How Can I Stop Bowling Scared?

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 6/4/2015; Updated: 5/22/2022

If you ask how can I stop bowling scared, you likely mean during pressures of competition.

There are a few tips which can help.

If you are bowling scared, you are likely nervous, suffer from some anxiety competing against other bowlers, or just tense up inside before delivering your bowling ball.

Here is some news: you are not alone...everyone gets nervous and makes poor shots under the pressure of competition.

The trick is to accept this and approach the challenges in two ways - with focus on an aggressive arm swing and by choosing to accept the fact that nerves are part of the game and learning to think, instead of failure, of making one good shot at a time.

Regarding your swing, work on making a free and swift backswing once you begin your swing. Do so by reducing as much muscle tension in your arm as you comfortably can without losing grip on your bowling ball.

Although you do not want to rush your forward swing, it is vital to make a full forward swing without decelerating the swing movement.

Make a full and aggressive follow through motion accelerating your swing gradually until its completion.

Bowling is a game like many other sports in that one must attack the pins, not your opponent. It is not important what your opponent does, it is only important how you perform.

With this concept in mind, develop an aggressive swing.



A good coach can help you with any questions you have related to aligning yourself to hit the pocket and how to make sensible adjustments as lane conditions change.

Most bowlers only think of coaches as people who help alter your physical game technique. Not true - coaches can do much more. You can also gain insight from an experienced instructor on competitive strategies and on the mental game as well as alignment and adjustment strategies.

You will soon learn once you develop a philosophy in competition to attack the pins that nerves will not actually affect your shot, you then can place focus on hitting your sighting target and making an aggressive swing.

The trick to stop bowling scared is to accept your nerves as part of the game and adopt the attitude that you will put maximum focus and effort into making one good shot at a time.