Practicing For An Upcoming Bowling Tournament
Written By: bowlingball.com | Written On: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 | Updated On: Tuesday, November 30, 2021
bowlingball.com Staff Writer, Wesley Low
Published: 11/24/2021
What's up everyone it's Wesley, and I'm here to show you the newest Motiv bowling ball….. sorry, sorry. I forgot that this is the blog, not the vlog. I miss vlogging. Let me know if you miss the vlogs too.
In the last article, I discussed how to travel with ease. In this one, we will be talking about preparing for your future bowling event. Preparation is the key to success in everything we do, and if we better prepare ourselves, the better the outcome we will have in our event. Here are some of my tips on how to better prepare yourself for your upcoming bowling tournament.
Start Training Early
- If you slacked off on practicing, it's time to start (don't worry, I've been guilty of this)
- Get an excellent focused practice. Stay off your phone.
- Bowl at least six games. Using different bowling balls, releases, or a different part of the lanes. Help yourself better your versatility.
- Think about the tournament format if you have a tournament where the format is ten games in one day, you'll need to build your endurance for the event, so you're not fatigued by the end.
Practice Spare Shooting
What's the old saying? "Strike for show spares for dough." Every time you miss a spare, it will cost you pins that you could be gaining on the field. I'm guilty of this too, don't worry. The feeling of missing a single-pin spare to miss a cut by five pins is the most humiliating feeling in the world. I don't think I got robbed by missing the single pin because it should have been a routine spare. So make sure to spend extra time practicing your spares instead of only throwing strikes balls and hitting that reset button.
Set A Goal
Yes, we want to win every event that we bowl. Sometimes that goal is unattainable. Goal setting will allow you to set up short-term wins for yourself. I find it key to set goals for the youth reading this article who have bowled Junior Gold. You want to do better than you did the previous year. Here are some short-term goals that you can start utilizing, but you can create your own too. This is just a guide.
- Practicing 3 – 10 games every day before a bowling tournament
- No missed makeable
- Better makeable spare shooting percentage
- Place higher in the tournament than you did previously
- Get a check/scholarship in the tournament
- Learning a new bowling release
- Reading articles by Wesley to improve your bowling game
Remember you have to practice these goals. They won't magically happen, and no one else can do this for you.
Find Out The Pattern
If the tournament has announced the lane pattern, find a copy of it and ask your local bowling center or local training facility like B3 Performance to put the lane pattern out for you to practice. They may charge you a few dollars to do this, but at least you will have a rough idea of what the pattern will be like before bowling the tournament. You'll be better prepared compared to your competitors. Remember, this is a rough guide, so don't expect the pattern to play the same at your tournament.
Some tournaments do not announce the pattern before the competition, such as Junior Gold or USBC Open Championships. It's best to find the pattern from previous years and practice that instead of giving you a rough idea of what to expect.
Spare Shooting
The last thing to do to prepare for your tournament is SPARE SHOOTING. I cannot emphasize this enough. Maybe I'm just bitter about my spare shooting, but go out and practice your spares.
I hope this article can be helpful and improve your bowling game. Until next time!!!
Wesley