8
- February 2016
Idle Bowling Thoughts
By Chuck Pezzano
(reprinted in honor of his dedication to bowling)
Helen Duval’s Bowling Tips
Spare Shooting
Several times I’ve mentioned the second arrow as the target for a strong delivery. If
you have been working on this and are fairly consistent, then it’s time to learn spare-
shooting.
May I suggest that in your shadow ball warm-up or practice sessions before
leagues or tournaments, you roll the ball only over the strike spot and concentrate on
developing a smooth approach. If you do this in practice, then when the league or
tournament starts you will be ready for anything, because spares require only a strike
ball delivery from a different angle.
Here are two very simple ways to learn spare-shooting:
Limit your target area to the second and third arrows and to the spot between them.
This represents
area of five boards.
Confine yourself to three basic positions on the approach. If you learn these, then
everything will fall into order.
First we’ll take the 7 pin spare (10 pin for the left-hander). Get into your strike posi-
tion. Then look at your sliding foot. Move your sliding foot at least five boards to the
right. Point both feet toward the 7 pin (10 pin for left-handers). Look at the area be-
tween the second and third arrows that will serve as the target 15 feet down the lane.
When delivering the ball, walk slightly toward the target pin, lean and reach out,
making sure to follow through like an arrow toward it, rolling your strike delivery ball. If
you honestly did all these things and your ball did not quite get over to the target pin,
try again, starting a board or two to the right.
Remember: Your body, spot and ball line act like a pair of scissors. The more you
move to the right, the more the ball travels to the left,
providing
you use the same
arrow area as a target.
Be careful not to move more than a board or two at a time. The ratio of angle cor-
rection for every board you move on the approach is one to three. If you move one
board to the right and shoot at the same mark, the ball hits a target three boards far-
ther to the left.
Now we’ll do the 10 pin spare (7 pin for lefties). Get back to your strike position.
This time move your sliding foot at least 10 boards to the left. Move another board or
so if you’re on the heavy side.
Now use your third arrow as the mark (the third arrow from the channel on the side
of your bowling arm). Yes, it will work. Try it. Walk slightly toward the 10 pin, lean,
reach, deliver the ball and follow-through toward the target.
Be sure to check your starting foot position in relation to the dots on the approach.
Then check foot position again after delivering the ball for the 7 and 10 pin spares.
The amount of drift on 7 and 10 pin spares from start to finish should be no more than
five boards.
Visualize the execution—your bowling arm and shoulder over the target dot or area,
the extended hand point to the pins you wish to hit. This will help you do the job.
Arena Bowling
Arena bowling and the close quarters in bowling championship set-ups allow
spectators, and friends and fans to be within short distances of the competitors
and that brings up the subject of silence.
For the most of bowling’s time, fans have been urged to cheer and root in their
own fashion, except at certain times. Confusing? Sure.
However in reality there are few rules covering silence at bowling’s crucial mo-
ments except unwritten ones of courtesy and tradition and under the not too spe-
cific rules concerning interference and unsportsmanlike behavior. Ambiguous.
In other major sports, golf and tennis, to name two, both have traditionally silent
areas. It is fair to say that there are others as well. It should be noted that bowling,
golf, and tennis are primarily individual sports on the professional level and most
competitors are not on salary. They must pay fees and expenses to compete and
income is the result of playing better than the other guy or gal.
In football, baseball, basketball, boxing, hockey, and soccer, the crowds are en-
couraged to cheer and jeer. In some they have cheerleaders to arouse the audi-
ence to almost unimaginable heights - - - and actions. Athletes who prefer the si-
lence feel that they should be free of distraction when lining up a putt, serving, and
shooting a key spare - - - particularly since they were paying their own freight.
Yet in college basketball, 18 and 19 year olds, who don’t get paid, are asked to
shoot crucial shots through glass backboards amid the roar of the crowd and the
distracting view of all kinds of waving objects, including hands and heads.
For many years, tradition has called for silence at different points in different
spots in different areas. Examples are prior to the approach in bowling, the serve
in tennis, and putts in golf.
It seems as though the sound of a voice, a cough, a phone ring or the breaking of
a twig has had the effect of an explosion on the concentration of some partici-
pants. Golfers look menacingly into the sky when a jet disturbs a shot process
and it has been reported that plane routes were changed to not bother tennis play-
ers in action. Many a bowler has almost been destroyed by a baby’s cry or the
blow of a nose.
Most sports encourage cheering and jeering. Most sports cannot possibly have
rules to cover every aspect of silence and the officials, judges, referees or tourna-
ment directors might have to make judgment calls that would be second guessed
over and over again.
There are instances in every sport where the rules, written or unwritten, are
pushed and battered.
Silence, as well as unbridled activities, have long been part of every sport - - -
traditional intangibles. Competitors expect certain courtesies, and have received
them, on and off the rule book musts and guides.
Spectators seem to be getting more into sports, less controlled, and with the feel-
ing, right or wrong, that their payment or even just their presence, entitles them
when to remain silent, not by tradition, courtesy, or unclear rules.
Strict guidelines on the silence aspect of bowling should always be considered in
tournament play and imparted as many ways as possible.
A loser is the ―short-shots‖ bowler who insists on telling fellow bowlers what they
did wrong after every shot and thus ends up losing a bowling friend.
A loser is the bowler who knows that all the bad breaks he gets in bowling will be
evened out by good breaks but he’s also sure that he won’t live that long.
A loser is the tournament bowler who is too busy checking out the average book
without checking his checkbook.
A loser is the bowler-golfer who shoots in the 120s in both sports.
A loser is any bowler who can’t come up with a new excuse for bad bowling with-
out thinking about it.
A loser is a bowler who suffers a reputation as an easy loser, even if he’s a so
called good loser.
A loser is the bowler who insists on tight finger and thumb holes, tight bowling
shirts and shoes, and then gains 10 pounds.
A loser is the bowler who tells his mate that he is going to a short bowling meeting.
A loser is the person who reported that the results of his survey showed that it
doesn’t take too much in the way of brains to be bowler. We took a survey too. It
showed that it takes less brains to take surveys than it does to bowl.
