Better, is the word that best describes how I feel about the Abe Lincoln Invitational Tournament last Saturday. We started strong with 903, high 800 and another 900, then we ate lunch...
Had that only been a 3 game event, we would have had strong 3rd place very close to second. We were just 80 pins from second place at that point. What an excellent place to be at half-time. Even during our lunch Holly won the Strike Queen contest. I thought that for sure would keep us energized through the rest of the tournament.
After lunch we struggled, lanes started drying out, we got tired, one of our players got hurt, our attitudes were down, (don't forget to re-read Coach Tapscotts Attitude is everything post.) and again we looked like that defeated team that I portrayed in my last post about the Collinsville. By the end of the 6th game, our team dropped down to 5th place. Missing 4th place by one single pin. Now, thinking back, there were a lot of placed we could have picked up a single pin. Think of the spare we missed, think of the split we left where we tried for it but chucked it in the gutter, think of a mental blunder where we missed the head pin on our first ball after a spare. Just remember, you never know when you will need that single pin!
So, two points to come out of the Abe Lincoln Tournament, first, every pin counts. And, secondly our attitudes and team dynamics are holding us back.
I want all our bowlers to know how important of a role positive attitudes play in our game. Experts agree that positive attitudes fill in the gap of mental and physical errors. Meaning, the positive atmosphere that the team cohesively makes keeps a player up after she makes one of those silly mistakes drastically increasing the chances that the next ball will be better. I've witnessed this phenomenon time and time again where a team actually lifts a players spirits after a bad shot helping them with their next.
Hopefully a team leader will emerge and will help energize and start and maintain the positive team atmosphere that we need.
Remember, we are a team and we win as a team and lose as a team.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
What can we say about the Collinsville Tournament?
Hmm...
Well, I guess there's no sugar coating this one. As a team, we just didn't bowl that well. We learned what we always seem to learn with this tournament which is that 2 weeks just doesn't seem like enough time to prepare the bowlers. As I stated in my previous post, many of the bowlers seemed to be pretty relaxed about summer practice and it just simply takes time to get your game back to where it was when we ended our season last year.
We made many silly mistakes. We missed a bunch of easy spares, spares that we normally don't miss. We let our bowling upset us and afffect the next ball, which upset us more which affected the next ball and the next thing we know is we have half the game gone already and we're still thinking about the bad shot we made in the first frame. The general attitude reminded me of a defeated team just going through the motions trying to get to the end.
There were several positives Saturday, first, a shout out to our JV team. Overall, I think they did a very good job. Secondly, with as badly as our Varsity team bowled, its only fair to mention that with the stats posted here, you will be able to see that all of our practicing on single pin spares, specifically the 10-pin and 7-pin, really paid off. Last year we averaged 68% on our single pin spares and, with one of the worst scoring tournaments I've witnessed, our single pin spare percentage was 72%!!! In fact, looking back through last years stats, I only found 4 other matches out of the 18 that I kept track of that our single pin spare precentage was higher than 72%.
I think we've found our silver lining!
Now that we have our first tournament jitters out of the way, we can focus on the upcoming tournaments and matches with the confidence of knowing our practice and hard work is paying off.
Well, I guess there's no sugar coating this one. As a team, we just didn't bowl that well. We learned what we always seem to learn with this tournament which is that 2 weeks just doesn't seem like enough time to prepare the bowlers. As I stated in my previous post, many of the bowlers seemed to be pretty relaxed about summer practice and it just simply takes time to get your game back to where it was when we ended our season last year.
We made many silly mistakes. We missed a bunch of easy spares, spares that we normally don't miss. We let our bowling upset us and afffect the next ball, which upset us more which affected the next ball and the next thing we know is we have half the game gone already and we're still thinking about the bad shot we made in the first frame. The general attitude reminded me of a defeated team just going through the motions trying to get to the end.
There were several positives Saturday, first, a shout out to our JV team. Overall, I think they did a very good job. Secondly, with as badly as our Varsity team bowled, its only fair to mention that with the stats posted here, you will be able to see that all of our practicing on single pin spares, specifically the 10-pin and 7-pin, really paid off. Last year we averaged 68% on our single pin spares and, with one of the worst scoring tournaments I've witnessed, our single pin spare percentage was 72%!!! In fact, looking back through last years stats, I only found 4 other matches out of the 18 that I kept track of that our single pin spare precentage was higher than 72%.
I think we've found our silver lining!
Now that we have our first tournament jitters out of the way, we can focus on the upcoming tournaments and matches with the confidence of knowing our practice and hard work is paying off.
It's all about ATTITUDE!
Bowling is a sport that few people understand the difficulty of.
While it is true that anyone can go out and bowl on open lanes, it takes a commitment to bowling to be consistently good at it. The casual bowler often doesn't understand the complexity of the sport. It is also important to note that just because a bowler is good in one house, it doesn't mean he/she can go to another and be as good there. Ability to adjust to new lanes conditions, to choose effective equipment, and to "read" the changing oil conditions are big skills that take time and dedication to master.
THS bowling has a proud tradition. So far, we have sent 5 girls and 2 boys on to bowl with scholarships at the collegiate level: Heidi Tangman, Carrie Harrison, Aimee Sutton, Jennifer Burdick, Savana Carmichael, Gary Caniff and Tyler Vocks. All of those received major scholarship dollars for doing so. The girls team has made 5 appearances at the state level and had two individuals advance on their own. The boys' team has sent this year's senior Alex Clark to state as an individual last year. Each year there are scholarship dollars available to bowlers good enough to compete at the state level, with independent tournaments throughout the year where bowlers can pick up even more dollars. In these economic times, it is smart to be seriously looking for ways to supplement college dollars, and bowling is definitely one of them. Colleges are still adding bowling to their sports programs, with new colleges coming forth every season.
So, really, who can bowl? The answer is twofold. You definitely need someone willing to practice in season and out. Bowling is a sport that most people can learn to do with some degree of success, but the bowler who practices and studies the game is the one who will come out on top. Secondly, and for sure most importantly, ATTITUDE is everything. Bowlers need that positive attitude and commitment to the sport. When the best bowler on your team develops a bad attitude the game is over. The team needs bowlers with an attitude of enthusiasm, commitment and cooperation. Being on a team means being committed to team goals. Having the right attitude is paramount to team and individual success.
This summer I will be bowling a lot in the area and attending tournaments both in and out of state, but I will also be working to put together a camp for the girls and will hold practice days in Taylorville.
In January the girls will be holding their annual candy drive. It is expected that the girls on the team sell a minimum of 4 bags of candy for the team. After that, individuals bowlers may choose to sell candy to "bank" for summer practice games.
If you need/want to chat with me about any aspect of bowling, you can always give me a call. If I don't answer, leave me a message 217-246-4264. I'll do my best to get back with you.
Coach Tapscott
While it is true that anyone can go out and bowl on open lanes, it takes a commitment to bowling to be consistently good at it. The casual bowler often doesn't understand the complexity of the sport. It is also important to note that just because a bowler is good in one house, it doesn't mean he/she can go to another and be as good there. Ability to adjust to new lanes conditions, to choose effective equipment, and to "read" the changing oil conditions are big skills that take time and dedication to master.
THS bowling has a proud tradition. So far, we have sent 5 girls and 2 boys on to bowl with scholarships at the collegiate level: Heidi Tangman, Carrie Harrison, Aimee Sutton, Jennifer Burdick, Savana Carmichael, Gary Caniff and Tyler Vocks. All of those received major scholarship dollars for doing so. The girls team has made 5 appearances at the state level and had two individuals advance on their own. The boys' team has sent this year's senior Alex Clark to state as an individual last year. Each year there are scholarship dollars available to bowlers good enough to compete at the state level, with independent tournaments throughout the year where bowlers can pick up even more dollars. In these economic times, it is smart to be seriously looking for ways to supplement college dollars, and bowling is definitely one of them. Colleges are still adding bowling to their sports programs, with new colleges coming forth every season.
So, really, who can bowl? The answer is twofold. You definitely need someone willing to practice in season and out. Bowling is a sport that most people can learn to do with some degree of success, but the bowler who practices and studies the game is the one who will come out on top. Secondly, and for sure most importantly, ATTITUDE is everything. Bowlers need that positive attitude and commitment to the sport. When the best bowler on your team develops a bad attitude the game is over. The team needs bowlers with an attitude of enthusiasm, commitment and cooperation. Being on a team means being committed to team goals. Having the right attitude is paramount to team and individual success.
This summer I will be bowling a lot in the area and attending tournaments both in and out of state, but I will also be working to put together a camp for the girls and will hold practice days in Taylorville.
In January the girls will be holding their annual candy drive. It is expected that the girls on the team sell a minimum of 4 bags of candy for the team. After that, individuals bowlers may choose to sell candy to "bank" for summer practice games.
If you need/want to chat with me about any aspect of bowling, you can always give me a call. If I don't answer, leave me a message 217-246-4264. I'll do my best to get back with you.
Coach Tapscott
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Practice Practice Practice
Wow, bowling season has started already!!! First 2 weeks has been great so far. I think we are really going to have a great team this year and even better team next year as we have no Seniors this year.
An observation that Coach Tapscott and I had made was how obvious it was to us who has been practicing all summer and who had not. I travel to a LOT of bowling tournaments and talk to a lot of parents and a lot of players. There's one thing that separates the good bowlers from the great bowlers. That one thing is practice. Now, be careful that you are able to distinguish bowling from practicing.
It's not uncommon for great bowlers to practice every single day, Winter, Summer, Fall and Spring, and especial on vacation.
Practice on different parts of the lane, practice different skills, create goals for yourself and practice at different houses.
Also, when practicing, be especially aware of what you did right and what you did wrong on every single shot. If you don't analyze each shot then you are just bowling and not practicing. If you need help knowing how to properly practice find me and I'll give you some pointers.
Adam
An observation that Coach Tapscott and I had made was how obvious it was to us who has been practicing all summer and who had not. I travel to a LOT of bowling tournaments and talk to a lot of parents and a lot of players. There's one thing that separates the good bowlers from the great bowlers. That one thing is practice. Now, be careful that you are able to distinguish bowling from practicing.
It's not uncommon for great bowlers to practice every single day, Winter, Summer, Fall and Spring, and especial on vacation.
Practice on different parts of the lane, practice different skills, create goals for yourself and practice at different houses.
Also, when practicing, be especially aware of what you did right and what you did wrong on every single shot. If you don't analyze each shot then you are just bowling and not practicing. If you need help knowing how to properly practice find me and I'll give you some pointers.
Adam
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