BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: trash heap on December 18, 2014, 03:37:15 PM
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My son in the past couple of months, has sprouted up like a weed. I swear his arms have doubled in length (that might be exaggeration). Unfortunately in this time his bowling has gone down hill. He is really pulling the ball now.
He was getting smooth early in the fall, and now its like he has no rhythm.
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Yes it can affect a kid quite a bit
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My son in the past couple of months, has sprouted up like a weed. I swear his arms have doubled in length (that might be exaggeration). Unfortunately in this time his bowling has gone down hill. He is really pulling the ball now.
He was getting smooth early in the fall, and now its like he has no rhythm.
The first thing you need to do is check his grip. If his arms have gotten longer, you can bet that his hands are bigger.
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without a doubt. it happened to me.i got taller and my swing got longer so looking back i saw myself really muscling the ball down from the top of my swing to catch up to my feet
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Yeah. I better check the grip.
Is this right? Arms are longer, the feet have to slow down?
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Feet grow sometimes a whole size, hands grow and grip needs to be checked. If they are rolling a real light ball, could be time to add a small amount of weight to the ball if a new grip is needed. Been there done that.
jodyk24
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Sounds like it is affecting his timing. Most younger kids have pretty fast feet to generate speed. As they get taller they not only don't need the foot speed, but it becomes necessary to slow the feet down to keep good timing. Of course keep mind this is coming from an old stroker with a pendulum swing. Kids still want to generate more power in todays environment than can be achieved with a stroker game, but I still think slowing the feet down ( maybe longer slower steps ) can help.
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Growth spurts can mess with coordination. Check the next to last step if your son has started pulling the ball. Could be that he should try making that step a little shorter.
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Is this right? Arms are longer, the feet have to slow down?
Depends on his swing. A true pendulum of a given length (this would be the length of the arm) makes a swing of any length (back and forth) in the same amount of time. But when the length of the pendulum arm increases the time for each swing also increases. When the swing is influenced by an external force (muscle), all bets are off. -- JohnP
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if i were coaching a kid that was growing i would explain that with proper technique, you can generate just as much speed with slower feet and less muscle in the swing.
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During growth spurts not everything grows at the same rate. Sometimes things can be a bit awkward. Focus on proper footwork since that is our "foundation" and can smooth out other things that lead to inconsistency. Good luck.
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I remember joining a junior bowling program at age 15 (second semester 10th grade), and I grew five inches over the next two years while I was in high school. I stunk as a bowler, so I doubt if that initial growth spurt affected me.
After high school, I grew another four inches, but by then I began spending a LOT of time at the bowling alleys and became an alley rat. My game also improved for various reasons. I do recall that I went up in ball weight (to 16 pounds) by the time I stopped growing, and I went from a conventional grip to finger tip. It took me a couple of plugs and redrills before I settled at the correct span (5-5/8, 5 1/2) and pitches, specifically 3/4 reverse in the thumb.