The Youth Bowling Round Table: Important Team Play Attributes and Encouraging Critical Thinking

Welcome again to Bowling This Month’s Youth Bowling Round Table. In this recurring feature, we are taking aim at questions related to youth bowling. We talk about youth bowlers, skill development, getting ready for tournaments, and other topics of interest to young players, their parents, and coaches. We feature trusted Bowling This Month contributors from various backgrounds to lend their expertise and opinions on questions each month. If there’s a question you’d like to ask our panelists, please feel free to comment below and we will try to address it in upcoming segments.

This month’s topics explore important team play attributes and how to encourage critical thinking with respect to lane play decisions. Special thanks to this month’s panelists, Juha Maja, Andy Penny, Heather D’Errico, Josh Blanchard, Joe Hoenig, and Tyrel Rose. Let’s jump in.

What is the most important attribute to instill in a young bowler, so they can be a good teammate in high school, college, or in a national program? Why?

Juha Maja

Even though bowling is an individual sport, whenever playing in any team format, the bowler must understand that now they are not only responsible for themselves and their performance, but also to the entire team. It is good to have these talks with each bowler separately, but also as a team. To set the stage, bowlers need to be able to answer the following questions for themselves:

• What is a good team and how does a good team work?
• How can you personally improve the team spirit?
• What happens if one member of the team fails to score? Who is responsible for picking them up?

Josh Blanchard

The best attribute someone can have when competing on a team is being supportive. In a team atmosphere, it is essential to always be able to look back and never see fear or disappointment on a teammate’s face. When a bowler looks back after a shot, they need to know that you are ...