Feb. 29 league night recap

My Week 26 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

Given my average this year, this was a bad night within reason, but I’m used to averaging 180+. This night was my season in a microcosm, with bad shots at inopportune times. If I wasn’t turning early, I was missing with the fingers, and it was my lane play keeping it within reason.

Result: 166-147-159=472
Average (78 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 159
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 592

Brian pre-bowled, and two members of the other team were absent, so it was a mercifully quick night. The three bowlers present on the other team did well enough to take the second game by what turned out to be more than enough for total. Brian’s good third game proved instrumental in us saving our second point.

Feb. 28 practice

In today’s practice session, I mostly continued work on my release, and I threw a few more shots that I was happy with. Something I tried to add to my “bag of tricks” today was the technique of “circling the heads,” as written about by Bill Hall (a Silver coach who is working the Showcase Lanes at the USBC Open Championships in Baton Rouge) in an article about lane play in the current Bowling This Month. This technique means you move your feet in, but your eyes out in an attempt to take advantage of the outside friction. I got a couple of strikes and a couple of 10 pin leaves early in the third game trying this before fatigue from the pace of my bowling had me throwing poorer shots.

Feb. 27 league standings update

The good news for “Pinfall Wizards” in the latest standings is that we’re now all alone in second place in the second half standings. The bad news is that we’re still 5 points behind the leaders, “Dee’s Boys II.” “The Mustangs” are coming up on the schedule this week.

2012 Tri-City mixed doubles Day 1

I usually am not around for both squads of Tri-City’s mixed doubles tournament, with Saturday usually being the day I’m busy with something else, but I found myself doing nothing on Saturday this year, so I was present for the weekend’s first squad. The scores weren’t crazy, but some of the higher ones I saw were a 278 by Chris Carter (the Brockton Bowling Association’s reigning Bowler of the Year), a 269 by Will Cabral (I mentioned his wife Cindy in the previous post; he’s a regular at the People’s Tournaments), and a 259 by Sandi Litchfield (whom I always see on Wednesday nights except for the summer). We’ll see whether any of these scores figure into the prize list.

Storm DeVincent, Jon Van Hees cash in 69th US Open

The PBA reported that New England bowlers Storm DeVincent (Westford, MA; T23rd) and Jon Van Hees (Charlestown, RI; 35th) have cashed in the 69th US Open at the Brunswick Zone Carolier in N. Brunswick, NJ. DeVincent averaged better than 208 in his 18 games of qualifying, while Van Hees’ average was 206. The cashers’ qualifying round was due to get underway at press time.

Bowl.com RSS feed updated

The redesigned Bowl.com went “live” today, and with it, a new RSS feed. It took some tweaking to the URL for the feed, but I have confirmed that the sidebar widget for the feed now actually displays the feed. The purpose for adding the feed in the first place was to keep my readers updated on USBC news, so I hope you’ll still find it useful. 😀

Feb. 22 league night recap

My Week 25 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

Last night was another sort of a mixed bag, but at least I felt like I was making better shots overall. The night could’ve started off horribly, but I actually converted the 4-7-10, for the first time in my memory and possibly for my first time ever.

Result: 169-177-180=526
Average (75 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 166
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 545

Team took the first two games, but then had to hold on to save total. Carl and Berta were good in the first two games, and Pat was 40 pins over his average in the third game to support me for total.

Link to “International Art of Bowling” added to sidebar

I was alerted to the International Art of Bowling site through Tim Merrath, who recently had a coaching session with them, via his “Gutter to Glory” blog. The coaches on this site are former Team USA member Diandra Asbaty (a Silver level coach), Ron Hoppe (one of the first certified Gold level coaches), and Jason Belmonte (also certified at the Silver level). An interesting feature of this site is “Skype-a-coach,” where you connect with one of them via the popular Skype VoIP application. They also maintain a blog, in which they pass along tips, answer reader questions, and write about their personal experiences. The link is now in the sidebar, under the “Coaching/Tips” category.

Note: Despite misconceptions because of his unique style, Belmo can coach a conventional one-handed bowler. 😀

Feb. 19 league standings update

“Pinfall Wizards,” after our winning week against “Warren’s Girls,” are now tied for 5th in points with “Deadwood,” four points behind “Dee’s Boys II,” who lead “The Incredibowls” and “The 5 G’s” by three points. We have the aforementioned “Deadwood” this week in a duel for position.

Individually, Brian had the high handicap series for the men this week, and Berta the high scratch and handicap series for the women.

February 2012 Adult/Junior results

The Adult/Junior doubles tournament yesterday had 9 entries in the Junior/Senior division and 12 entries in the Bantam/Prep division. The prize winners follow:

Junior/Senior

  1. Adam Johndrow & Henry Webber 1,477
  2. Cameron Attardo & Susan Marple 1,370

Bantam/Prep

  1. Anthony & Junior Rivera 1,505
  2. Taylor Harris & Hakim Emmanuel 1,438

Two of the adult bowlers had 11 in a row games, and both figured in the prize list, as Henry Webber had a 298 game and Hakim Emmanuel a 290 game.

Congrats all around. 😀

Feb. 15 league night recap

My Week 24 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

This was a night I’d prefer not to think about, though I finally had a decent game to start it. In the other games, however, it seemed I was either turning too early, making the ball go high or into the nose, or I didn’t get my fingers in the shot, causing balls that just wouldn’t flip. My spare ball was also seeming to back up when I threw it at my left side, and Ray thought this might have been because there was more conditioner in the middle of the lane tonight.

Result: 178-128-132
Average (72 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 161
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 552

Berta finally cracked the 500 barrier, and we’ve been expecting that for a while, but the surprise was that Brian also did so, and the combined performance from those two was needed to take the three points we won. It should also be said that Carl also had one of his better nights.

Winter 2012 Week 5 virtual league results

“Diamond Flush” had another good week, taking all seven points from “2-bit Bandits” and moved up into a three-way tie in points for 5th with the latter team and Team 10, five points behind “Got Wood?”, who are two points ahead of “Ordinary Average Guys.”

“VampyreBowler” submitted a 300 game last week, which helped his team, “Dark Side 2.0,” set new league five-man records for game and series. It happened to come against the then-leading “Ordinary Average Guys.”

Stephen Dale Jr. finishes 2nd in True Amateur Tournaments Amateur Nationals

The True Amateur Tournaments website reported that Coke Classic League bowler Stephen Dale Jr. finished second in the 2012 Amateur Nationals held this past week at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The champion was Stuart McMillian of Scotland, whom Steve relayed to me on Facebook bowled a 266 game in the final shootout to his 227. Congrats to Steve on his good result in this megabuck tournament.

Where the TAT runs many events throughout the year, I’ll be adding their website to the sidebar listings, under the “Tournaments” category.

January 2012 People’s Tournament results

The People’s Tournament reported that Jayme Silva (Wonder Bowl, 205 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Jan. 21 and 22 at Westgate Lanes, defeating Cindy Cabral (Westgate Lanes, 165 avg.) by a score (with handicaps) of 237-177 in the title match. Representing Westgate Lanes, Keith Tantillo (200 avg.) was a semifinalist, and Elliot Miller (180 avg.) was also in the top 8. Elsewhere in the Brockton Bowling Association area, Herb Brown (185 avg.) represented Kingston Ten Pin in the semis, and Charles Donovan (190 avg.) was in the top 8 representing North Bowl.

2012 USBC Open Championships oil pattern

The pattern chart for the oil pattern for this year’s USBC Open Championships may be found by clicking here. I am posting it here because not only may it be the pattern for the Brockton Bowling Association Hall of Fame Classic (they used last year’s pattern in the Hall of Fame Classic last year), but I also heard that the Coke Classic League will be bowling on this pattern for the last third of their season.

When I pressed Ray for his thoughts on the pattern Friday, he told me he thought you’d have to get in deep on this because the bulk of the oil stops at 27′ with 12′ of buff area on the back of the pattern. On the kick-off show for the Open Championships, however, it was said you don’t want too much angle too soon, and that you’ll have to manage your launch angles, meaning I may struggle on it turning my hand too soon, but it would also present problems for bowlers that like to loft it. If I get a chance bowl on it, either in a Monday practice or at the Hall of Fame Classic, I’ll let everyone know how I do.

Feb. 11 league standings update

After taking only one point from “The 5 G’s,” “Pinfall Wizards” fell into a tie in points for 5th place with “The Mustangs,” four points behind “Dee’s Boys II,” who lead “The Incredibowls” by two points. “Warren’s Girls” will be our opponents in the coming week.

2012 Mass. state tournament notes

I now have complete information on all of the Massachusetts state tournaments in 2012, listed below:

  • The open (men’s) tournament will run weekends from April 21 to May 13 at AMF Holiday Lanes in Somerset. Entries close on March 21.
  • The women’s tournament will run weekends from May 12 to 20 and June 2 & 3 at North Bowl Lanes in North Attleboro. Entries close on April 15.
  • The youth tournament will run weekends from April 28 to May 13 at AMF Auburn Lanes. Entries close on February 28.

Entry forms for the open and women’s tournaments are available at the control desk. Note: I’ve been told by a source close to the Westgate Lanes youth program that the Westgate Lanes youth bowlers will be bowling on May 5 and 6.

Feb. 9 lesson

After missing Ray two weeks ago because he didn’t put my scheduled lesson on his calendar, I finally saw him today. What we saw in my early shots is my hand turning too early again, even though it’s in perfect position coming back. His idea was to tighten up my line so that I’m not trying to hook it, so he devised a drill that had me throwing to a piece of tape on the lane about 20′ (and later 30′) down the lane. I didn’t have perfect shots trying this, but the thing I noticed later is that if I’m thinking about keeping my forearm as well as my fingers pointing at the target, I throw my shot a bit better, so this is something I’ll be working on.

Feb. 8 league night recap

My Week 23 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I had a better night tonight, but another mixed bag. I had yet another first game where I started out throwing decent shots, but then seemed to lose it in the middle of the game. I am happy that my other games were relatively clean, with just a split in the second game and just a chop in the third.

Result: 150-181-201=532
Average (69 games): 173
Average for last 9 games: 170
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 543

Everyone was fairly steady, but we could only win one point, some of it due to the lead bowler on the other team having one of his better nights.

Alex Aguiar 7th, Jon Van Hees 13th in inaugural WTBA International Open

Alex Aguiar qualified 8th and Jon Van Hees 13th this week in the inaugural WTBA International Open, the first event created by the WTBA specifically for the World Bowling Tour, now in its second year. Under the rules of the tournament, this gave Van Hees a one-round bye and Aguiar a two-round bye in the finals, with Van Hees averaging just over 220 for 6 games to make the cut to Round 3. Aguiar averaged just under 221 for 6 games in Round 3 to finish 38 pins behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. for the third and final spot in the stepladder, while Van Hees averaged just over 208 for his final round. The stepladder is rounded out by top-seeded Liz Johnson and second seed Chris Barnes, who had a 300 game in the final game of Round 3 to move into position.

The stepladder will be contested on March 25 at the Brunswick Euro Challenge outside of Paris, France.