 board and hooking the ball to the pocket at 45ft from the 5 all you need to do is figure out where you need to stand and aim to get the ball to the 5 board at 45ft. If you are a straighter player and the power players are crossing the 20 board at the arrows and the ball is going out to the 5 board at 45ft then you just need to figure how to get your ball to react from the same point by choosing the right ball and standing on the right board, aim at the right board and use the right amount of side rotation and speed to get your ball to do the same. Don't just keep grinding in the same shot over and over and expect different results because it will not happen.

5. After doing #1 and #2 check your slide foot to see if it is on the same board every time and that you aren't drifting. Drifting = finishing in a different spot every shot, not finishing on a different board than you started.

6. Keep your release smooth, grabbing the ball at the release is never a good thing.

To work on your mental game you must first understand what the mental game is. The mental game is not just staying focused and concentrating and deep breathing, all of those things help, but they all go away as soon as you don't know what to do. Frustration leads to a downward spiral, the worse you do the more frustrated you become and the more frustrated you become, the worse you do.

You must figure out why you are leaving all of those 10 pins, or why your ball goes high on the head pin one shot, then washes out after you make adjustments for the ball going high.

All of these frustration points are questions and the lack of answers cause the frustration to grow. What specifically is causing your frustrations can be answered and then you develop your skills to deal with it so the next time it happens you will know the proper adjustment and it will not kill your entire outing.

Believe it or not there are bowlers that average over 200 and NEVER shoot 300 their entire lives. Its really not owed to you. When it happens it will just happen. If you talk to people that have shot 300 (and I'm sure you have) they will almost all tell you they never saw it coming. They didn't wake up that day and feel like they had to get to the lanes because their 300 was waiting. You have to stay in the moment and just keep doing the best that you can.

What are you going to do if you bowl 300? Are you going to be forever different, comb your hair different, brush your teeth different? How is doing so going to impact your future bowling career? What if you never shoot 300 are you going to quit bowling? If so when? How long are you going to give it? If I were in your shoes, at this stage of your life, I'd hope that a 300 waits until I am out of Jrs then you can get a ring instead of the Jr medal.

Like Brian said, if you press it will only inhibit you from higher scores. And don't be so hard on yourself. I know you've been bowling a long time, but you have years and years ahead of you. You think you have been bowling a long time, but my partner averaged over 200 for 18 years before he shot his first 300 at age 35. It'll happen you just need to turn your focus away from the score to the Execution of the shot. Heck, I've known people that have shoot 800 series before they've shot 300 game. What happens if that happens to you?

Erin

its not that i think its owed to me its just to get this weight off my shoulders because i dont know why but it frustrates me alot. thanks for all of that advice jim

its not that i think its owed to me its just to get this weight off my shoulders because i dont know why but it frustrates me alot. thanks for all of that advice jim

it will come in time, I've shot well over a hundred 279s, got frustated too. It WILL happen.

I'd forget the 300 and work on getting an 8, was much more satisfying

I'd agree with jsigone that achieving a 800 which I haven't done yet is much more satisfying than a 300. Yes...getting my first 300 was pretty sweet but I have yet to string 3 high games in a row for a 800 plus series. I don't know how satisfying getting a 300 is but I'm sure that its a lot better than a 300.

I fail to understand why this is so important to you.

I have shot 11 279s (and even 2 back to back with 17 strikes in a row) but I still have no 300 game to my name. It's no big deal. I've seen someone with a 160 average (largely under the influence of alcohol at the time) throw a 300 with only 4 balls in the pocket and he didn't even make a 600 series. The planets where lined up for him that night. I still congratulated him.

When I shot my 2x279s back to back I had an 806 series (I was flying high that night!). Great feeling, but it's done and in the past now.

The only thing that matters is today. Yesterday is just good memories.

Bowling is a frustrating sport. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. I shot my first 300 when I was 18 my freshman year of college, haven't had one since. Since then though, I have shot an 800. It will come. I didn't have a 700 series until I was 21. I had a ton of 690+ series, but never a 700. I finally had a 701 one night. A few weeks later, I shot 791. Don't press, it will come.

Now, if you are looking for a scholarship, bowl a lot of tourneys. Like Junior Golds. Also, are you on a HS team? You mentioned that you are bowling 3 leagues. Are they adult leagues?

Sounds like your physical game is good. Post a video like Jim suggested so maybe we can help tweak some small things. The main thing to get to the next level is the mental game. Being mentally tough is the one thing that keeps a lot of good bowlers from being great bowlers.

Frustrating???? and, you are how old???

Frustrating to me was returning after a 24 year layoff, and having trouble hitting a 190 average when it used to be 215.

And, the equipment changes and lane changes made it even more difficult to understand.

I got my first 300 in High school, and got a patch for my high school shirt. Had a few more, then it took 30 years for my last one. Just be patient. You're only 14, I waited for 30 years. You have a lot more to learn.

The only advice I can give you is to stop obsessing about a 300. I'd bet that your obsession to a 300 game and your reaction when you break off a string of strikes has a lot to do with you not getting one.

Attitude has a lot to do with performance. If you just go up there and bowl each frame one at a time, you're going to be much better off in the long run then if you fixate on a 300.

I agree, thinking about when it will finally come is the best way to not shoot a 300. I shot my first any only a year and half ago. I definitely wasn't thinking about it. I just rolled a 264 the game before, which with two more strikes in the tenth would have been a 279. I rarely rolled two games that high in the same night much less back to back so when I started stringing in the second game I was surprised. I didn't really think about it and tried to ignore others when they might have made comments alluding to the 300. I did have a teammate say keep it up, but it was more along the line of keep throwing the ball good. I did that night, and one or two washouts less late in the third game and I would have had my 800 that night. Unfortunately people would start bringing that up and it got me to start calculating would I needed and what I could do that game.

Or you could do one better and get an 800 with a 300. That would be somethin' else. talk about killing two birds with one stone.

i know what you mean, i have the exact same problem, or at least i like to think that i used to and it went away. But there are a lot more things to be frustrated about than not being able to shoot a 300, for example, being 35 pins under last season's average 4 weeks into the season, with only one 200 game to boot (which is where i am right now). I think everyone here will agree with me when i say that the game certainly has ups and downs, hills and valleys if you will, and when you're averaging in the 200s in each of your leagues, you're averaging better than at least 67% of all other league bowlers, which, as a junior, is nothing to laugh at. You have some serious skill, something that many lifers in the game would envy, and that's something to hold onto. Hopefully we'll be seeing you on television someday

heh thanks ryan. i also know rhino page pretty well and i was talking to him at a JBT doubles tournament (he was bowling with some 2 handed bowler) and he actually gave me the same advice as everybody else. dont worry about it and just keep your average up. hes a nice guy. he took a few of us out to dinner after a state tournament and we talked and he gave me some good advice (hope i dont seem like im bragging...)

nah its cool. i know what its like to have the 203 average, but that was last year and you're 5 years behind me in age. last year was a dream league season for me, i think i bowled under 550 about 3 out of the 28 weeks last year, but at the same time, i couldn't produce the same numbers in tournaments. so i suppose, in the grand scheme of things, last season could be considered almost a failure, especially considering that now my average seems to be dwindling again in the same house, and the fact that i didn't show up in any of the tournaments, and the league scores really don't mean much unless you can transfer those results into those tournaments.

usually i can do well in tournaments as well. and thanks for all your guys' advice