Thursday - June 25, 2015

Feel frustrated

Another night of summer league, another 2-5 loss for us. I don’t get it.

I’m bowling well, turning in a 590 series this week and something similar last week. Which means I’m averaging in the upper 190s, which isn’t bad. It’s way over the 160s number they gave me, mostly because of that night the lane oiler flooded the place.  So I’m developing, slowly. Except I keep leaving a pin. Bane of my existence. Oh, I pick it up, mostly. A one pin leave is a gimmee. At least it ought to be. All those people who are “I hate the 10 pin so much!!” are just hurting themselves. I know at least 3 methods of making that spare, but really, confidence is almost all it takes.

I have unusual ideas. If I were the Driver’s Ed teacher, my students wouldn’t get near a car for the first 3 weeks. Or even near pavement. No, they’d be out in the back lot, learning to ride little 80cc - 125cc 4 stroke dirt bikes. Which look almost like clown toys when ridden by adult sized people. They’re dirt bikes for 10 -12 year olds. Right. But we’d start in the dirt, learning balance and learning awareness. And shifting, and how to brake properly, and how to maintain your machine. And when the whole class can ride together around the track a couple times without falling over or running each other down, then we switch to little street bikes. And we take that all the way to getting our license. And then we do cars.

Teaching bowling would be similar. Here’s your ball. Stand here. Down there, there aren’t 10 pins. There are only 2. The 10, and the 7. Your job is to knock them both down, one pin per throw. And all we’re going to do is learn to throw the corner pins, until it becomes second nature from any spot.  Along the way we’ll learn a few kinds of release, and how to use targets, and how to put the ball where you want it. And maybe even how to get the thing revved up. But all we’d do is the 10 and the 7, until they become reflexive. Then we do all the other pins as singles. Then we do the 6 classic double leaves. Then, and only then, do we bring out all 10 pins together and work on getting strikes. But we start with the “impossible” and turn them “normal”, and suddenly the crybabies are all 190 average bowlers.

I teach pistol shooting the same way. Ears on, eyes on, stand like this, arm out, hand high on the frame, blah blah blah. And I don’t tell them to be afraid of the recoil or the noise. But I do put a full power .357 Magnum in their hands. And they shoot it, no big deal. Because it isn’t. At least not for the first 30 shots or so. But they accept the sound and the recoil as being part of what shooting guns is, and even the most skittish are over it all by round #6.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/25/2015 at 07:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner