Is It Time to Call It Quits?

Every now and then you will see a bowler slam his/her bag down and declare, “I’m through with this!” Toward the middle or end of bowling season, you see players threaten to quit and never come back. Fortunately, most of these declarations pass with the speed of a player’s frustrations and disappointments. Yet, sometimes the feelings of wanting to quit persist.

Have you ever wondered if you should still be in the game? Do you ever think the unpopular thought that maybe your time has come and gone? Perhaps quitting has occurred to you. This experience can be an awful part of your sporting life. And it is a common one.

It seems that anyone who has played and trained in the game of bowling for any length of time has thought about leaving the game. The reasons are varied. Some, even at the professional level, wonder if they are good enough to play. Others feel and fear that they are not getting better. Nagging injuries can finally nag too much. Burn-out can sneak up on anyone.

This month we are going to look at an underbelly of the game of bowling, the desire to run…to quit. More importantly, we are going to examine strategies for moving through these unpleasant weather patterns. Sunnier skies almost always await, but it never feels like it when you are in a bad rut. There is always a way through. Let’s look at the way.

Why quit?

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”
—Mother Teresa

There are typically only a handful of reasons that players want to quit the game. Topping the list are 1) pain—physical and emotional, 2) change of life, e.g. marriage, having a child, financial stress, and finally 3) boredom. Let’s look at each.

#1) When your body hurts, it speaks to you

However, what you think it is saying may or may not be off the mark. Pain is a signal that something is ...