Bowling at Ryan Family Amusements first day, October 3, 2009

Yesterday I joined a once-a-week bowling league at Ryan Family Amusements in South Yarmouth, the "Saturday Strikers".  We meet every Saturday at 8:30 for 30 weeks, and bowl 3 games. I was nervous at first, mostly because I didn't know who to expect to see there, and I was hoping that I wouldn't see a lot of people I knew, and I especially hoped that I would not be with mostly older kids. People might think, bowling is so easy, it's not a big deal, but that couldn't be further from the truth. After observing some of the kids who have been bowling consistently for a while (and they range from ages 10 to 17), I could see that it's not easy and not everyone is good and knows the techniques.

I arrived, and I signed in with the coach and had to fill out a paper, asking for my name, age, email, phone number, parents' phone number, etc. After, I was introduced to the other kids on the team and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was the second oldest. Most of them are between the ages of 12 and 16, with one girl who is 10 and the manager of the bowling alley's son who is 6. My first impression was, this is going to be a piece of cake. Let me say now, IT'S NOT. I did not realize until I showed up that we weren't going to do candlepin bowling. I mean the thought had crossed my mind but I assumed that because the ages of the kids varied and many of them were used to the bumpers that stop the ball from rolling into the gutter, that if we were bowling with the heavy balls, that we'd be using the bumpers. Surprise number 2; no bumpers. 

I didn't realize just how heavy the bowling balls are; I have only done candlepin bowling, with the small green balls. When it was my turn, the ball rolled RIGHT INTO THE GUTTER the first time, and my wrist hurt from using the heavy ball. I figured I would get better. I talked to the coach and she showed me how to hold the ball properly, and the motion with the arm when letting the ball go. She told me that my thumb is supposed to be straight up after releasing the ball, so I tried it on my next turn. She was right! My score for the first game was 91, my score for the second game was a 67, and my score for the final game was 105. Sometimes I would remember the proper way of releasing the ball, other times I would not, and by the end, my wrist hurt so much that I was lucky if it didn't roll into the gutter due to my inability to follow through with the proper motion.

So I wasn't as bad as I thought; HOWEVER I'm not that good. I'm better than some of the smaller kids, but I fall way behind when you compare me to the others that are closer to my age. The 10 year old girl is really good too, and she beat me every time. My personal goal is not to beat everyone else on the team (we're competing against each other, not other teams), but to improve my own techniques so that my scores are consistently good, rather than me doing well by sheer luck if I just happen to remember the correct form and stance, or if I do without even realizing it. There is a definite method to bowling, and this can be seen when you see how some of the older kids are able to make the ball curve and roll down the aisle with such a force that the pins are all knocked down by a domino effect. This is where learning objective 1 comes into play - increase awareness of my strengths and areas for growth. I have identified my strengths (I get decent scores, I am beginning to recognize a method that I want to learn to improve my scores) and I have identified my area for growth, which is that I can learn the methods and techniques. Learning objective 8 - develop new skills, branches off of this. I can learn new skills after I identify my areas for growth, and then I will be able to later look back on my performances and see how much I have grown, or not, if I find I am not able to.

I am going to do my best to become more talented at bowling. And if you think it's easy, IT'S NOT!! I can definitely say that candlepin bowling with the bumpers will be a piece of cake after this.