Bowlers Journal International - November 2008 - (Page 28) Inside Line News, Notes And Perspective THE TRUTH BE BOWLED BY DIANDRA ASBATY { diandraa@bowlersjournal.com } Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Mentoring a Beginner Bowler SINCE YOU SUBSCRIBE TO BJI, chances are you are not a beginner bowler. But there is a good chance you know a beginner, and if you don’t, you should get to know one. One of the best feelings you can experience is to teach someone a little something about bowling. Before you get started, here are a few things you should known about them • You know the arrows out on the lane? Yeah, they don’t aim at them. They aim at the pins. It makes sense. If you didn’t know much about bowling, why wouldn’t you aim at what you want to hit? Explain to your new “student” that it’s much easier to hit a target closer to you (the arrows) than one so far away (the pins). • It’s likely they have no idea that the boards between the arrows can be used for something. So tell them to aim at the arrows, and also make them aware that there are boards in between the arrows, and those are okay to aim at, too. Explain how the boards on the lane line up with the boards on the approach — big dot, middle arrow. It will give them a whole new perspective on the lane, and when you get to the lesson where you actually teach them what “alignment” is, they’ll be in seventh heaven. • Most beginners have no idea there is oil on the lane, or that it’s laid down in certain “patterns.” If you take someone off the street, and ask them what they’d find on a bowling lane, most would say something like “grease” or “slippery stuff.” A lot of beginners are in awe of the oil on the lane, and especially the system used to put the oil down. When I tell my beginner bowlers about the oil, they want to tell all their friends. To them, it’s the coolest thing. • The house ball they are using does not fit their hand. I know — shocker! It’s important to understand this early in the beginner’s bowling life so that when you’re teaching keep it from dropping onto the approach. The only way this problem can be solved is by having them go to a pro shop and getting a ball drilled to fit their hand. • Even with a customdrilled ball, the thumb hole typically will still be a little too big. So, they need to know about tape, and you should tell them that all professional bowlers use tape in their bowling balls to customize the “feel” to their personal preference — which, in a vast majority of cases, is quite tight. It’ll take some convincversity of Nebraska, I was stunned during one practice session to learn that one of my teammates had no idea how to keep score. She had grown up with automatic scoring and never really paid attention. How did she ever know what she needed in the 10th to win? Knowing how to keep score is an essential part of bowling. So there you have it. Now you know what to watch out for with your beginner bowler. These are things that can easily slip through the cracks because, as avid bowlers, we tend to take them for granted. We have this idea that everyone who bowls knows these basics. Not true. If you don’t educate them on these fundamentals, then WE HAVE THIS IDEA THAT EVERYONE WHO GOES BOWLING UNDERSTANDS THE BASICS OF THE SPORT. NOT TRUE. IT’S IMPORTANT FOR US TO TEACH THEM THE FUNDAMENTALS. that “free swing” everyone wants, you know it’s pretty much impossible for them to have one. You can’t have a free swing when the ball doesn’t fit your hand. More often than not, the thumb hole is three sizes too big, so they must squeeze the ball to ing with some beginners, who can’t understand why a ball drilled to fit their hand would still need some “fine-tuning.” • Does your beginner bowler know how to keep score? If not, teach them! When I bowled for the Unithey’ll continue to squeeze their bowling ball as they prepare to throw it over the slippery stuff, aiming at the pins and having no idea what their potential score is. And that’s not exactly the best way to develop an avid bowler, is it? 28 Bowlers Journal International | November 2008 www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com
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