Author: Andrew Mullikin

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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.

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Practice! Practice! Practice!

This last weekend I went home to drill up some bowling balls and had a lesson with my coach at home. I am throwing the ball really well right now and every single ball that I ended up drilling is really good right now. I went home to drill the balls because I have singles sectionals this up coming weekend. I am very excited because I am really confident going into this weekend so I am hoping I will bowl well enough to make it to nationals.

I was on video and we watch my game in slow motion and picked out pieces that I needed to have changed and my physical game now is amazing. I haven’t thrown the ball this well in a very long time and if my spare game is good that I should have a great chance of making it to nationals. I bowled ok last year and I just had a couple games that weren’t stellar so if I get rid of those games then I would have done rather well.

I will be traveling with my friends this weekend to Fairview heights and will be staying with them and competing against them for the top spots to qualify for nationals. I am very excited for this weekend and I will have updates on how I do this coming Saturday but this week I will be posting a blog about my practice sessions and how they went before we leave for the tournament.

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Practicing for Sectionals

Next week is sectionals and I am starting to practice a lot more and grind away at my physical game. The past couple days I have been practicing at least 2 hours a day. I have been throwing it rather well and my second ball is getting a lot better than it use to be. Also I am going home this weekend to drill bowling balls for sectionals. I am excited to see what happens with my new equipment and see if they will make the cut for the sectionals bag.

Single sectionals are where they have 4 different places you can bowl and they take the top bowlers in each sectionals and then they go to nationals and bowl for a national championship. Making cut would be an amazing dream and it would be just awesome just to get close to the cut. I bowled well my sophomore year but had a couple games that really cost me from making the cut.

I will be drilling at most 4 balls this weekend and I will talk to my coach at home about my arsenal and what it needs and doesn’t need. I will be doing a lesson also where I will be on video and have my stats from every shot. These lessons help me a lot and really take my game to the next level. Tune into this weekend on Saturday to find out how my lesson was and how many balls I drilled and what I ended up drilling up.

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Weight Holes and Switch Grip

Above circled in blue is a weight hole and for this particular ball it was going down the lane to far before it wanted to make its motion. Once I added a weight hole it made the ball motion start sooner and was more angular down lane. This ball would stay in my bag frequently and I would rarely take it out just because I couldn’t ever throw it. Once I added the weight hole I really fell in love with the ball and started to like the motion on it.

Weight holes are all based on how a person throws the ball and for me where I have it like I said makes it start a little sooner and has more angle. For some people this would make the ball be calmer on the back end and not have a lot of motion on the back. Weight holes can either make a ball start sooner and have more angle or even make the ball be smoother and have a more consistent reaction.

The other larger hole is called a switch grip, this allows me to remove my thumb from the ball and use it in a different ball. Most pros and amateurs use this system because we want the same feel in every single ball. We get fit for a reason and want to have consistent fits in every ball. Also people with swelling issues like myself have different sized thumbs. Each thumb is the same in the sense of how your thumb fits in but people will have different sizes for when their thumbs swells up. Example would be that I have 4 thumbs that I can interchange at anytime each thumb is fit the same just different sizes. I have a small, medium, large, XL so when my thumb is bigger I use the XL when my thumb is smaller I go smaller. Below is what the mechanism looks like and all you do is screw in the thumb and you can switch it between any balls you would like.

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Finally able to practice

I was finally able to practice Tuesday and I actually threw it pretty decent for almost taking about a week off. I really needed that time off and it was nice to be back in the bowling alley. I ended up giving my bowling ball to one of my friends to add an extra weight hole to make the ball have a different reaction down lane.

This gives me a different reaction than it did before and make sure you tune into the next post to find out what a weight hole can actually do to a bowling ball.

I was working on some simple things on Tuesday and it was an actual productive practice which I haven’t had in awhile. Next week I will be having a lesson on video and I will be dissecting my game and find out what is going on with my physical game. I am excited to see what is going on and normally I end up throwing it way better after the lessons.

Working on my release has been something that is a constant battle just because I am not a big fan of how I release the ball. Most people would say I have an awkward roll and it isn’t super effective but it does get the job done for me but I have to work harder and be even more accurate when bowling. Like I said tune in to the next post to find out about the weight hole as well as that larger hole and what that does for me.