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