Your Mental Game Keys?

Mine:
Seeing your Target!  Allowing your subconscious to do the bowling; distract your conscious mind with intense target focus, thus allowing your subconscious to do the bowling.

A consistent preshot routine.

A deep breath; exhaling just prior to the first step and pushaway.

Refocusing after any distractions.

Visualizing/imagining making good shots in pressure situations.

The 2 C's... Confidence & Concentration. And proper execution, sure. But if you do not beleive in what you do or want to achive, you will NEVER be able to get all those pesky 10 pins or 3-6-9-10 leaves you curse all the time.

Stop cursing, clear them. Success builds confidence et v. v.

Concentration is another key, and that does for me not only mean focus on my visual target, but also a (subconscious) focus of my body movement while I am executing my release. I remind myself to stay upright at the foul line and to follow through, and to stay on my objective: to bowl well.

This focus makes a fair change in my results, and I can clearly tell you when I miss a shot because I became sluggish or irritated.

Another positive thing for me, which is partz of the mental game, is a steady pre-shot routine: checking neighboring lanes for traffic, wipe the ball, use rosin, blow thumb hole, buff finger holes with grip sac, foot alignment, starting position, checking pins, fixing viausl target and finally a deep exhale to relax muscles before I "trigger" my shot. This all helps me staying focussed and repeat shots with a good "automatism". Works for me and can surely not be generalized, but it is my recipe for success and good bowling.
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
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"All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream..." - Edgar Allen Poe


Edited on 5/9/2006 6:21 AM

As little as possible when I step on the lane.

Usually I see my breakpoint and target at the arrows. Draw a line between the two in my mind and roll down that line.

One thought is all I will ever have in my head. Like slow feet or stay behind the ball. More than one and everything goes off kilter.

Not getting distracted just before stepping onto the lane and if I do I just ignore everything. I wont give high fives etc when Ive picked up my ball even upsetting some by doing that.

Playing the lane at all times and never really playing the opposition.

Believing I can make every shot. This is where I sometimes let distractions in. I step up to say a 10 pin and a little voice says "youll miss this" and I usually do. I would love to be able to just let that slip away and think no Im not but I struggle to do that.
I really need to add a small saying like "I will make this" to my preshot routine. When I do its strange how many wide splits etc I'll pick up in a series.
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Happy go lucky bowler from the UK.
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