Robot vs. Coach – Part 4

In my last article in this series, I pushed ChatGPT to help me prepare for the PBA Tour. While the information provided was mostly helpful, we focused mostly on more technical elements, which has proven to be a strength of AI in the realm of coaching. For this article, we’ll look to see if the technology has an understanding of the “softer” side of things as we dig into the mental game.

One of the first pieces of advice that it gave me was to improve my mental game, so let’s see how it does when I ask for more specifics on how to do that.

How can I improve my mental game for professional competition?

Great question. The mental game is what separates bowlers who make a cut from those who win titles.

With a line like this to get started, I was very intrigued by what my robot coach had to share with me. Here’s the list of advice/topics I got:

• Develop a rock-solid pre-shot routine
• Focus on process, not score
• Train your lane reading
• Emotional control
• Build mental endurance
• Visualization and self-talk
• Pressure simulation training
• Debrief every event

This is a pretty good list. These are all things I’ve talked about with my athletes and in various BTM articles. But was there any substance to go along with the flashy topic headers?

The good

A lot of what was covered in this answer is pretty solid, even if some of it was pretty basic information. The highlights, in particular, were the basics of the pre-shot routine, which mirrored what I’ve written before, the value of emotional control, and ideas for simulating pressure in training. Putting “stakes” to your practice, or bowling ...