Bowling. Oh how I love it.
By gingertastic_10 29 Comments
I'm guessing by now most of you know (or atleast the ones that read what I post) I like bowling. It's my passion. I grew up around it. My dad has worked at our local bowling center for about 30 years now. He is extremely well know in the community because of that. Ever since I can remember, I have been in that place bowling. Now I work there. I started about two years ago. In this blog I want to express my love for this sport, explain how it is played, and hell maybe get some of you to get into the sport.
I started bowling when I was 8. I didn't take it serious until four years ago. Obviously my dad bowls. He's my coach. It also pays off that he is one of the best bowlers in the city so that always helps. He has taught me everything he knows. I also have another coach, my high school coach. I've never had someone trust me as much as him with bowling. One of my happiest moments while bowling was last season and he took me out of a match to try a different lineup. We got killed that game, and my coach came up to me and said, "I'm never taking you out again". That made me really happy.
Now I want to clear up some stereotypes the sport has. I'm sorry but most of what you think bowling is, is not true at all. We don't wear clown shoes, we don't wear button up shirts etc. I two pairs of $230 bowling shoes, they are very nice, not clown looking at all. The sport is also not easy. Well for me it is rather easy, but even I struggle. I average around 190. I spend three to four days a week practicing. I bowl anywhere from 4-10 games when practicing. With doing that, my average has jumped 30 pins in four years. The reason I say the sport is hard is because you don't see your biggest obsticale, the oil. With other sports you know how to adjust, you can see what the obsticale is. You can't see oil on the lane. You don't know if the oil is heavy down lane or in the front part of the lane. When bowling you also have to take into account if anyone has bowled on your par of lanes on that day. Lanes go through transition. Which is the breaking down of a lane. Oil will be carried up from the front part of the lane to the back. Which makes your ball hook early up front, or have trouble on the back part of the lane. Theres two ways to combat your ball hooking early, you can either pick up your speed and keep the same line or move your feet a couple of boards and keep the same line. If your ball isn't hooking due to transition you will want to put more hand in your ball to put more revs on it and slow it down a touch. Or switch to a more aggressive bowling ball. I like to own a ball for every type of condition.
So thats the challenge of oil breaking down. Now there is another challenge. Every place you go, the lane conditions are going to be different. I have not been to a bowling center where they played the same as another. There are different types of lanes. You'll see wood or synthetic lanes. Synthetic is kind of taking over wood now a days. The difference between the two is:
- Wood surface: Since it's wood and there is nothing covering over it, you'll get a lot more friction off the lane. So when you are on this kind of lane you want to use a less aggressive bowling ball, or you can use a aggressive ball but pick up your speed and use less hand.
- Synthetic surface: On synthetic lanes there is a chemical over it to protect it from the ball hitting the lane. That causes less friction between the ball and the lane. So you'll want to use a aggressive bowling on these lanes.
You'll have to adjust your game depending on what kind of surface the house has.
The difference in bowling balls. Since bowling started the ball has changed a great deal. It started as rubber, then to urathane and now to reactive resin. The difference in the three are easy to explain. Basicly rubber and urathane are the same, they don't hook as much as reactive resin. Reactive resin was put into the sport about 20 years ago. Its a chemical that allows a ball to hook more. When you have a low end ball, or a cheap ball, it usually just has less chemical in it.
Those are basicly the things I wanted to say about the sport. It's not easy. It's probably the most mental sport you can play There are more things I could get into, like when to use a 3 step approach when to use a 4 step approach and so on. But that will take up to much of your time and i'm sure your probably bored.
One last thing, I'll give some info on myself with my bowling. I like to throw Storm equipment, they are great stuff. Storm puts a scent on their bowling balls. It's odd but I love it. Here are my equipment:
Bowling Balls:
- Storm- Virtual Gravity...$250
- Storm- Hy- Road...$180
- Storm- Diablo...$180
- Storm- Attitude Shift...$250
Shoes:
- Dexter- SST 8 B1899-1 (weird name i know)...$230
I have more stuff, but I don't want to post all of them. To give you an idea of what I have, all my equipment equals $2000. I'm also the best bowler in my school. Last two years I have finished in the Top 10 in our conference tournaments. I got 4th last year and got a medal. But seriously, I love this sport, I wish more people would do it. I understand that most of you probably think this is a dumb blog, and I understand that. Please don't post negative things on here. If you want to discuss then do, I encourage it. Also if there are any bowlers out there, speak up. I'd love to hear from you.
Oh and heres a video of my bowling. My friend Jason is shooting it.
Thanks for reading
-trevor