Starting on the Right Foot

Welcome back, bowlers! Your “off-season” has come and gone, and by the time you read this, you have probably attended meetings and bowled at least a week or two of the new season. While it’s simple to put on your bowling shoes, dust off your ball, and get right back to bowling, you’re a Bowling This Month reader and you know there is a better way to resume bowling than to jump right in. So, what sort of mental and physical preparation can a bowler make to start the season—pardon the pun—on the right foot?

Setting some goals

What frame of mind are you bringing to your new season? Are you excited to be bowling again, or did you bowl so much during the summer that you are burned out and wish you would have taken a break? Did you end your prior season on a personal or team high note and want to defend your title or continue your personal or team success? Perhaps you had a rough overall or end to your last season and are determined to improve this season?

Expectations are no less important to consider when starting your new bowling season than they are in the middle of that season. Infeasible or unrealistic expectations can derail your new season before you even shoe-up and roll your first ball down the lanes!  I urge you to re-read my article, Managing your Expectations, and to make a simple spreadsheet grid to clarify your goals for the new season. It might look like this:

For example, your new season goal might be to roll more clean games. Your measure will be an increased number of clean games, but your method might be to convert 95 percent of your single pin spares by devoting extra practice time to working on your spare game and tracking your spare conversion percentage during league. Tracking your spare conversion rate might be as simple as a handwritten weekly ...