Bowling with Leverage
by David A. Leverage
David A. Leverage is a Former exempt PBA Player, Silver level certified coach,
an ASU Bowling Alumni member, A 6 time PBA titleist, has (40) 300 games
and owns 2 Phoenix area Pro Shops.
Well for starters I need to congratulate some of my students and staffers who somehow manage to make me look good!
- Megan LaPrell 11 years old and won her first ever JBT title after just 2 lessons
- Brock Hargrove (162 ave) Brock bowled a 595, and 612 series in the Mesa Youth City Tournament...225 pins over his average
- Roberta Hayes. (120 average) shot a 604 series which was 244 pins OVER her average. AMAZING bowling!
And to the BWL staffers for their accomplishments
- John Evans 805 series
- Jim Schwictenberg 300 game
The Power of your mind and your mental game
Have you ever wondered why you see the likes of Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams, and Chris Barnes on the PBA telecasts so often? Most think it is because they all throw the bowling ball so well. Sure there is some truth to that, but the reality of the PBA Tour is that all of the Exempt PBA Players roll the ball exceptionally well. The major reason you see alot of the same faces on ESPN each and every week is because of the power and the strength of their mental games. There is no substitute for being on the PBA Tour for multiple years and in the case of these 3 players we're talking about 10 plus and 20 plus years of bowling week in and week out. The wealth of knowledge and experience they have gained is immeasureable and also extremely valuable. The major difference bewteen a average PBA Player on tour and the top 5 or 10 players on Tour is the Mental game. Somebody like Walter Ray or Chris Barnes may take one or two shots to adjust to conditions when they are struggling to strike or even get to the pocket on a consistent basis. Other players may take 5, 6, 7 frames or even an entire game to finally figure out the shot or what ball is going to give them the best chance to strike. Not only this, once you do figure it all out it is time once again to move pairs and start it all over again! In addition to these attributes of course, these top players also possess a lot of confidence in their abilities which is also an important piece of the mental game.
So the question here is.....How strong is your mental game? Most likely not as strong as Walter Ray Williams...Neither is mine. Thats one of the reasons my tenure on the Exempt PBA Tour was shorter than I would have hoped. The point here is to figure out what part of your mental game can be improved? Is it pre shot routine? Is it it making sure you focus on that one thing you need to do physically to make a good shot. Like follow through, bending your knee. posting your shot, slowing down your feet, believing in yourself, vizualization, hitting your target, rolling the ball etc. I list these not so you are thinking about all of them but so that maybe there is one that you can key on. In all of my hundreds of lessons I give each year I rarely like to have my students focusing on more than one or two things at a time. This tends to make a bowler too "robotic" in their approach and too mechanical. So pick out that one thing that makes you "tick" and start working on your mental game!
Nationals is right around the corner
Don't forget to get ready for Nationals! It'll be here before you know it... AMF Mc Ray Lanes will be puting out the Nationals Pattern each Friday during the months of March, April and May so don't miss out on a great opportunity for you and your team to practice on the shot.
Bowling in the 80's vs Bowling today
As I've stated many times before, bowling has changed dramatically over the past 20 plus years. One big difference is how we shoot our spares, In the 80's the oil patterns were much shorter than they are today so if you left a 2 pin for instance, all you needed to do is move your feet 3 boards to the right and hit your strike target and more often than not you would convert the spare. But in todays game this doesn't always work because in most cases the house shot is 50% longer or more. so eventhough we have stronger bowling balls we need to move our feet 5 boards to make a 2 pin on a consistent basis. If you haven't already, make sure you go to www.bowlingwithleverage.com and check out our bowling articles including "the importance of a spare system".
If you are a struggling bowler, please don't hesitate to call or text for an appointment. I am doing more lessons than ever before and truly love teaching people how to bowl. You'll be surprised how much you can learn in just a one hour session.
Thank you to all of the people who have been emailing in real questions and ideas for upcoming articles. We always appreciate any and all input as we are always aspiring to help and educate bowlers so they can knock down more pins. As always you may email me at: daveleverage@yahoo.com.
"TEXT the Coach" As a new feature if you are having a problem and need a quick answer to that problem, send me a text message during your next practice session, league session, or tournament and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner. Text to 6025505788.