BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: OHBowler on August 01, 2007, 10:28:10 PM
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Anyone have the book and or know what all the objectives are that lead up to taking the final exam? Just curious to see what is all is. Thanks
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From Bowl.com:
quote:
USBC Coaching’s Gold certification program is the culmination of years of knowledge and experience. To become a USBC-certified Gold level coach requires two main tasks: 1) Complete all the requirements and exercises outlined in the Gold Guidebook; 2) Successfully demonstrate skills and knowledge to a panel during a final review session.
You must be a Silver Level Coach to apply for Gold, however coaches of any certification level may purchase the Guidebook in order to be able to work towards this goal
The Gold Guidebook outlines the disciplines which need to be mastered. Information is included on the standards of knowledge and experience required within each discipline, along with recommended sources of information and options to fulfill those requirements.
Similar to obtaining a PhD in a field of study, an applicant seeking USBC Gold certification will be required to demonstrate their knowledge through practical application and discussion. The final review program will consist of conducting lessons and clinics for bowlers of various skill levels while being evaluated by the final review board. This board will consist of active USBC-certified Gold coaches and USBC staff. The board will also engage in discussions with the applicant on subjects relating to the disciplines.
Costs:
Gold Guidebook: $25
Expense to complete domains will vary
Final Review Session: $800
A lady I was talking to figured the cost was between $5,000 and $6,000 once you completed all the required certifications (lane inspector and pro shop are 2 of the ones I can remember that are required).
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")
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I have the book. You have to be Silver level and apply for the test. It is held in Milwaukee and is a lot different than any other test. Candidates must prove that they have completed several disciplines and require letters of sign offs. Some of the things on the list are
Game, Tactics, Skills and Strategies. Must have a proven record including such things a teams and high level players coached.
Equipment Skills. I just finished the IBPSIA HOTS Tech.
Instructional Skills and Communications Skills
Non Sport Related Skills
The guidebook is available from bowl.com
The test is the signoffs, proof of performance, and interview in front of the panel.
Smash49
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Smash49
Slick, tacky, wood or synthetic it does not matter your slide is correct with Bowlers Slide Sock. The Finest Slide Sock on the Planet!!!
www.bowlersslidesock.com
www.strikingcatbowling.com
Edited on 8/2/2007 10:09 PM
Edited on 8/2/2007 10:10 PM
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Do not begin to compare this lame program to a PHD. It is insulting.
This whole program is not comparable to any existing academic
program. It is little league for amateurs.
Edited on 8/2/2007 8:17 PM
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To observe how stupid some people really are. To compare some bowling
certification program with an academic program with measureable goals
that takes years to achieve is simply ludicrous. TP you should know
better, you have at least some level of education, yet you are a
bronze level coach with a 160 average. Knowledge should equal per-
formance to some degree. A 160 average with todays' equipment and soft
lane conditions is not very good.
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This is directly from Bowl.com I did not write it, I simply cut and pasted it from their site. If you have an issue with their evaluation, take it up with them and refrain from bashing me. I will not stoop to your level of name calling, but it is obvious you cannot read or are unable to comprehend what you read. It clearly says "From Bowl.com."
I have a BA degree and additional post graduate work, not that it is any business of yours. As for the average, my coach has completely taken my game apart and I am in the rebuilding stages. I do not lie about my average and for your info it is in the 170s currently, so check your facts. My Sport Book was 160. If you have an issue with my performance, ask Magic carpet about it.
If you feel I am not qualified to coach, you are entitled to your opinion and don't come to me. Continue with your insults, I am done responding.
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")
Edited on 8/2/2007 10:15 PM
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TP
Don't worry. Anyone that thinks that it is not worth while just needs to jump in there and have at it. If they can do a better job prove it. Many of my students out average me. They bowl 60+ games a week and I may get 3 or 4 if I am lucky. I coach city and state champions. One of the things about the Gold exam is that it covers more than just the act of bowling or scoring. There is more to it.
Smash49
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Smash49
Slick, tacky, wood or synthetic it does not matter your slide is correct with Bowlers Slide Sock. The Finest Slide Sock on the Planet!!!
www.bowlersslidesock.com
www.strikingcatbowling.com
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Smash49-
Thanks. Replies like the one from nextbowler aren't uncommon. There are a few on here who enjoy trying to bash me. What the don't realize is I take their comments for what they are worth, very little. They get one mybe a second reply and I am finshed with them.
My average is not great because I open the wrist too soon and sacrifice leverage and revs. I am working on it. The couple athletes I have officialy coached and the few coached unofficialy have all reported improvements. In addition, the youth I coach voluntarily are also improving. That is the reason I coach, to help others.
I do know a coach who plans to go for the gold and he said it was almost like going for a PhD. I personally have not researched it and have no itention of going Gold.
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")
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In sports, alot of the best coaches were not the the best players. Talent does not translate into being able to spread knowledge to others!
Edited on 8/3/2007 3:46 PM
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Whew, see what i started, lol! SO does anyone know what the "Complete all the requirements and exercises outlined in the Gold Guidebook" guidelines are? Could they post them or send them to me? Thanks,
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TP-- I did not deliberately intend to bash you. When you post on a public
forum, it becomes anyone's business. At no time did I call you any names.
Your skin is way too thin, don't cry. My level of education far exceeds
yours in this area--MS +32 in physical education. I do know what I am
talking about. You are a typical little league coach--trying to teach
others with little background. Students often succeed in spite of
coaching, not because of it. I will not disturb you again, you belong in
your own little world. Never let facts disturb it. By the way, to the
best of my knowledge, the person who set up this whole program (Fred
Borden), I believe, doesn't even have a PHD. However, that being said,
the program is an attempt, which is better than nothing. At least there is
an attempt at standardization.
Edited on 8/3/2007 6:48 PM
Edited on 8/3/2007 6:49 PM
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quote:
To observe how stupid some people really are. To compare some bowling
certification program with an academic program with measureable goals
that takes years to achieve is simply ludicrous. TP you should know
better, you have at least some level of education, yet you are a
bronze level coach with a 160 average. Knowledge should equal per-
formance to some degree. A 160 average with todays' equipment and soft
lane conditions is not very good.
<~~~Really smart person we have here.
Having a 160 average has nothing to do with teaching. THOSE WHO CAN, DO. THOSE WHO CAN'T TEACH. There are alot of instructors that I know of, can not do it themselves, but are great teachers. I suppose YOU carry a 300 average and are way better then any coach that is out there, yet no one has heard of you.
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T.J.
BOWLING IS FUN NO MATTER WHAT YOU SCORE. BUT A 300 IS ALWAYS NICE.
Awesome Revs(2), Finish, Fury, Mammoth
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD BOWLING!!!
Support the Military they are the reason we have freedom...
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The Bronze Certification is supposed to be geared to those bowlers 190 average and below.
Given the information in that course I'd say that its a good (not excellent)representation of what -190 bowlers need to learn first. What I thought the course needed was more on spare shooting and more on how to interpret pin leaves and lane transition. That's what most bowlers at the 170 to 190 average need. However, for many people in these classes I think they fit in one of three groups.
1. higher level bowler that wants some certification to coach others and maybe looking forward to the Silver Level certification. For many of these its an expensive tax to get to the silver level class or ground level certification and therefore credibility.
2. The Jr coach that is dedicated to teaching the youth how to get off on a good foot with solid fundamentals. I don't think you need to be a 190+ average bowler to do that.
3. The bowler that really has no aspirations of coaching, but believes they can (and will) gain valuable information from taking this course. Again you don't need to be a 190+ bowler to get a lot from this course.
Personally I think the courses are too expensive. I paid my tax in the Level 1, and took the Bronze. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot of great information in that course (especially since it was so expensive). Had it contained a tad less info then it had, I'd also consider it a tax. But for me it just barely made it beyond the "tax" hoop to jump through. However, the Silver Level is even more expensive and I've not even made back the Bronze costs with coaching. So at this point I am kind of half and half on how credible the certification is. I mean if you have the money (for courses + travel), and some common sense you can get to Silver. For me to take the Silver Certification would probably entail an enitre month's wages. On the other hand if the certifications were cheaper then even more people with good listening skills (and not so much bowling skills) would be Silver Level coaches. But I do think that if you want to do any amount of coaching and therefore adding to your income doing so, then you need to be Silver Level.
For those wanting Gold Certification I think I'd expect them to be persons that have lived their entire lives in the bowling industry. Have extreme skill and experience themselves (tempered with age) at the game. Plan on making a living teaching bowling to those that want to learn the best bowling skills and coaching skills to those that are coming up the ranks in the coaching program. I don't think the Gold Certification is out there for just any joe bowler that can pay the money and take the course.
Erin
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quote:
The biggest problem I see with this program is that bronze level certification should not be a person giving lessons. They should generally be the ones taking them. This is not a slam on anyone, just from what I have seen or experienced.
You have to start somewhere.
When I took my Bronze and Silver, there were several people in the class with me that were there to try and gain some knowledge of bowling so they could not do too much damage to the kids they were volunteering to coach.
Most of our Youth programs owe their existence to these volunteers. True most of them don't know Jack about bowling and can barely get the ball down the lane. These certification classes were designed to help teach the
ex-profesional bowlers who wanted to make some money passing on what they learned to those who recognized their names. In other words these certification classes were geared toward teaching how to teach instead of teaching how to bowl. The USBC has in the past year or so redesigned these classes to have more bowling knowledge in them.
As far as the Gold certification is concerned, you pretty much have to apprentice yourself to a current Gold coach for a few years until you have gathered up the signoffs in these disiplines. I doubt that the testing board would concider anything less. In otherwords, you need someone who is already in the club to vouch for you, and teach you the secret handshake etc...
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quote:
Actually the reason why this program was started was the USBC's attempt to gain acceptance into the Olympics. There needed to be so many coaches in place to start the process.
Good to know,how did that work out?
Who were they trying to get to be these coaches?
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There are some of us who are taking lessons in addition to becoming certified coaches. My coach is the one who encouraged me to get certified in the first place. Maybe it is his way of telling me I will never amount to much as a bowler, but for whatever reason I am glad to be back working with the youth. I also enjoy hearing the accomplishments of my athletes.
I am sorry that some think unless you are a 200/220+ bowler you are not qualified to teach others. I was originally coached by a 220+ bowler, who basically did nothing to improve my game. He knew his game, but could not teach it.
USBC designed their program with a mandatory 1 year waiting period between Silver and Bronze so the coach could get some real life experience. If a Bronze coach should not be coaching, how do we get the experience?
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")
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Couple of things...
* For those of you that follow college football, Dennis Franchione, currently the head coach at Texas A&M, was formerly head coach at The University of Alabama. Not that Texas A&M is chopped liver, but Alabama is generally regarded as one of the five best jobs in college football, if not the top job. Franchione never played football beyond high school -- he was a baseball player in college. For that matter, I think I'm correct in saying Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach never played the sport at all (edit: He did play, and was a scrub on his own high school team). In general, I can't name you very many wildly successful coaches in any sport who were also great players, so we shouldn't expect bowling to be any different. For that matter -- and I wish I could remember the book's author or title -- there's a book that came out about five years ago that studied this phenomenon.
* The other issue is getting enough decent -- not excellent, but decent -- coaches to stock youth programs around the country. Depending on where you live, it's da*ned difficult to find enough adults with the time and desire to coach young bowlers. A coach that has even just above-average skills, but has the tools necessary to know how to impart that knowledge to young people, is worth a lot.
Don't try to tie playing ability to coaching ability. Plenty of evidence out there shows the two have little, if anything to do with each other.
Jess
Edited on 8/3/2007 10:36 PM
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I don't take it personal, your comments are directed at, as you said, most Bronze level coaches. I just happen to be one of them and therefore am replying.
Level 1 is the basics, beginner bowler. Bronze is geared to the intermediate level bowler, they upped the program several years ago and some of the previous Silver is now in the Bronze. Silver is for coaching advanced bowler. Gold is geared to coaching the elite bowler.
When asked if I coach, I specify beginner to intermediate level. The 180/190 and above bowler seeking lessons, I refer to a higher level coach.
You are entitled to your opinion, but I respectfully disagree that you have to have experienced it all to be a good coach. A good coach needs to know their limitations and when necessary, be able to refer the athlete on to another coach that better meets the new needs.
A beginner needs to know the basics and not be concerned about the clutch strike. The intermediate bowler is often looking to become more of an assest to their team in league play and possibly getting ready for more local tournaments. This group of bowlers I feel more than capable of coaching, be they adult or youth.
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")
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quote:
You are comparing a team and contact sport to a game of skill. There is a huge difference.
Football, baseball, basketball and hockey are contact sports that require more strength than skill, for the most part. Some is agility, but much hinders on strength.
It requires a different level of understanding in golf, bowling or tennis. Individual sports are different.
I am merely referring to bronze level coaching. Not higher levels such as silver or even gold and there are those that I believe do not belong as gold level. Gold level should be the echelon and I do not believe, when it started out, that there would be that many.
My opinion.
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Ric Hamlin
Pacific Northwest Product Specialist
Brunswick Bowling
AKA "Rico" and L.I.M.O.M.
Disagree. Coaching is coaching. You can either teach someone and convince them to accept your suggestions/orders, or you can't. Not much difference between teaching a defensive back the specific technique he has to use to jam a wide receiver off his route, and teaching a bowler the proper hand position to use to release a bowling ball.
This goes for business as well as sports. How many consultants were experts in their own field before setting out as a consultant? Some, but not all. Same as in coaching.
What coaching is, is knowledge combined with the ability to persuade. It's as much a communication skill as anything else.
Jess
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Im getting my level one tomorrow morning so i can get my bronze. Its great to coach because if you really love the sport then try and help whoever you can to be better. It is bs that no one can get better. If a person wants to be better then they look for others with knowledge and expertise to help them. I hate it when you see hacks trying to coach. Its the blind leading the blind. My dad has been bowling for about 35 years. He got back into bowling when i first started 5 years ago. At first he was listening to his teamates and then when i finally understood the mechanics and the game better i told him not to listen to them and to listen and work with me. He basically is the lefty dave traber but more inconsistent. His average was about 160 and over the past month he has been aroun 190. Even and old dog can learn new tricks.
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I am the Righty Rick Larence minus wrist guard.(crutch)
Good bowlers use the Big B
Kiall Hill
"Captain Fidget"
"Thanks Randy"
"Yea but the Brunswick ones get all ten down"
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The difference between coaching major sports and bowling is that coaching major sports is mostly about x's and o's, yes there are fundamentals that are taught even on the pro level, but they usually only have to be shown once and maybe a demo to make sure they have the basics right.
Bowling you are mostly coaching the ones who aren't good enough to make the above mentioned teams (usually because of a lack of motor coordination) I myself keep telling my hand to stay behind the ball but it just will not listen.
I am not saying there are not good athletes in bowling, just they seem to rise to the top and don't usually understand why others need coaching.
A successful Bowling Coach has to know what it is like to learn a new release, or change timing from early to late, or any fundamental themselves before passing it along to someone else, otherwise it is like having someone stand in front of you and read a book, except they usually don't stand in front of you, they usually stand back in the settee area and tell you you are dropping your shoulder or not hitting your mark.
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So i guess since i started this thread ill put my $.02 in. I got my level 1 back in 1999 after i graduated high school and dropped my scholarship at Vincennes University to stay in my hometown which then i decided to start coaching our junior program which is by no means elite( a little give back, so you can say). Ive worked trying to get kids wanting to get better. If i have 100 kids a year usually 45 of them are there to socialize which is totally cool. Ive done this for 9 years for no pay, so i do not even consider myself a coach, but yet a volunteer. My main reason behind getting the bronze was a. because it was only 20 minutes away from me. b. im hoping in the future my high school gets a bowling team and id love to be apart of that when it starts. As for the bronze test after taking it i thought it was pretty basic. I learned alot of good training techniques but the relaxed armswing, open and closed shoulders, etc was info already known.Like in almost any argument on here i personally dont believe average dictates how good of a coach you are or how much knowledge you have. Ric, i agree with you that by just having my bronze level i am in no way ready to go out and start coaching private lessons for money. I think the bronze should be required just to coach the saturday morning kiddies for free. As far as silver and gold yes i think thats when you can really start saying your in it to coach and start making some money. Again i never really ever say much and thought id put a thought out there. Sorry for the long post!
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I've only met one Gold level coach. He was a younger guy.
He was explaining to me some of the requirements that involved college courses, being able to teach handicapped and disabled people, having to have other Gold level coaches vouch for you. Things like that. It sounded arduous.
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Cobalt Bomb Solid
Cobalt Bomb Pearl x2
Tsunami H2O
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Here is what is required for Gold:
Gold Certification Checklist (http://"http://www.bowl.com/Downloads/pdf/coaching/GoldFormwDate.pdf")
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USBC Bronze Coach
"I cannot change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination." Jimmy Dean
Quaker 10/93 - 4/07
Quaker (http://"http://thongprincess.bowlspace.com/gallery/view_gallery.one?gal_id=1")