Youth Coaching

[DugBark]

Great idea on the new forum. I will do my best to participate.

The first thing I try to teach ALL upcoming bowlers is the finish position. I'm a foul line backwards coach and believe if you get it right at the finish, it's much easier to teach the approach.

Dug

[2 Oh]

I like the idea of the new forum as well

The place that I usually start with bowlers is with the armswing. And, this is almost always not actually on the lanes. I often use the drill where the bowler is on one knee (ball side knee down), to get the feel of grip, armswing, and rolling the ball. (The most notable exception is very young bowlers). I am sure that bowlers get tired of me harping on armswing, but this is probably the area that I focus on the most.

From here I move to the lane at the foul line, starting with the finish position. I teach from the foul line backwards as well, for the same reason.

[2 Oh]

Dug (or anyone else),

I have some questions related to the topic of order of teaching. If you are essentially starting from ground zero with a new student, in what order do you introduce the fundamentals? (After the finish position Does this change if the bowlers is younger (and/or have less strength or coordination)? Finally, what do you do with the "help" you get from others?

Let me give some background as to why I asking these questions. Often when working with a new youth student their game requires a fairly major overahaul. As I stated earlier, I usually start with armswing and finish position, and work from the foul line backwards on the approach. I normally have the student use a very average (basic hook) release during the initial effort, while working on the rest of the approach; concentrating on armswing, timing, balance, and consistency. Leaving the release until most of the other pieces are in place. (With younger bowlers I usually do not go beyond the basic release) However, I often get some "help" from others (especially parents), trying to teach the student how to get a stronger release. This usually has a drastic detrimental effect on a relaxed armswing. IMO, one of the best guides to teaching a completed games was the series of Bill Hall articles in BTM in 2001. In this series Bill covered the release position (and fundamental of the release) second, immediately after the foul line position.

I would be interest in how others approach these situations, and any reference material they might use.

[Magic Carpet]

2 Oh
As to the order of teaching I think you have the right basic idea and I think you should stick with that plan. If you have a bowler that doesn’t seem to fit well into your order of things just take a step back and look at the big picture; figure out what the bowler is doing that is throwing a monkey wrench into the works and fix that. Over all trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.

As for “help from the bench” that can be a real problem, depending on who the bench coach is, their relationship to the bowler and your relationship to the bowler.

When I say “your relationship to the bowler” I mean are you acting in some kind of “official” capacity or are you just trying to help out as well.

If the bench coach is a parent you will need to sit down with them and tell them your plan for the student and allow them to be a part of it. If I am working with a bowler that will be getting input from someone else later (parent or spouse for example) I try to get them involved in a limited way. They are going to be involved with your student whether you like it or not so you may as well try to make that involvement as beneficial as possible.

If the bench coach is just one of your students friends or another adult, you can try explaining to them a quick outline of your plan and always stat the conversation with, ”you know you are right but”… if you can get them to quickly agree that is great, if not then the best thing you can do is have a talk with your student.

I often tell students “here is what we are working on and why”; and always follow up with “now you do other things that need to be changed as well, and there is a good chance that other people will bring those things up; just tell them you know of the problem and want to get a couple of other things right before you tackle anything else.”

If your student has a real interest in leaning always make sure you go over your outline with them before you start. Explain that if you fix things in order that sometimes the other problems will simply go away on their own because they were caused by something else. That way they will understand why they are just standing at the foul line throwing the ball and the other bowlers are making full approaches and getting strikes.

Keep up the great coaching!
Ron Clifton

[JimboC]

Hello to all... I just joined this forum today and am excited to see this topic alive and well.

Several things that I include w/ all new students is a list of rules that both students and parents must agree to follow. Those rules are:
-Rule 1: Have Fun!!
-Rule 7: Repeat rule 1

I also include the parents in all of my lessons. My logic is that they will see the student much more than I will and it also ensures that the message gets through. Additionally, it involves the parents and adds another sense of value to the lesson. Lastly, all students get a copy of thier lesson on disc using the BowlersMap software.

Looking fwd to hearing from all of you.