BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: Uncle Meat PT 2 on November 25, 2014, 09:03:56 PM
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Hey all, a little problem I have been experiencing lately.While in practice,no problem but when the scoring starts,I lately have been getting nervous or anxious to where I am not following through with my timing and swing. Anyone experience this,how did you deal with it? LMK.
Ciao!
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Yes, this happens to me from time to time. Few things I can suggest, 1) Breathe, really that easy. 2) Visualize making shots, and 3) do something to take your mind off bowling be it talking to teammates or looking at stuff on your phone.
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I used to bowl with a guy who will remain nameless that had to hire a escort for a particular service the morning before every tournament he bowled because it helped him relax and shake off the anxiety. But that may have been his own personal problem, and I'm sure it'd be a quite pricey fix.
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I used to bowl with a guy who will remain nameless that had to hire a escort for a particular service the morning before every tournament he bowled because it helped him relax and shake off the anxiety. But that may have been his own personal problem, and I'm sure it'd be a quite pricey fix.
You're not paying for the service, you're paying for her to leave.
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Well said.
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Focusing too much on scores/results can cause the anxiety felt by all of us periodically. My suggestion would be to focus on making shots, one at a time, and finding contentment in the process. "Fear based" bowling will never produce consistent results, and your self esteem should never be attached to your bowling scores for the night.
Find something positive from every shot and dwell "there" instead of the pin/pins that didn't go down and how robbed you were... You can train your mind to relax and think positively. I, for example, have told myself "okay that shot was HORRIBLE, but at least I'm left with an easy spare", and so on.
Once you become "the captain of your own ship" and control the emotions the scores will inevitably follow. Good luck to you.
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I have found that having my daughter with me helps me to relax and not concentrate so much on my scoring. Unlike most parents who bring their children to the bowling alley and just let them run loose and be a menace to other patrons and bowlers....we bring games and coloring books so we both can share time with each other and she isn't sitting there bored....and she is 12. I may be 48 but I love to color with her and it's relaxing on the mind. When she doesn't come with me...I notice I focus to much on my game and my adjustments and find I don't bowl as well.
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theres a lot of pressure for these situations. You want to make a score thats respectable or if its a team event you don't want to let the team down, but if you let these ideas creep into your head you're not going to bowl the way you usually do which is probably pretty good. Just have fun and if you're missing your target or whatnot ask your teammate for their opinion of what happened, talking about it helps to ease that anxiety
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I would try to also do things that build your confidence. Definitely finding ways to even out your stress or reduce it to a manageable level is a must, but sometimes I find myself getting so absorbed in everything that I'm using to distract myself that I lose a little too much focus. Sometimes I've taken the stress head on and just told myself in a pressure spot that I'm just going to get up there and obliterate the pins and walk back like nothing happened, and it actually worked for me at least. I have to get a little pissed. I get up there and just decide I'm going to throw a good shot and that the pins will go down. May not work for everyone depending on their personality, but it seems to me that more thoughtful people tend to be the ones to have the occasional nerves.
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Pre-shot routines do wonders for setting muscle memory in motion. I do the same routine before every shot practice, league, tournament. If you're thinking you're stinking. As stated before deep breaths are magic.
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Focusing too much on scores/results can cause the anxiety felt by all of us periodically. My suggestion would be to focus on making shots, one at a time, and finding contentment in the process. "Fear based" bowling will never produce consistent results, and your self esteem should never be attached to your bowling scores for the night.
Find something positive from every shot and dwell "there" instead of the pin/pins that didn't go down and how robbed you were... You can train your mind to relax and think positively. I, for example, have told myself "okay that shot was HORRIBLE, but at least I'm left with an easy spare", and so on.
Once you become "the captain of your own ship" and control the emotions the scores will inevitably follow. Good luck to you.
You could not have said any better, this is the problem I've struggled with for over 20 yrs of bowling, I've never lived up to my potential, because of having a mental /psychological block which always have me very tight until recently....
I tried everything, beer, coaching, my wife/daughter/family/friends, taking a break with no success. Very frustrating to say the least. I just think with some of us, you just can't control how the inside acts, no matter what you try to do different.
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Gum. I know it sounds kinda ridiculous but chewing gum always settles my nerves :o
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Putting it simply from my former post, try not to let outside influences control your inner workings. There are suggestions from bowlers here that help them, but it all comes down to you learning what fits you and your personality.
Only you can decide whether or not something bothers/affects you...
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Norclay, I'm trying sir, i really am, thanks for your intelligent, and helpful input.
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You are welcome. I hope it helps.
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Thanks for all the suggestions.
I usually bowl decent in one house, 210 ave, but for some reason cant get it together in the other house, now 192 ave, the shot is not consistant,but that is not a problem.
Started out decent,but I guess my nerves got the best of me the last few weeks,and the average dropped like the titanic.
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I think it's normal to get nervous a bit before competition, especially tournaments. It shows you care, just don't let it consume you. Like others mentioned, just focus on your game, you cannot control anything else.
The more you bowl in them, the easier it is to deal with it.
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Gum. I know it sounds kinda ridiculous but chewing gum always settles my nerves :o
Cyril, chewing gum is very helpful. I almost always chewed gum for relaxation until I began to yank crowns off my teeth (even with sugar free gum).
A good deep breath is still one of the best ways to calm the nerves.