How To Improve Your Bowling Concentration

If you find your ability to keep you mind on your game during competition, then learning how to improve your bowling concentration will help you perform under pressure. Since there are many reasons why bowlers experience pressure to perform to a high standard and thereby suffer from an inability to remain focused on key elements of their game, it helps to understand what causes losses of or lapses in concentration and how to improve your bowling concentration.

Improving powers of concentration means to first identify key elements of your game and the challenges lane conditions present during competition. If you are scheduled to bowl three hours of competition, for example, then it is virtually impossible to keep your mind focused on your bowling and avoid any and all distractions for the entire time on the lanes. Therefore, it is important to minimize distractions such as running conversations with other players, watching TV monitors or watching others bowling nearby you while you are awaiting your turn between frames. Since we have only so much useful energy to dedicate to any athletic endeavor, it makes sense to conserve the energy for when it is needed and that is in preparation for and in the execution of your physical game bowling deliveries.

Avoiding too much interaction with others on your pair of lanes or nearby lanes is one way to channel your energies. Scoreboard watching is only useful when you are making a run at achieving a good enough score to advance in a tournament. Most coaches recommend to not scoreboard watch but rather pay attention to focusing on your next delivery and on the challenges the lane conditions present. Since the key to bowling well is to overcome most physical game and lane challenges during competition, then reducing the number of things you think about between frames and between games is very important and will direct your energies to the important tasks at hand.

Key on perhaps two or three critical components of your physical game and monitor these components while you step on the approach and walk to the foul line and throughout the entire delivery process. Maybe your keys are to keep your eyes focused on your target, to avoid rushing your footwork when walking to the foul line, or perhaps to keeping your bowling hand behind the ball until the critical "moment of release" occurs?

Perhaps you must key on maintaining or regulating your ball speed, on releasing your ball two feet past the foul line, or simply to keep good balance and avoid unnecessary head or shoulder movement until well after the ball has been released. Regardless of which physical game keys you choose to focus on during your preparations for and during the actual delivery process, keep the keys simple and focus on what it takes to make a good delivery. Cluttering your mind with too many physical game thoughts only will lead to the inability to repeat good deliveries. Think of making one good delivery at a time and then move on to what it will take to make one good delivery your next turn.

The concept of monitoring your physical game and letting yourself flow with the motion of your approach is a proven winning technique. It is possible to consciously think about only one or two key components to your physical game but still allow yourself the freedom to walk and swing the ball smoothly and without tension during the approach to the foul line. This process is a monitoring process and will conserve needed energy through the duration of your competitive session on the lanes.

Monitoring the challenges beyond the foul line between frames is another essential ingredient in bowling concentration. It is vital to any player seeking success in scoring to play the lanes correctly and to make sensible adjustments as needed.

Planning the next delivery is a process which reoccurs after each frame. Between frames it is important to think about where you will align yourself on the next delivery and where you will specifically sight on the lane as your target. Committing to a specific target on the lane and keeping that target in your focus throughout your approach and delivery is as important as monitoring your physical game keys.


Your brain is your computer. Your computer sends signals to your legs and bowling hand where to deliver the ball. If you input vague or non-committed information to the brain, expect vague and random results. You must, at all costs, focus on precisely where you want your ball to contact a target down the lane and use your eyes and your means to convey the information to your brain. Your brain in return will signal your physical body to deliver the ball exactly where you want the ball to go. Make an effort to understand this "human loop" of inputting information into your computer, your brain, and how the computer sends the signals to your body to react accordingly.

You must train your mind as well as your body during practice sessions to improve your personal powers of concentration. During practice sessions, call out the number of the board your ball rolls over near your down lane target. If you sight the ten board, for example, and your ball rolls over the nine board, vocalize aloud "nine board." If you roll the ball over the eleven board, then vocalize "eleven board."

Making yourself aware fully of where your ball has crossed in your target area will make you into a more accurate player. Vocalizing the board your ball crosses in the target area on the lane signals the brain where in relation to your chosen target your ball has crossed in that zone. You must command the brain with specific information to get the positive results you seek.

The entire process of targeting on the lane requires as much focus and concentration as does monitoring your physical game during your approach to the foul line. By developing the habit and pattern of spending as much time as possible during your competitive sessions in monitoring your lane play and your physical game keys will thereby reduce the amount of time you have to become distracted with outside and unneeded activities.

It is not possible to concentrate with full absorption of thought and commitment on each delivery in each frame of your competition unless you train yourself to do so during practice sessions. Practice with enthusiasm, with purpose, and with intent on focusing on your physical game and alignment techniques. Socialize before and after your sessions on the lanes. While in competition, think about what you have to do to strike. It can be that simple.

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