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THE GROWTH OF AWARENESS
When I'm working with clients I will often have them do things wrong
on purpose. Why in the world would I have them do that? It's hard
enough to do it right. Well, that's exactly why. When making a change
in your game, you often don't know how that change is supposed to
feel. Sometimes, in fact quite often, the only way to know how it's
supposed to feel is to learn how it shouldn't feel. This gives you
a growing awareness of what does feel right.
This growth of awareness is commensurate with your progress. When
you do something deliberately wrong, you bring the error to the
surface of consciousness which allows it to be dealt with. Once
you can feel it, it is much easier to recognize and repair quickly.
For instance, let's say that your pushoff needs to be a smooth and
continuous motion not going up or down but slightly out and into
the swing. After working on this for a few minutes, I suggest you
pushoff and then hesitate or hold the ball in front of you for a
split second. Then try pushing it up into the air and then out.
Next shove it downward. It will become apparent to you very quickly
what 'right' feels like.
The beginning of learning is awareness. Sometimes when you think
you're getting worse or not improving, it really is the growing
awareness of errors - a good thing and the true beginning of proficiency.
If your hand does this, that happens. If you push it like this,
that happens. Be aware. No judgments, just awareness. Develop a
feel for what actions produce what results.
Too often the game you're playing is centered around the game you
think you should be playing.
How do you think you'd bowl on television? You watch every bowling
show thinking 'she pulled that one' or 'if it were me, I'd move
two to the right and change balls.' The reality is we don't have
a clue how we'd behave on television because we haven't been there.
Sure, there are the dream-like stories of success about someone's
first time on television or the player who won the first tournament
they ever entered. It could happen to you but the likelihood is
that it will not. It is more likely that we would have to be there
a few times so that we had the opportunity to experience how it
feels. Then we can get back within our game and stay there instead
of being distracted by the overwhelming differences of bowling on
TV vs. bowling like we do it everyday.
This is a great role-play exercise by the way. While you're practicing
with a friend or friends, do a TV show! One of your friends should
stand right behind you and mutter and whisper as if they are doing
the commentary on your performance. Another friend could stand in
your field of vision and pretend to be the camera person, moving
at inappropriate times (it helps if you are on an end pair when
doing this!). Have people be very quiet or make noises at inappropriate
times. It would really be great if you could really have a camcorder
and lots of bright, hot lights…
OVER/UNDER REACTION - YOU, NOT THE BALL!
Try some of these mental images as you get to know your psychological
game. You have inside you an emotional tachometer. As long as the
needle stays in the green, you're calm and serene and can perform
effortlessly. If your reaction to any stimulus starts that needle
inching toward the red, you're in dangerous territory for a good
performance. You could use a thermometer for this mental image as
well if you'd like.
In psychological jargon, this is called arousal. An over-aroused
bowler will not perform well. Being over-aroused causes muscles
to tighten at an inappropriate time inhibiting a smooth flowing
approach and swing. How often on TV have you heard the announcer
say how easy it is to strike when it doesn't matter? Bowlers who
have already lost the match strike out. What they're really saying
is that a calm and relaxed shot is executed well and produces better
results. Duh!! If it invariably works, why wouldn't we do it all
the time?
Obviously, we'd like to. And it's not that we don't try. There are
a few reasons we can't just throw our best shot all the time. Sometimes
it's one of the reasons, sometimes combinations, and sometimes different
reasons on different shots. Our peak performance comes when we are
not expecting it. You know how it is. You had a bad day, the traffic
was terrible, and you can feel a cold coming on. You don't even
want to bowl but you feel a responsibility to your teammates, so
you go. You shoot the series of your life. Then there are those
nights when you feel great. You can hardly wait to get to the bowling
center and..... you can't break an egg. We cannot possibly predict
when we'll have a good outing. If we could, we'd be waiting in line
to pay the magician who could teach us to be in the zone on demand.
Another reason we don't always throw that smooth flowing shot is
our perception of the consequences of failure. Have you ever noticed
that when you're in a 10 pin slump and feel you couldn't convert
one if you were throwing a tree limb at it, you can always get the
6-10 when the 7 is standing with it? This is about consequences.
You know you're probably going to open so the pressure of converting
is off and you easily get that important two pins of count. If the
7 is not standing, you fear chopping the 6 off the 10 or the 10
off the 6. This is actually a pretty good mental mindset when you're
in a slump. Imagine any opposite side pin with those corner spares
and you'll probably convert every time!
Yet another reason for not being able to relax is that scattered
feeling we all have now and then. You just can't concentrate or
get focused no matter what you do. All your usual tricks for concentration
don't work and it's going to be a long night. I find it interesting
that this happens to most players only during league play. Tournaments
seem to be a different mindset and focusing is somehow easier. I
discuss this concept more in depth in the 'League Attitude' chapter.
SNORING DURING THE SHOT
Being under-aroused is no better than being over-aroused. An under-aroused
shot is one described earlier as being played indifferently. What
you have to constantly work toward is being physically aroused but
not tense and mentally relaxed but not indifferent - in the green
of your tachometer.
What works for Pete Weber in managing his thoughts and therefore
his performance is very different than what works for Norm Duke.
Pete's level of arousal would be disaster for Norm just as being
as calm as Duke would be catastrophic (more likely impossible) for
Pete. If you are a quietly intense and calm person, trying to act
like Pete Weber will take you out of your game and assure a scattered
and disoriented feeling as you bowl. If you are gregarious and outgoing,
allow your game to reflect that. Trying to be careful and stoic
will handcuff your natural feeling and flow and preoccupy you with
your demeanor instead of enhancing your performance.
SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS
You know that sometimes you will bowl well and sometimes you will
score well and sometimes you even do both at the same time! You
cannot control the scoring environment, however. You can only make
the best effort you can on every shot and take your chances.
Your pre-shot routine is one of the most important things you can
do to assure a good outing. It sets you up to succeed. It is a comfortable
and familiar pattern you use to calm yourself and prepare for the
next shot. Your pre-shot routine can help you stay at the proper
arousal level because you are focusing on the act of your comfortable
routine, not the outcome of your shot.
Do you feel that you are sometimes over-aroused in tournaments and
under-aroused in league? That's just experience (or lack of it).
Touring pros sometimes find themselves under-aroused with the grind
of traveling to tournament after tournament. They sometimes have
to make themselves get up for this week's tournament. Can you imagine
trying to get up for shot after shot for fifty or more games a week
plus intense practice and whether or not your family ate depended
on your ability to do so?
You have heard before that when you practice like you're competing,
you're more likely to compete like you're practicing. So perhaps
your league outing should be where you practice being a little more
aroused than you normally are. Set specific goals for yourself -
you will make every spare you can reasonably be expected to make,
you will get count on every split, you will hit the right side of
the head pin for all three games, you will be totally focused on
every shot you make.
If you find yourself over-aroused at tournaments, perhaps you need
to focus on that 'league feeling'. You are calm and will throw this
shot to the best of your ability and take your chances. Hale Irwin
once said that he no longer got nervous at the U. S. Open or the
Masters, but he did get more "interested". Perhaps you could change
your mindset to be more interested and not more nervous. This might
stimulate you just enough to keep you from becoming under-aroused
but not allow you to become over-aroused.
DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE
It might be fairly uncomfortable if we did! You're probably tired
of hearing about the importance of deep breaths to help you relax.
The reason you hear so much about them is because they work. Clichés
like 'breathe deep' and 'one shot at a time' are clichés for a reason!
Try this. When you take a deep breath (which should be in through
the nose and out through the mouth for maximum effect), feel like
you are inhaling a calming color and exhaling a color you find uncomfortable
or violent. For instance, in with the lavender, out with the red.
This will give you a mental image of bringing calm into your body
and expelling anger or tenseness. Choose your colors carefully;
they will make a big difference in the success of this effort.
This is known as a cleansing breath. Breathing provides the most
available and effective way to calm a sense of panic, slow down
your staccato thoughts, and get blood to the muscles so that they're
ready to help you do your best. Thinking of your breathing as 'cleansing'
is a technique that really works to clear your mind and ready your
body. Just like finding cues to help you repeat the shots you want,
you'll need to find cues to help you breathe. Breathing in a manner
that helps you relax is one of the things you'll need to be able
to do on demand so you can perform to your highest capabilities
every shot.
IT'S OKAY TO FAIL
Unless you are in the zone, bowling has a very small margin for
error. A certain amount of failure should be expected and tolerated.
If you don't get a coach and practice enough to appreciate the difficulties
inherent in the sport, you will be the victim of your ignorance,
not your ability.
You know that bowling reflects life. They can both be a little unjust
at times. How many times have you seen your opponents slop their
way to a victory over you? Brooklyns carry, they roll the bucket,
and nosedives crush the pins. Here you are, taking lessons and practicing
faithfully, trying to demonstrate patience as you learn, and somebody
with no clue of what this sport is about carries the first six hitting
the 1-2-3 pocket. Why do you bother to try and do it right when
slop and luck are all it takes?
Bad luck is just as much a part of the game as good luck. After
all, if you were carrying those hits, you'd think you deserved them
for all the times they didn't fall. If you allow yourself to get
angry at someone else's fortune or devastated by your misfortune,
you can't help but dwell on that anger or hurt. If you're thinking
about that, you become tense which equals tight muscles which equals
poorly executed shots - never a good idea.
Bowling is not an act-react sport. We have a lot of time to think,
which is always dangerous. It's nearly impossible to think and bowl
well. When you are shooting hoops, you don't think "How high should
I jump for this rebound and in what direction?" When you're playing
tennis you never think "I need to run to my left 16 feet, get the
racket head back at 90º, and volley this shot just over the net".
You just do it.
Not with bowling. We have to make decisions and then act on those
decisions. I believe in the D-C-E philosophy. You must decide with
your left brain what you are going to do, commit totally to doing
it, and then step up on the approach and execute the shot to which
you have committed with no doubt in your mind. If you doubt any
part of the process, step back, rethink it, and commit to a new
plan.
Let's say you leave a 2 pin to spare. You decide what you are going
to do, step up on the approach, get set, start your push, and think,
'What if there is more oil going across the middle than I've planned
for?" There's a 9 dash. You have no plan and therefore there is
nothing for your mind and body to commit to and you open. How many
times have you seen spares missed because of tentative shots? It
is much more embarrassing and hurtful to doubt your plan and go
through with it, making a bad shot, than to step back, rethink it,
and make a good shot. Will your teammates be grateful to you for
making a bad shot that they did not have to wait on or would they
be more appreciative of a good shot you took a little more time
with?
How we react emotionally to what has happened dictates how we will
handle the next opportunity we have. Bowling will always be affected
by luck and skill. Sometimes more luck than skill and sometimes
more skill than luck. The presence of either cannot be denied or
ignored.
SHUT UP AND BOWL
What a great philosophy! A bowler with this philosophy will perform
calmly and competently, unaffected by others play or any bad luck
they might have experienced. They enjoy their own good luck with
restraint, not getting over-aroused about an off hit that carries.
They also don't rush to stick their head in the toilet if a great
shot sticks a 9 pin.
The results of your best effort are unpredictable. Every split brings
you that much closer to your next strike. If you choose to think
that every strike brings you closer to your next split, you'll not
be a very good bowler and will certainly be a miserable one. You
won't be much fun to be around. If you're wondering who would want
to bowl with you, you'd be right. Who would?
It is commonly said that when you begin to learn a sport, it is
90% physical and 10% mental. The better you get, the more these
numbers begin to change places - it becomes 90% mental and 10% physical.
I believe thinking like that can be an error. When's the last time
you stood on the approach and thought the pins down? Bowling with
your mind is not effective. Your body knows how to bowl. It is your
mind which prevents it from doing so. Try bowling out of your mind.
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