Category: Personal Bowling

These post will house all of my personal bowling post. All these post will talk about my practices and talk about how my tournaments are going.

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Motivation to bowl

The motivation to bowl right now is just non existent at this point in time. The school work is piling up right now and trying to find time to practice is becoming a challenge. Most of the time I have so much homework and projects going on that it is becoming harder and harder to manage all of it. Especially since finals are right around the corner its even harder. Trying to finish papers and projects to find time is starting to stress me out even more.

I probably wont be bowling until I get done with finals so the next couple posts will be more about bowling information and bowling news in the bowling world. I will have a very good topic to talk about the next post about the changes in legal amounts of top weight and weight holes. The USBC has made a lot of rule changes to the bowling industry and most people have a lot of comments about the new rules that are changing in 2020. The changed the legal top weight to be 3oz instead of 1oz and then they changed the weight hole. They are eliminating the weight hole and making it illegal to have on equipment.

tune in next post to hear about my thoughts and a little more information on the other rules as well.

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Practice on 4/23

Had another great practice and learned some new things within my game. I decided to take a video over the weekend and sent it to my dad. He saw that my footwork was a little off and I decided to fix that. I am a 5 step approach and my dad noticed in the video that my first 2 steps were on and it was throwing my timing off. I generally have a very smooth slow footwork for a tall person and a lot of college coaches have complimented me on that. Footwork is one of the biggest issues for most people because if your steps are off then when you get to the line the ball can be in so many different positions. My first 2 steps were too big and it made me cramped at the foul line. What I mean by that is when I was done sliding the ball was near my shoulder and I had to pull down to be able to get the ball down the lane. When you pull down on the ball your accuracy immediately goes down. Typically when I am late I get a lot of revolutions(spin) on the ball and I miss my target left.

I decided to move up on the approach for a little to force myself to keep my steps shorter but once I got my steps super short I went back to the old spot I stand. This just makes me feel like my steps are shorter and forces me to be slow and short to the line. Once I got my timing more in sync I was able to throw really good shots and started to hit my target more often. My spare game has increased as well from the last time I shot at spares. I started to make more and hit the pin directly in the middle like I use to. Tune in to this weekend for more bowling information!

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My Latest Practice

The last practice I had was with my roommate just before he headed out to nationals. We both started out just throwing the ball and not really trying to work on things but then later that practice something just sparked in my brain. I changed my hand position and I started to have a different feeling at the bottom of the swing. The hand position I changed to normally makes me get around the ball less than I was before, but then when I started to throw it with the weaker position I was still getting the same results. Normally bowlers have different hand positions to create different rotations and when I changed it stayed the same.

It was like a lightbulb went off in my head and I started to throw it so amazing. I still had some physical things to changed that would make my timing better but I am happy that I got my release down because it was really inconsistent. Bowling is a sport about repetition and being consistent. Bowling is one of the hardest sports in the world and most people don’t agree or don’t understand why. Bowling is one of the only sports in the world that you don’t see your opponent. You may say “well you’re bowling against people isn’t that opponent?” well you are right in a way but the oil is the biggest battle. Everyone is bowling on the same pattern but the oil breaks down in a different way on each pair. Getting to know your own game and your versatility and what your misses are is what the sport is all about. Oil is constantly changing and each shot that is thrown down the lane is changing the oil pattern.

My next post I will talk about different oil patterns and what bowling balls would work the best. I will also talk about what balls and styles of balls I would normally use on a specific pattern.

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An interesting practice

The other day I had a rather interesting practice session. I haven’t touched a ball in about a week and I really didn’t find a need to go practice. The need and drive to go practice isn’t there right now and I am just really focused on school currently. To start the practice session was just terrible the first half hour, but once I calmed down and just focused on my fundamentals I started to throw it better. I am not even close to where I want to be but I am at a better spot than I was Thursday when I bowled.

Although I scored really well on Thursday I honestly didn’t throw it that good. My shoulders and my arm swing were so out of tune it was insane. My roll on the ball was so bad and I just got lucky that night. I was lucky that I was in the right part of the lane and throwing it decent enough that I could hit the pocket. I started to throw it better once I calmed down and got some games under my belt. The main thing I need to work on is just my swing and my shoulders within my game.

This weekend I will be talking about some bowling information. I will be talking about the difference between college bowling and high school bowling. I will talk about how big of a change it was for me and how it is a completely different animal. Tune into this weekend to hear my side of the story for how I transitioned from high school to college.

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Subbing In League 3/29

Over spring break I wanted to take a break from bowling to just relax and enjoy my break even more. I only practiced once over break and then I subbed in a league on Thursday. I actually bowled really well as I shot 724 which is about a 242 average for 3 games. Even though I struck a lot I missed 2 make able spares and it was rather frustrating. I have been struggling with my spares lately and I have worked on them all the time just it isn’t going well within competition.

I don’t have anything coming up within the next couple of weeks but I know I will continue to practice and work on my spares. I was afraid after taking a week off that my game would have been really bad and would have to work super hard to get it back but once I started to throw the ball I was fine. I started to figure stuff out rather quickly and it was great. Normally when I take time out if takes me a couple days to really get back to where I was and even lessons sometimes. Hopefully I get my spares back in line so I can feel more comfortable bowling in events and really start to try and make some money bowling.

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Spring Break!

So this weekend starts spring break and I am torn between what I want to do and how much bowling I want to do while I am home. Obviously I bowled well over the weekend and I want to continue to bowl well but I am taking just a slight break as I am just kinda tired of bowling. Since it is spring break and it should be warmer out I plan on playing some golf with my dad and get back into golf again. I have been practicing golf a lot on the side just to keep a little break between bowling and school. I don’t know if I will be bowling a lot over break but I know I will practice some.

Most of my bowling over break will probably just be practice and not actually bowling for competition or anything competitive. Like I said I will be playing a lot more golf and working on my golf game instead of bowling. I decided over the last weekend to re drill a ball just because I didn’t like the shape and also put some new grips in my ball. I will probably have less practices but work super hard and work maybe longer. I might do some lessons over break just to get the little things within my game away and gone.

This weekend I will probably talk about something that most people that don’t follow bowling would realize. Bowling is a game of science almost and the game is very difficult because the object is to knock down the most pins but the thing you have to go up against is the lane. Not to many sports you can say that the thing that is in the way of you scoring is invisible. The oil is constantly changing and you may get a piece of paper that shows you the pattern that is being laid out but the lane, how long the oil has been sitting, what machine, what oil was use, and much much more.

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Sean Yonan Weekend Recap!

Well it was a packed full weekend of bowling and hanging out with some great people. Friday was a celebrity baker tournament and my team ended up qualifying in the lower division and ended up winning all of our matches and won the tournament. I threw the ball okay all day Friday and it wasn’t a serious tournament it was just to donate money to the cause and the event.

Saturday was a different event and was all singles all day. I dug a major hole in the first game and was dead last in the first game. I shot 124 but then proceeded to find a look and my repeat ability was so good. like I said I shot 124 but then proceeded to shoot 267,250,212,221 to go 150 over for the last 4 to get me at +74 to make the cut. It was the first time I have made the cut in a singles event in awhile and it felt good to make it. I bowled my teammate Josh and the pair was so messed up that neither of us had a look and both struggled. He ended up beating me but I won 135$ and had a lot of fun while bowling.

Today I bowled the adult tournament and it didn’t go so well the first 3 games. I struggled to repeat a shot and my look wasn’t great all day. I ended up finishing -25 which is a lot better than what I was the first 3. I shot back to back 230 games to get myself to -25 so I will take that number instead of what I had.

I had a great weekend bowling and hanging out with friends. Also bowling and giving money to the family for a good cause is always worth it no matter how good or bad I bowl. It was a great weekend and I look forward to it next year as we do it all over again.

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Sean Yonan Memorial

This weekend I am back in action again and bowling one of the biggest youth tournaments in the US. Other than Nationals for Jr. Gold this tournament is one of the biggest around. This tournament gives out thousands of dollars a year to one person who wins the tournament. Friday will be a celebrity event and we will all bowl with pros during certain frames. Saturday is either a youth or college event and depending on your age you will be put into a certain area. They both give out lots of money and it is one of the best weekends ever. Sunday will be a adult event and yet again they hand out lots of money.

Last year I missed Sunday’s cash spot by 1 pin and it really opened my mind and made me realize what is really important within bowling. This year I want to make cut in both events and bowl rather well. Since I haven’t been bowling well in events recently and its rather frustrating. This event is an amazing event and it is for a great cause for this family.

This event is held every year to raise money for a family that lost their father. All the money goes towards the kids for college and they hand out some as well. Winning isn’t just about the money but it is the pride of winning a prestigious event. I practiced this last Sunday and today, yet again I feel prepared and ready for the tournament but lets just hope that the pins fall my way this weekend.

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Sectional Recap

Well the tournament did not go well what so ever, I couldn’t ever get anything going the entire day. Everything I tried on the lanes nothing just wanted to work out for me. I also missed some easy spares but even if I make those I wouldn’t have been close to the cut number because I couldn’t strike enough. I made all the moves I thought were correct and they didn’t work. Make a move that I feel like would never work ever ends up working. It is also hard to bowl when all of my good shots off my hand just ended poorly for me but all of my bad shots struck and were nice. It is hard to adjust when you don’t know what shots to trust and what shots are good and bad. When you think its a good shot and make a move and its wrong it hurts you a lot.

Even though I bowled poorly and I didn’t qualify or was even close to the cut, I still had fun and enjoyed going out and bowled. I enjoyed traveling with my friend and also meeting new people that go to a different school. I still have one more year left of bowling so who knows next year might just be my year. On the bright side my teammates that traveled all the way to Smyrna Tennessee. We ended up sending 2 guys to nationals for the singles side of the tournament. David (Soph) Chris Wiley(Sr) ended up making it for the singles tournament which is just insane.

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Congrats to the boys and hopefully they can come back after a rough Saturday to make it to nationals as a team.

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Preparation for Sectionals

This Friday I will be competing against a lot of players from different colleges around the country. Over the weekend I went and had a lesson and I am throwing it better than I have ever thrown it. Then I practiced last night and still I am throwing it rather well. Wednesday I will have my final practice session before I head out with my teammate to bowl on Friday. We leave Thursday night and are going to stay at a hotel.

Singles Sectionals is really hard because you have the best bowlers from around the country from different colleges competing in one spot. They take the top whatever number and then the top bowlers from each sectional bowl at nationals for a national title.

I am excited and nervous to compete like always but more excited than anything. I can’t wait to bowl just because I am confident and feel really great about my game right now and where it is heading. The balls of choice that are going with me are my Paradox Black, Kinetic Ruby, Spoiler, Verdict Pearl and my spare ball. I believe this line up is the best line up for me and the best ball motion for any pattern we are going to bowl on. Tune into this Saturday to hear my result as well as all my teammates to see how we all did.