Category: Practice

Practice summaries

A feel-good practice

Today’s practice was definitely better than the one I had last week. In my mechanics work, I had several excellent shots, and, if I was going for score, it would’ve been a good deal over my average save for a couple of open frames. In the corner pin part of practice, I only missed a couple again, but I didn’t think I missed them by very much. As I noticed the 8 pin was only sporadically going in the rack during my corner pin practice, I asked to be moved to an adjacent lane for the game I wanted to score in. It was a good one…a 212 w/ only a “Woolworth” (5-10 split) in the 10th frame keeping it from being clean.

Tony Attardo was in the building as I arrived for practice, and I learned from Marcia at the control desk that he had had a 300 in his own practice. Talking with Tony before that, however, I learned about a surprise related to one of my teammates that I think I’ll just keep under my hat until Wednesday night.

Understated goals

My revised plan for practice today was to just use the first game to work on mechanics, the second game shooting just corner pins (I was going to spend the whole practice doing this, but decided I didn’t want to neglect the other phases of my game.), and the last game trying for score. The first two games went just about as expected (I only missed 2 corner pins, a 7 and a 10, the whole second game), while I could only manage a 171 third game because of a 4-6 split and a washout. I did learn that another key to making my corner pins was extending for my target spot to make sure I didn’t miss it. I suppose I’m happy with this practice, but I hope to line up better in league Wednesday night.

Scrapbook update: I brought my camera with me to practice to get shots of Junior, Marcia, and Bev. I could’ve had a photo with all 3 of them, but I had thought my batteries were dead (when it was really the lens barrier not fully open), so I only managed to grab Junior and Bev before I had to leave to catch the bus back home. Marcia will have to wait for another day, but the two photos I got will be uploaded to the scrapbook page momentarily.

Up and down

Kind of an up and down practice session today, as the title of this post indicates. I had a clean 224 in my first game, but then it was downhill from there, a good deal of it because I was missing a lot of corner pins, especially the 10 pin. I think I’m going to devote the entire practice next week to just shooting corner pins, as those have been hurting my league performances, as well.

First anniversary post

The first post to this blog was actually on July 4 of last year, but it has been one year since the bowling outing with my brother that started it all, so I will choose to celebrate this blog’s anniversaries on the anniversary of that outing. I’d like to first start off by thanking my readers for putting up with me the past year, but that I hope that you’ve found my adventures interesting enough to want to keep reading. 😀

Looking back on the past year, I’m amazed at how far I’ve come. I contemplated making my comeback wondering how good I could be after my injuries, and the results have exceeded even my wildest hopes. I broke 100 in my second outing with my brother, and was able to shoot 200 again shortly after beginning regular practice (a 218 on Oct. 15). I had felt I was ready for leagues around December, but the lack of openings in the leagues allowed me to bide my time, practicing through the winter season after deciding to wait until the summer to test myself in competition.

Figuring I had a new lease on my bowling life, I wasn’t satisfied with just returning to my old form, so I had a couple of lessons with Ray in the last year to figure out what my flaws were. The work on those flaws in practice allowed me to get to a point where I almost had a 700 series in practice (the recent 689), and to establish a new personal best official series (the 642 in the third week of my summer league). I have also become more consistent, averaging higher at this point (189) than my highest summer league average of my previous bowling life (which I remember being a 171). It is safe to say that my comeback attempt is now less of an attempt and more of a successful comeback. 😀

Giving thanks: I wanted to use my first anniversary post to give thanks to some people who I may or may not have already thanked on this blog, so here goes…

  • My family, first and foremost, for their support and gift cards, which I, of course, turned into useful practice. My brother, especially, has been encouraging, noting here that he’d rather see me bowling than in front of my computer. My brother also shared one of my special moments since my comeback started, my first 200+ game witnessed by family, something I had wanted my late mother to see.
  • The Minassians, and the rest of the staff at Westgate Lanes, for welcoming me back. Junior had told my sister that he was glad to see me back around the center, so I wanted to make sure they were included in this anniversary post.
  • The pro shop owner, and my coach, Ray DiSanto Jr., for his advice and support, as well as for putting my summer league team together. Here’s to many more years of a working relationship and friendship.
  • My teammates, Brian, Joy, and Ralph, for their encouragement and sharing one of my personal bowling highlights. I couldn’t have asked for better teammates. 😀
  • Everyone else in the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, just for being who they are.
  • The gang from the BowlingCommunity.com forums and especially the regulars on the #BowlingFans IRC channel, also for their encouragement. Special thanks here to “CoachJim” for his invaluable advice, including suggesting the thumb pitch change that served as the springboard to my recent improvement.
  • The WordPress user “prairieskooner” for his recent encouragement via commenting on this blog.
  • The first of two specific friends on the EFnet IRC network I’ll thank in this post, “Gozzo”, for pointing me to the story on Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew that helped spark the idea for the “Cross-training” feature of this blog.
  • Another friend on EFnet of long-standing, the user “lebron” (not the one that uses caps in his nick…I knew this one formerly as “chee”), for suggesting that I try to merge my bowling hobby with my Internet one; this blog is the fruit of that suggestion.
  • Finally, the rest of my online friends, whether I’ve been in touch with them through email, other forums, IRC, or instant messaging. I won’t name any names here, but you know who you are. 😀

I have tried to use this blog not only for the entertainment of my readers, but hopefully as a resource for bowling in my area (via my posting of local bowling news) and elsewhere (through linking of quality bowling sites in the sidebar). I have things planned for the next year, but will play my hand close to my vest for now (though I’ve mentioned some of it to my online bowling friends). I hope you will continue reading.

Today’s practice: So how did I celebrate one year since my return to bowling? Well, it happened to be a practice day, so I hit the lanes as normal. I continued working on keeping my arm in close, but also mixed something else in today: John Jowdy’s ring finger lead drill. The work resulted in me having a lot of good-quality shots during practice. I had a five-bagger in both my first game (a 226) and last game (a 236) sandwiched around a 181 middle game that could’ve easily been better for a 643 series, a pin better than my personal best official series. 😀

Standings update: I finally learned through the standings sheet posted at the lanes that my team had slipped to 4th place despite taking 6 points last week. Given the fact that I’ve been able to follow up good practices with good league nights, the fact that we’re bowling on the pair I had the 642 on, and who the opponents are, I feel good about Wednesday night. 🙂

Hall of Fame Classic canceled: I was told not a lot of people showed up for the Brockton USBC Bowling Association’s scheduled singles tournament at Westgate Lanes yesterday, so, unfortunately, the event was canceled. Here’s hoping they’ll run it next year at a time when bowlers will want to enter the tournament.

June “People’s Tournament” results: The People’s Tournament site reported James Ruscio out of Town Line Ten Pin (176 average) as the winner of this month’s event at Westgate Lanes. Ruscio defeated Roger Pemberton (Boston Bowl, 187 average) in the title match 270-206 (with handicaps). One of the teams in my league, “Fun and Games” (who else?), was well-represented among the cashers, as Sally Toppan finished 3rd, while Sean Richard was reported as finishing in 18th place.

Monday notes

  • I had kind of a “blah” practice session today, but I did save the best for last…a clean 205 that found me having to make the 5-7 split in the middle of the game to keep it clean. Again, the work focused mostly on keeping my bowling arm close to my body in the swing.
  • I saw a reorganized standings sheet posted at the lanes, and we are now Team #15. This means we will not bowl against my cousins’ team this week (though they may be on the schedule later). The bad news was that I found out that we have to bowl “Fun and Games” (Bob Hamilton and Sean Richard’s team) again next week. Here’s hoping a second go-around proves better.

Another good practice

Today’s practice session was nothing like last week’s, but I was still around 600 on the day, w/ a couple of games in the 210s and a 178 low. I worked mostly on trying to keep my elbow close to my body in my swing, and while I didn’t always succeed, I did it enough to have a powerful strike ball when I had good shots. I had a split which marred each game, had a 10 pin miss early in the third game, and only picked up 2 of the 2-4-5-8 bucket to end that game. Mostly, I’m feeling now that I can shoot 200+ on a fairly consistent basis, which should stand me well through the summer league season.

It’s official!

As per plan, I went to the lanes early yesterday because I was scheduled to have another lesson with Ray. It had turned out that Ray was running a half-hour late, so I didn’t start warming up for my lesson until about 4:30. After a while, Ray got his camcorder out and started to film a “before” session.

The “before” showed that my timing was still good, and that my release and follow-through were getting better. I was still having trouble staying under the ball, however. The “before” this time included a series to show axis tilt and revolutions. For good pin action, a bowling ball must have at least 12 revolutions before hitting the pins, but I was only getting 9 or 10 revolutions by that time. The problem staying under the ball and not getting revolutions are related, because, as Ray showed me, my elbow was going away from my body. Another problem related to leverage was that I was not bending my left knee enough in my downswing, so in my drill work during the session, the elbow and the knee were the two points of emphasis. When we filmed the “after”, Ray said I had 8 good shots in a row, and my revolutions picked up to the point where I was getting 11 of them on the ball. Ray said I would get that last revolution with practice. Foreshadowing the league night I would have later, he said he had a feeling I would bowl well.

I was prepared to have to hang around after the lesson, so I had all of my medication with me, including my cholesterol medication, which, on Wednesdays since starting the league, I would take before eating at home prior to leaving for the lanes, and I took the cholesterol pill shortly after my lesson. I later ordered a cheeseburger and a Sprite from the snack bar, and I had dinner while watching Ralph warm up. Ralph said that Brian had pre-bowled because of a school awards function that his daughter was involved in. Joy was also back after missing the regular league session last week.

My work in my lesson carried over to my league bowling immediately; I started the first game with a turkey, picked up a single 2 pin, then had a double, and the only open frame I would have that game was in the 9th frame, in which I only picked up the front pin of the sleeper 2-8. I ended the game with a spare and 8-fill for a 214. My second game was not quite as good, but I sandwiched a lone open frame, throwing an attempt at the single 10 pin in the ditch, between a couple of doubles. I made all of my other spares during the game, and I ended up with a 201. I was worried about running out of gas during the night, but my last game would turn out to be my best of the night…a clean 227 in which I tossed a hambone starting in the 6th frame. The resulting 642 series was my best ever in actual competition. Brian’s pre-bowl scores were around his average for the most part, but he did have a 235 in the first game. Except for the second game, Joy and Ralph were also around their norm, and we ended up taking 6 of the 8 points from our opponents, the team known as “G Force.”

Result: 214-201-227=642
Average (9 games): 186 Last 9 average: 186

My team faces last year’s league champions next week, so I’m really looking forward to that. If we have a good night against them, I feel that it would be a statement of sorts.

The administravia of this post is the fact that I have edited the “About” page of this blog, linked in the sidebar, to reflect last night’s accomplishment. Here’s hoping I make more edits like that in the future. 😀

BEST…THREE…EVAR!!!

After the first game of my practice today, I was going to title this post “Mr. Clean” in honor of having my first clean game since my return to bowling. I started with a double, sandwiched another strike between a couple of single-pin spares, then finished with the last seven in a row for a 259, my second best game ever in any setting. Little did I know I would follow it up with my third best game ever, a 247. I had a chance for my first (albeit unofficial) 700 series, but left a couple of splits and missed a single pin in the 9th frame for a 183, giving me a 689 series…my best ever! 😀

And I wasn’t even worried about score…all I wanted was to get my ball over the foul line and have clean releases. I was playing the “wall” (the line between the oil and the dry, which is a characteristic of many house shots), and had good angle to the pocket most of the day. I was largely building on my league performance of last week, so having a good series like this, even in practice, has to give me a ton of confidence. I see Ray for coaching on Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll be sure to tell him about this practice.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the 689 series is better than any series I’ve had on two good feet, so this is indeed special. 😀

League update: My team is in fourth place in the league after last week. A separate post may be coming if I can find the league on bowl.com (I was going to wait for LeagueSecretary.com to have the league standings posted for something special, but if the USBC site has them, I may be able to do it soon.).

A second homecoming…

This homecoming was not for me, however. Bev, the control desk lady, returned to work today after having had surgery to remove a brain tumor. I gave, with her permission, a gentle “welcome back” hug when I came into the lanes and she thanked me for the card I sent her.

More towel drills today, but I combined it with learning to play an outside line. I estimate I got about 3/4 of my shots over the towel, but I’m still not happy with my release, as I can feel my hand coming on top of the ball near the bottom of the downswing at times still. It may take another session with Ray to know for sure if this is what’s happening. I still had a few quality shots, though, so maybe my improvement will come slowly rather than quickly.

I was told by Junior that Arsenio, the head cook at the snack bar, will be returning to work on Thursday, so I will stop in then to ask Arsenio about the openings. Please pray that I get one of the jobs…my bowling this winter season may depend on it.

Final preparations

Today was another towel drill day, but I’m still not as consistent as I’d like to be, especially with my return to league play approaching (it will be one week from this Wednesday). I had maybe 3 shots I was happy with, with 2 of those actually coming when I was shooting the 1-2-9 leave. I was making spares for the most part, however, and those kept my scores around my average (not that I really cared about score today).

Holiday weekend: As next Monday is the Memorial Day holiday, I don’t plan to practice on that day. However, if my best friend, his wife, and her sister are interested in getting together on Sunday, we may be doing some open bowling together then. If that plan doesn’t come together, that will only mean I get some rest for the start of the Wednesday Summer Mixed League.

Scouting visit

I went to the lanes today hoping that the Westgate Mixed League would be in session and that I’d be able to introduce myself to Brian Shea and Ralph Marple, but I learned that there would only be a rolloff for the league championship tonight, and that neither bowler was on either of the teams involved.

Stopping in to chat with Ray in the pro shop, I learned that he had set me up with my team, so I asked him about Joy Falese, figuring he might know something about her. I learned from him the reason why I had not seen Joy’s name on any of the winter league standings sheets: she’s a horsewoman and spends her winters in Florida. I also learned that when she’s up here, Joy works at a stable not far from where my sister lives in Bridgewater. Asking Ray if he knew anything about Joy’s bowling game, he told me that he took her from a 100 average to a 150 average in a year, so it looks like she has something of a clue, and that we have a fair team, at least on paper. I’m looking forward to meeting the gang in a couple of weeks. 😀

While I was there, I ran into Dick Damon, another old bowling friend, whom I had bowled in the His and Hers League with in my former bowling life. We didn’t chat long because he was involved in the rolloff, but I mentioned my return and how much the game had changed since we were last together.

Practice summary, 5/12/08

I was working on towel drills again today, but also had to remind myself to try to keep my left arm closer in today. I was pretty erratic through the first two games, getting the ball over the towel on some shots and not on others, but I was getting it together by the third game. I actually thought I was making decent quality shots toward the end, but was still leaving 5s and 5-8s. Whether or not this was an issue of not getting revs I’ll have to ask someone in the know about, but I was pretty satisfied with the practice for what I wanted to accomplish.

Summer league update: There are now 21 teams listed on the sign-up board, including the team that took me. In alphabetical order, my soon-to-be teammates, barring any unusual developments at the league meeting, are (sorry if I’m spelling any of these names wrong) Joy Falese, Ralph Marple, and Brian Shea. Looking through the current league standings sheets after practice, I learned that the latter two are established bowlers, currently bowling in the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed League. Both are also pretty decent: Ralph is carrying a 200 average in the league, while Brian is averaging 189, so this might be an opportunity to learn from better teammates. Joy is the complete unknown at this point, so we’ll see at the league meeting two weeks from Wednesday how our lineup shakes out. Ideally, I’d like to get to the lanes Wednesday night to meet Ralph and Brian in advance of the start of the league, so that will probably be the plan then.

Getting better

Today was another towel drill day, but unlike last week, I only had six shots in three games that moved the towel, and half of those came near the end, when I was getting a bit tired. I wasn’t really keeping score, but I noted that the three games were all over my average, with a 203 in the second game that was assisted by a scoring error (unusually, I left the 3-8 split on one shot in that game, which I converted, but the scorer gave me credit for a strike in that frame, which was the first strike of a double). Again, though, I was not worried about score today, so there’s no average update (as will likely be the case from here on, as I’m closing in on my return to league play).

Summer league update: There are four bowlers without a team now on the sign-up board for the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, including one female. However, a team has been posted with a vacancy, and I don’t know if that team has an unannounced fourth bowler already, so a team comprised of the four of us without a team is not a given yet.

Coke Classic League tonight: I plan to head back to the lanes later on to catch some of the Coke Classic League action. I won’t blog about the visit unless something important happens (one of them being finding out if the Brockton USBC Association has plans to update their homepage).

Running drills

As per plan, I spent all of practice today going through the towel drill, and I think I got about half of my shots, maybe a couple more than that, over the towel.  Although the difference is only slight, I think I can feel the strength coming back in my wrist, which should definitely be a good sign.  As I wasn’t really worried about score today, I didn’t log my practice when I came home; as such, I am not posting an average update for this practice.

Summer league update:  Bob Hamilton told me his daughter would be bowling on his team, and that she represents the vacancy on his team.  However, a couple more bowlers without a team (but who want to bowl on the same team) have signed up, so if things hold, I will be on their team.

Taking a step back

I spent pretty much all of practice today working on keeping my left arm in, so I wasn’t really focusing on score today, but 2 games ended up being under my practice average, so I kind of regressed, but I’m OK with that…sometimes you have to take a step back in order to get better, and with my return to league bowling approaching, I want to use the remaining time in the winter season to work on my game.  I already have enough of an idea of where I stand after having 78 games of “official” practice under my belt, so I’m not so concerned about practice score now.  In my next practice (not next week, as per note below), I will probably work on the towel drill.

Result:  136-148-173=457

Running average (78 games):  163  Last 9 average:  153

Holiday note:  Next Monday is the Patriots’ Day holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  As schools in the state also take a vacation that week, Westgate Lanes is likely to treat Monday as a holiday and charge the holiday rate (meaning no half-price special).  Being ever mindful of my budget, I will therefore take the week off.

Edit to NAT post:  As I alerted in my last post, I have edited that post with the name of the bowler who shot the 289 game in the NAT tournament yesterday.

Exhibition match Saturday:  In connection with this coming weekend’s NEBA tournament at Westgate Lanes, USA Bowling Pro Shops will hold an exhibition match on Saturday between Alex Aguiar of North Dartmouth, who recently cashed in the US Open and was also the winner of the 2004 Storm Las Vegas Challenge, and Mike Rose Jr., the 2007 USBC Open All-Events champion.  Both bowlers will hang around after the match for autographs and to answer bowling questions.  The match will begin at 3:30 PM EDT.

First coaching session

I had my first coaching session with Ray today. During most of the early part of the session, he had me bowl while filming me on his camcorder from different angles. He also put a piece of yellow tape on the ball just under my finger holes to help determine whether my fingers stayed under the ball.

When we viewed the “before” video, we determined that my timing was good, which was one area I was worried about in making the transition from a four-step delivery to a six-step delivery. Most of my problems were of the leverage variety. The tape showed that my left arm was going well outside of my body and my fingers were coming on top of the ball, the combination of which led to dropping the ball behind the foul line.

Ray had me shoot about 12 shots concentrating on bringing my left arm in, and about 12 more doing the oft-mentioned towel drill, where you concentrate on getting the ball to clear a towel placed in front of the foul line. While Ray was watching me go through the drills, he stopped me and had me try on a wrist brace, which also seemed to help. In filming the “after” video, I had 7 out of 12 strikes; I wasn’t crossing over as much, and I was also carrying my light hits, which had also been a problem. All-in-all, I shall consider this first coaching session “very productive.” I may or may not go back to Ray in about a month, but my summer practices will definitely focus on the two problems that we isolated.

Feeling good

I wanted to have a practice I could feel good about before seeing Ray on Thursday, and I got just that.  My score was only just in the 500s, but I felt I was more or less on line, and I was making my single pin spares consistently, especially the pesky 10 pin.  For the 10 pins, I was setting up around the 32 board (I learned from “CoachJim” from the forums and chat that you count the boards from the gutter on the same side as your bowling hand) and targeting the 10 board (second arrow).  That allowed me plenty of room for the ball to hook and still hit the pin more or less full (and yes, I’ll still be getting a spare ball to shoot straight at those fairly soon).  In fact, my only spare misses were multi-pin spares today.

I kind of slipped up in last game, pretty literally, as I felt my left (slide) foot slip in my slide on one shot and thoughtlessly wiped the slide pad on that shoe with my big towel, which had sweat on it.  That caused me to stick, but fortunately I had a slide powder bag in my equipment bag from my previous bowling life, so I dabbed my slide pad w/ some of that and wiped it off again, this time making sure the part of the towel I did it with was dry.  The experience was enough to cause me to worry about my footing the rest of the game, though, and I only managed a 152 even though I had a double in the middle of the game.

Result:  181-174-152=507

Running average (75 games):  163  Last 9 average:  154

If I can find the Massachusetts USBC Youth Association’s web site, I should have results from this past weekend’s scholarship tournament at Westgate Lanes soon.

Having a bad day

Today, I had my worst practice in a while, with no game even over 150.  I noticed that I was dropping the ball a lot at the foul line, which gives me something more to ask Ray about when I see him next week.  I tried a suggestion by “CoachJim”, a USBC-certified coach at the Silver level who’s part of the BowlingFans.com gang, and he suggested playing straight up the 10 board.  I was still either coming in light or missing the head pin right if I missed my spot right, but I was also still crossing over a bit, which may be related to my dropped ball problem (as the ball doesn’t skid while rolling while it is in the oil like it should).  My mood was also kind of down due to the weather (it was raining while I was out for practice), so I guess I’ll just chalk it up to having a bad day today.

Result:  147-143-124=414

Running average (72 games):  163  Last 9 average:  153

I saw that they had put out the summer league sign-up sheets when I got to the control desk, so my practice was delayed while I was filling the form out.  As I’ve promised my cousins, I signed up for the Wednesday Summer Mixed league.  The first night of that league will be May 28, with the league meeting at 6:30 PM and bowling starting at 7:00 PM (start time will be 7:00 PM throughout the summer, of course).

Practice summary, 3/24/08

I fixed my crossover problem to a certain extent today, but ran into another one…coming in too light.  It seemed that I left the 5 pin about 3 or 4 times, and I was still high-flushing at other times, but most of the time leaving the 6 pin instead of the 4.  Spare misses didn’t help, and my scores were only in the 150s all day.  It only goes to show you how fine your adjustments sometimes have to be.

Result:  151-156-158=465

Running average (69 games):  164  Last 9 average:  160

New high game since return

Only managed a 501 series today, but much of that was salvaged by a 224 middle game, which is now the best one I’ve had since my return.  I worked mostly on getting my feet faster today, but after talking it over with my bowling chat friends, I’m also suspecting that I close my shoulders to the foul line as I’m in my delivery, so that will need to be watched.  This will require a coach, but I want to make sure my equipment is squared away first (I’d still like to get a glove).

Result:  120-224-157=501

Running average (66 games):  165  Last 9 average:  166

I finally got a chance to talk to Rob Lawson, the guy that sets up the lane machine, and he told me he thought the inside-to-outside oil ratio for the Coke Classic shot was about 4:1 (which doesn’t make it a true sport shot), though he’d have to look at his notes on his laptop to be sure.  As I also learned that, starting this week, they put the house shot down in the morning on Monday, then the Coke Classic shot on the Coke Classic lanes in the afternoon, I’ll likely be bowling on the true house shot from here on, so I’m expecting my average to go up a bit.  Rob told me the house shot’s ratio was something on the order of 6:1, while we’re on the subject.

I also received the unofficial results of the Brockton USBC Association’s championship tournament in my email today, but I wrote Roy Garrigus, the tournament director, back, telling him I’d wait until the results were official before posting them here.

Sticking around

I was vacillating most of the day yesterday between going to practice at my usual time or going late and hanging around for the Coke Classic league, which is the big league at Westgate Lanes and where I have many old friends bowling. I eventually did decide to go late, so I left my house to catch the bus at around 5:00 PM so I wouldn’t have to be bored for too long while I wait for the Coke Classic bowlers to show up (and dinner would fill some of the time, as well).

My practice was pretty pedestrian, as I was mucking around with a first arrow shot some more (which turned out to not be a wise decision, as I’ll touch on later in this post). I did manage a first in my last frame of the day, however: converting the 2-10 split. The times I’ve had to face this split (not many), I was either hitting the 2 pin too full or too light, but I somehow found the right shot for this split yesterday.

Result: 176-146-160=482

Running average (63 games): 165 Last 9 average: 169

Talking with Junior immediately after practice, I found out that they also put down the Coke Classic shot, a sport shot, on all of the tenpin lanes (there are also a dozen candlepin lanes there) in the morning on Mondays, which surprised me, as I had been used to seeing Bob Hamilton put the shot down on the lanes to the right of where I usually practice. As the Coke Classic shot is a tougher shot, as should be expected for a league that attracts the best bowlers in the area, I figure being close to my old league average in practice on a sport shot means, in a lot of ways, that I’m actually ahead of where I was when I quit the game. In the long run, practicing on a sport shot can only help me, and as the shot is also put down for stuff like “The People’s Tournament,” I would like to be able to eventually do well on the shot.

Noting the shot I’m seeing, I chatted a bit with another pro shop employee, Tony Attardo, who is a Coke Classic bowler. I had been in the pro shop briefly before practice to see if they had the Ebonite Reactor/R Palm Pad glove in stock, but having time to kill before the league bowlers filtered in, I asked him about how bowlers were playing the shot. Asked about playing outside, he said it’s tough to play outside on the shot unless you can hit the 1 to 3 board consistently and have a lot of hand in the shot. As I’m more of a stroker with not a whole lot of hand action, he recommended second arrow for me, which I had been playing most of the time.

I caught up with my old friends who were bowling in the Coke Classic league between dinner and the start of bowling for the night. Particularly, I wanted to see two people: Steve Travers, who had been the best bowler in the house during the time I was in leagues and is still very good, and Jim Yost, who is also part of my tournament story, but who was also my opponent for individual points in the league I was bowling in the night I shot my 268. I stayed past the start of actual bowling and ran into another old friend I had asked people about: George Hamilton. As I also knew George from hanging around the local slow-pitch softball scene years ago, I made it a point to ask him if he was still playing that in the summer, and he indicated that he was. I told George that I would let a mutual friend know I saw him. I was hoping to be able to also stick around to do a karaoke song in the pub, but decided against it and called a cab home. It has indeed been good to reconnect with my old friends the last couple of weeks. 😀

Tournament notes:

  • The Northeast Amateur Tournament has scheduled a stop at Westgate Lanes for April 13.
  • The originally-reported winner of the February “People’s Tournament” at E. Providence Lanes has been disqualified for reporting an invalid entry average, and Brian “Hawk” Earle was declared the official winner of the tournament. Congrats again Hawk! 😀

Practice summary, 3/3/08

I struggled through the beginning of my first game, recovered enough to salvage a 147, but my troubles threatened to carry over into the second game. Problem was I wasn’t carrying the high-flush hit today, so, late in the second game, I decided to move outside to a first-arrow shot in order to give myself more entry angle, and it paid off, as I finished the game with a hambone for a 188. I kept at it, but a couple of splits and another spare miss kept my score down in my last game. Yet, I still took it off the sheet in the 10th frame for a 178. I still think I cross over too much; strangely enough, however, I usually carry the Brooklyn hit, and many of my strings of strikes have had at least one Brooklyn strike in them.

Result: 147-188-178=513

Running average (60 games): 165 Last 9 average: 165

Back on track

Before I left for practice, “Atochabsh,” one of my new friends from the BowlingCommunity.com forums and (more so) the #BowlingFans IRC channel, gave me some suggestions for keeping my bowling hand relaxed, so I kept those in mind as I practiced today. Along w/ a newly “rejuvenated” ball, they seemed to work. In my first game, I had a double in the 3rd and 4th frames and a turkey in the 6th-8th frames for a 212. If not for a miss of a single 10-pin in the last frame, it would’ve been a clean game. My ball hooked past the pin, emphasizing the need to get a polyester ball down the line for spare shooting. My other games were only around my average, mostly because I feel I bowl my best in practice when I have a good rhythm going, and said rhythm was being interrupted by pinsetter and dead wood issues. I will still take the 212, though. 😀

Result: 212-156-160=528

Running average (57 games): 164 Last 9 average: 162

Practice summary, 2/11/08

I was hoping for a good practice today coming off my 2 good games w/ my brother on Saturday, but afterwards, I kind of wished the 2 games Saturday counted toward my practice average. I had to play straighter at the pins again, but I was getting less carry today, with a 121 first game being my worst game in quite a while. While I’m not quite at the 60 game mark with my new ball, it may be becoming time to put it in the “Rejuvenator” for the first time.

Result: 121-166-160=447

Running average (54 games): 164 Last 9 average: 165

I had seen Marcia put up a few photos of a familiar face up near some of the league standings sheets. Figuring some photos of the recently-deceased Bill Fisher might be going up at various places in the building, I asked Marcia after practice if that was, indeed, Bill Fisher, and she told me it was. It turned out I knew him after all, but never from actually bowling with him, and not by his full name…he was a familiar face from seeing him at the lanes during my practice sessions in my youth.

I also caught Bobby during a free moment before I left the lanes. I asked him which of the named PBA oil patterns the shot I’ve been seeing most resembles, and he told me it was close to the “Viper” pattern. The Viper pattern is known for being able to be played from many angles, and the typical league oil pattern would have to be just as fair.

Errata: The Boston Bowling Senate No-Tap tournament at Westgate Lanes in March is a doubles tournament, so forgive me if forgetting to note that it was a doubles tournament led anyone to believe it was a singles tournament.

Holiday note: As next Monday is the Presidents Day holiday, I probably won’t be practicing next week.

Practice summary, 2/4/08

I resolved to practice today no matter how much sleep I lost from the Super Bowl last night. It was a pretty cool day, but warm and dry enough to take the bike to the lanes, so that helped me wake up a bit.

It turned out to be a pretty strange practice session. I had been setting up around board 18L (that would be the 18th board in from the left gutter) and going for a second-arrow shot, but my ball just wasn’t making it back to the pocket, with my first game suffering because of it. In the second game, I experimented with a couple of first-arrow shots, setting up around board 15R and not getting anything better, so I decided to go back to a second-arrow shot but move to somewhere around 18R. The adjustment was enough to get a couple of games over average, with the last game threatening a 200 after a turkey starting in the 7th frame. I needed a double and count in the 10th for the 200, but didn’t get it, only converting a spare with a 6-fill for a 183.

Result: 137-171-183=491

Running average (51 games): 165 Last 9 average: 169

Upcoming tournaments: Here’s a list of upcoming tournaments of interest to bowlers in my area…

  • Brockton, Foxvale, and Tri-City mixed doubles, Feb. 23-24, Westgate Lanes
  • Brockton Bowling Association Championships, Mar. 15-16, AMF Taunton Lanes
  • TNBA Boston Bowling Senate No-Tap*, Mar. 29-30, Westgate Lanes
  • Mass. State Championships, Apr. 5-May 18, Gardner Ten Pins
  • New England Bowling Association, Apr. 19-20, Westgate Lanes
  • People’s Tournament, Apr. 27, Westgate Lanes
  • Mass. Women’s State Championships, May 3-18, Town Line Ten Pin, Malden

Schedule subject to change, of course. If the Northeast Amateur Tournament reschedules a tournament at Westgate Lanes, I’ll pass the information along. Also, there’s no word on if USA Bowling Pro Shop is still running the monthly “King of the Hill” tournament at Westgate Lanes, so I’ll have to ask Ray about that next time I see him.

*”No-Tap” means nine pins on first ball counts as a strike.

I may have a special post or two coming in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Getting it together

I went into today’s practice keeping in mind Bev’s suggestion from last week, and I had my best session in weeks as a result, not because I had very good games, but because I was consistent. My first two games were in the high 170s, then I strung together a turkey to open the third game. A couple of splits (including a miss of the baby split in the 4th frame) held my score down, but I made all of my regular leaves. I did finish with a flourish, but not by stringing together more strikes: I left the 6-7 split (one of the hardest “makeable” splits) with my first fill ball in the 10th frame after a strike, but I got my shot at the split to the right of the 6 pin enough to slide the 6 pin into the 7 pin for the conversion. 😀

Result: 179-178-191=548

Running average (48 games): 165 Last 9 average: 171

Practice summary, 1/22/08

I decided to bite the bullet and put in a practice session today, although it would be charged on my gift card at full price. I figured I could always pretend I practiced last Monday. I had thought about going yesterday, BTW, but it worked out that the buses were on a Saturday schedule, and Bev told me when I arrived at the lanes that if I went yesterday, I would’ve been charged the holiday rate, which is a bit more than the usual weekday rate.

Anyway, it was just a so-so practice, with only a 180 middle game that was over my average. At the end, I was experimenting with a fifth-board (first arrow in from the gutter) shot and not getting anything better, though it showed me my ball could reach the pocket if I played that far outside. Bev also said she noticed a delivery flaw…she suggested that I try to stay upright with my body when I release the ball, and that’s something I think I’ll try to work on next time.

Result: 158-180-144=482

Running average (45 games): 164 Last 9 average: 163

Practice summary, 1/7/08 (includes correction)

I got to the control desk today and told Bev that I heard about Bill Fisher’s passing and that I posted a brief tribute here (previous post), but when I mentioned that I said I bowled with him, I found out I had my Fishers mixed up. Although Bill Fisher did, indeed, pass away, and was the owner of one of the local pro shops, the Fisher that I had bowled with was actually Ray Fisher (who is no relation). So I should start off by issuing an apology to those concerned, and I hereby stand corrected.

I went into today’s practice determined to continue what had worked for me toward the tail end of last week, and I largely succeeded, posting 180s in the first two games. I did fall off in the third game, however, and could only manage a 145. I continue to have occasional problems with my thumb release, so I’ll have to visit Ray at the pro shop sometime to let him know and see if the ball can be worked on further.

Result: 185-182-145=512

Running average (42 games): 164 Last 9 average: 162

Social call

I wanted to show off the bowling t-shirt I received for Christmas to the management at the lanes, so I took it with me, and Junior and Bev (the control desk person when I practice) got a kick out of it (a picture of it is coming, folks…just waiting for it to be emailed to me). I did not start using my gift cards today, and I knew I would be charged the full rate today, with this being a school vacation period. My next-door neighbor did give me a free bowling coupon that was on a Banquet frozen dinner box that he bought, so one of my games was free.

As I walked toward my locker to get my equipment out, I ran into Si, and it turned out he was going to give practicing a try, so, with his OK, I had Bev move me to his pair of lanes. Before I go into my own performance, I should note that he said this was the first time he picked up a bowling ball since a year ago in May, so his performance was a bit off. He told me he thought it was more of a footwork issue, though, especially early in his outing. He did get his legs under him somewhat, though, toward the last game, and had a few nice shots in the third game to recover a 142. If he’s reading this, I’d like to say I wish I could do that well after a long layoff. 😀

I pretty much stayed around my average today, but I was missing too many easy spares for comfort. I did make a nice ball speed adjustment at the end of the last game, though, and strung together three in a row before leaving the 6-7 split with the first fill ball in the 10th frame. The turkey before that was enough to recover a 156, though.

Result: 152-169-156=477

Running average (39 games): 163 Last 9 average: 167

After we finished bowling, Si and I discussed what we may be doing for leagues in the future, and I mentioned that my cousins were thinking of bowling the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed league (which Junior told me was 4-person teams) this summer and that I wanted to join them. Si then pretty much said he’d be agreeable to joining that league too, so there may be more than two familiar faces in the league I make my return to. Si also offered a ride home, which I accepted, saving me the return bus trip.