First College Tournament of the year

Well, last weekend was the first tournament of my college bowling season. It was the Midwest Collegiate Classic held in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Yes, there are other states with funny city names. We bowled on a 40ft sport pattern. The center had the AMF HPL lanes, Brunswick A-2 pinsetters, AMF pins, and wood approaches. Now for the details.

The week before the tournament, i decided to drill up two new bowling balls. The brunswick Versa-Max, and a Victory Road Pearl. Ive been having a lot of success and really really like the way the versa max rolls, so i decided to drill another one with a pin down layout. This is a little stronger roll with a more hook-set motion. The victory road pearl was laid out exactly like the one i drilled last year. It was one of two balls i was able to throw all year and had confidence in getting another. I was able to throw both balls. I threw the Versa max the most. about 4 games on Saturday and 1-2 games on Sunday. It was good when we still werent deep yet as the ball was able to get down to the breakpoint with little to no help. The victory road pearl gave me a beast look when the lanes started to burn up and the shot was far left. Towards the end of the day sunday, i was lofting the gutter. This is the pattern in college bowling. Especially since we were bowling on a very high friction lane surface.

Our team ended up winning by around 500 pins. That is a lot, even for a team like this which people tout as "stacked." There were still teams like Lindenwood, defending champs Webber, Midland, William Penn, etc. So it is a big deal to win a tier 1 by that much. I bowled all 9 games and made the final spot on the all tournament team with a +213 total. Teammates Kyle King and Marshall Kent finished 1st and 2nd respectively. The next tournament on my schedule is tomorrow, the 13th, in Indianapolis. RMU won this tournament last year. I believe Perry is heading to Wichita for their next tournament.

A quick note about this weekend, Western Bowl sucks. It usually plays slick and especially outside the 5 board area. Send something out there, it is gone. I expect scores to be exceptionally lower. I did recently drill an IQ Tour to fit above my versa max but below my Freight Train, so hopefully that helps out.

A quick update. Im hoping to get some information about my trip overseas soon. Thanks for keeping up with us.

-Cameron

The official twitter

Just a reminder to follow @torchedlane for updates. There will still be updates here at the main blog but twitter is a good way to post smaller tidbits. And since most people visit twitter daily, more coverage will be seen over there. Thanks.

Posted from my iPhone. Excuse the poor mechanics
-Cameron.

Summer check up

What's up everybody,

Sorry, I have been slacking on this blog post in the past weeks on getting another post up. I have been really busy on trips and practicing and preparing for upcoming tournaments and the upcoming college season.

I figured I would update everyone on what I am currently working on this summer and what I am trying to fix before the upcoming season. I am currently working on the feel of the ball in my hand, I couldn't really get my entire thumb in the ball so my feel was never the same and made shots very hard to repeat. I finally got that figured out and that instantly allowed me to repeat shots and allowed me to soften up at the bottom, (which was one the main things I was trying to work on coming into the summer). 

Some other things I am working on is freeing up my swing more and also working on different releases so I can be more flexible and not one dimensional. the swing is coming along just fine but the release portion of it is struggling on getting it down. It's hard to say I am struggling, its more or less the fact of being able to repeat shots how I want to repeat them on a time after time manner. the variance of the shots and direction is what I am trying to get down when I change releases to give me different looks and ball reactions..

This is it for now, I will post something up in the coming weeks or beginning of the college season..

PC4

Late night update.

Alright, here is a late night update. First of all, i think a lot of what i talked about in my "JG Perspective" post came true. AJ went undefeated, the top 2 after 25 lost within 3 rounds, and bowlers that bowled well didnt make it to the end. Now, this doesnt take away from the people who made team usa AT ALL. Every single bowler who got the automatic spot or was selected completely deserved it and should be recognized for it. Also, a personal congrats to Marshall for yet another year on Junior Team and AJ Johnson, who i had the pleasure of getting to know better and bowling with over at JWTC.

But, as far as my opinions on JG go, i think i covered most of them in my JG write up a couple weeks ago.

Anyway, i wanted to quickly say that my trip to Europe to bowl is coming together. My plane tickets are purchased and i am practicing around 30-40 games a week. I am now 100% committed to getting to the top of my game by the time i leave.... This means im looking to be in the bowling center 3-4 days a week and focusing on working on my weaknesses. If I can come out of this trip with confidence, it will also do wonders for my college bowling which would start up just a couple weeks after that.

Thats it for now. This post was more on the actual blog side as it was pretty informal.. Im still working with the mobile app so i can start posting updates on trips live from the center. Hopefully i can figure that out pretty soon.

As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy the rest of the summer!

-Cameron

A JG Perspective....

                So next week is the Junior Gold Championships. Usually I myself would be getting prepared for the upcoming week, buuuuuut I digress….. anyway, I wanted to give a little opinion on the format changes. Ill explain the differences in format kind of round by round then give my thoughts on whether I like it or dislike it. 

                First of all, 4 different divisions? I thought this was supposed to be a tournament for the elite in the nation. I just don’t see what the point of this is. Now you have 4 divisions to spread the money instead of two. I also heard they took away average requirements… so now this is just turning into an open tournament. Im sure soon enough they’ll take out qualifiers as well. It takes away from the “prestige” of making it to the big stage.

                Now, as for qualifying, it seems similar, except they took out one game from each block. Again, whats the point of taking it down from 6 to 5 games for each block? Its another game that bowlers don’t have to bowl and another game where bowlers DON’T have to face adversity.

                Now they cut to one in seven, which seems fine to me. It is about the same ratio as last year. But instead of 12 more games for 16, its five for 64. At first this seemed kind of weird, but it is less games for more people. Then another five games to determine top 16. I am a little indifferent about this part, but instead of have 12 games for everyone after the first cut, its only 5. Less time for people who are behind to make a run at the top.

                Then it will be double elimination match play until there is a winner. This is where im a little confused. Last year before you bowled 16 games of match play, you already bowled 30 games. In this format, you’ve bowled 25 to determine a top 16. That’s five less games that bowlers face adversity. I thought we were talking about Team USA here. As we all know, end of blocks can be make it or break it. 

                If we look at a 16 player double elimination match play bracket, at the bare minimum, a player need only bowl TWELVE more games, which makes only 37 GAMES bowled to win the LARGEST YOUTH TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR. That’s 9 LESS games than the year before. I highly doubt anyone will be undefeated through the bracket, but if someone gets hot, its certainly a possibility. Also, with last year, you had to bowl EVERYONE in the top 16. This year, you only bowl about half that. So one could potentially get an “easier” side of the bracket than another player.

                Finally, the team spots. Unlike the past years, they’ll give out 2 automatic spots after 25 games (equivilant to the top 2 after semis last year.) and 2 more automatic to the winner and runner up of the bracket.  Then of course they will select two from the final 16. We could run into situation where someone will make Team USA and then be stomped in the first two rounds of the bracket.  I think that’s a bad idea to give automatic spots before even completing all the bowling. Two players will only have to bowl 25 games to make Junior Team USA

                Overall I am not happy with the changes. I don’t think elimination is the right format for something as important as Junior Team USA. And with all the money at stake, the wrong matchups could spell disaster for someone who bowls well all week then is matched up against two bowlers who get hot. Does elimination create more dramatics? Of course, but so does Team USA spots coming down to the last game of a 45 game week.

                I personally feel that North Pointe had to do with a lot of these changes. Especially the shortening of blocks. If I remember correctly, last year in Vegas, I remember noting that North Pointe was a very short format for tournament with that much money on the line.

                On a side note, if last years positions were put into this format, I would’ve been automatically selected for team… go figure.

                As always, thanks for reading. Exciting things are happening for the Torched Lane and we are honored to have fellow bowlers take part in our experiences. And I would like to extend a “good luck” and “bowl well” to my teammates Marshall Kent, Jacob Kent, Mason Petrin, Dominic Partipilo, Leea Haworth and my friends Tyler Cruz, Tanner Spacey, Payden Stumpf, Courtney Couch and many others that are not coming to me, at this years Junior Gold tournament. Perhaps with this format, youll need more luck among other things….

Get off your high horse..

Sorry Guys that I have been slacking on not getting another post up here, but I have been thinking of this one for a while and now I think it's time to let it all out...

It's amazing to me how many bowlers out there think they know everything about the game of bowling when really they know nothing at all or have a very small understanding and knowledge of the game. It's amazing how much they think they know when they really don't know anything at all... trust me, I have been in this category before and looking back I call myself a jackass for not taking in what people were trying to tell me.

Ever since I have changed my mind set, my knowledge has gone up dramatically and now I am a more competitive bowler. Don't get me wrong there are some things out there that you should throw by the way side or in the trash, but there are some bits and pieces you should listen too. I am going to name some people who know a lot about the game of bowling and whom you should probably take a listen too: Marshall Kent, Cameron Weier, Jim Kent, Bob Hanson, and Pat Johns. These are just a few that come to my mind. These guys are very successful and have an outstanding knowledge of the game of bowling. Obviously there are more people who are out there who also have a vast knowledge of the game then you do... probably more knowledge in their pinky finger then you ever thought about having. The reason why I say this is because they have been there before and have faced so many different types of patterns and situations where people have no effing clue what to do.

I have been on the side where I have had no look and Cammy and Marshall are killing it. I always try to learn something every time I go out and bowl a tournament.  Usually it’s either  lane play or ball and surface prep.  There are so many different things that go into success and failure while bowling a tournament. Most of the time it’s just knowledge of the game and how much people know and don't know.  My goal every time I bowl is to expand on my knowledge and analyze what went wrong and what went right, and to make sure that it does or doesn't happen again. I am still learning the game of bowling and in no way shape or form am I saying that I know everything there is to know about bowling. I am a student of the game until I shoot 300 every game and don't miss at all; then I will consider myself a guy that knows everything about the game of bowling.

I want to learn and get better at bowling. That is why I am bowling college and bowling as many tournaments as possible. That is why I am talking to the greats of the game and picking their brains and knowledge so I can get better and be one of the better bowlers out there..

I know I rambled on and on, I hope it is readable and makes sense... I will think of it more and post a Part 2

Team Challenge

So, seeing as it has been about 5 hours on the road to Reno, I figured I might as well type out a blog post. What a great weekend to write about as well. As some of you may know, I was part of the winning team at Junior World Team Challenge this last weekend in Las Vegas. Even though entries were down, the talent level was still there and we faced all of them. I bowled with Tanner Spacey, Tyler Cruz from Washington and AJ Johnson and Mike Preston from Illinois. Everyone bowled fantastic, which was great because I felt I didn’t bowl very well.

                The tournament was over two days and consisted of a combination of regular team games and baker style games. After the 5 team games, the rest was all baker. Baker truly shows how to work and bowl as a team. Because each player only has two shots per game, there has to be communication amongst the group to be able to adjust. Thankfully my team communicated well as we almost didn’t make stepladder until we discussed a group move.

                What happened was that we started Sunday very sluggish barely shooting 300 for two. We looked around and saw some teams shooting better. A lot better. We then bowled Jazzy Ape, who were making their run at the top seed. Once again we struggled, so we stepped aside and watched Jazzy Ape to see where they were playing because they were striking. We decided to shift everything right and play a little firmer and less angle. It seemed to work as we got back on track and were able to jump into 2^nd place for the stepladder.

                The final matches were on the leftover from the morning bowling. This meant dry. I had to get in front of the ball return, and so did Tanner. We cruised through our first match thanks to a 70 pin lead the first game. In the final match, Jazzy Ape put up the fight, in fact winning game 1 by about 10. In the second game, everything was tight up to about the 8^th frame. One of the bowlers for Jazzy Ape made a mistake, putting up a 5-1 for the frame. So I had a chance to lock up the title with a strike in the ninth. What do I do? I go Brooklyn for the win.

                This was the second JWTC victory of my bowling career. I look forward to this tournament every year and certainly can’t wait to bowl again next year. Next year being my last chance to bowl it, I plan on going out with a bang.

One of the things I noticed is that this tournament can give someone a taste of what a college tournament would be like. The intensity level is there as each person wants to win and of course the team aspect is there as well. It shows which teams can communicate and keep emotions in check which is very important on the college circuit.

I’ll leave it there for now. As always thanks for reading. Keep tuning in as exciting things are on the way.

Why is bowling dying today?

Why is bowling dying? Why isn't bowling getting the respect it got in the 70's and 80's? How can we fix it? Can we fix it? these all are questions I ask myself and the people I talk to on a regular basis. Recently I was talking to Justin Kostick on Facebook messenger and he informed me that at one point in time, Bowling had the highest rating on TV with a 9.1.. that really surprised me when he told me that because I didnt think bowling was getting that good of ratings.. but after talking to him more in depth about it, I can see why because bowling was on prime time tv on ABC and it was on more and people actually followed the PBA.

Which brings me to the next point, I encourage all of you and go and watch an older PBA telecast on Youtube and tell me what you notice about those shows compared to now? there was actually a crowd and not just two bleachers of people. its amazing how different the atmosphere was in the setting. 

Another thing I want everyone to notice as well when you are watching the old telecast, look how much they are making to win a tournament.. it was 40k to win each tournament and now its 15k to win.. seriously isnt that supposed to go up over time. instead of decrease? so really if we were bowling to a title and we used the 1980's money scale what is that to win? like $2,000?? I'm just throwing a random number out there.  

There was so much more sponsorship and backing in the PBA back then.. so where did it all go? now we don't even have a legit sponsor on the pba.. Lumber Liquidators... so impressive... Not!  The pba needs a legit sponsor to get money back into the prize fund and make it worth bowling the tour. but We ain't ever going to get that if we don't get back on ABC or prime time TV.  

I was at a college bowling banquet and the PBA Commissioner Tom Clark was the keynote speaker.. he was all about the social media and thats how the tour is going to survive... seriously dude?  there is no money.... therefore no interest in bowling.. sorry dude social media may be the thing to get a trend starting but its not going to help this cause... I can see it if you were trying to promote a tv show or an event but everything is pre recorded now. and who wants to watch some people bowl for your most prized tournament of like 60k when I can go watch Golf and watch their US Open where the winner gets 1.44 million dollars.. what would you rather watch if you were just a random person flipping through the channels. 

Which brings me to my next point, well one that Justin suggested and I think its brilliant and could work. The USBC should put an extra 2 dollars or whatever on to the membership fee and put that towards the PBA prize fund.. then you just created 2 million dollars on prize fund money then be able to go to the big time sponsors and ask if they want in on the action.. and hopefully keep the sport we all love alive..obviously the catch of this is to draw more people to bowling, adding more league bowlers and getting bowling back on the map. 

I'm always down to talk about bowling and everything to do with it. if you would like to chat about it. you know where to find me..

PC4

Anger Management

Hello readers! Before i start, want to advetise that the Torched Lane has an official twitter. Follow @torchedlane for tweets every now and then. We dont know what about, but hey, its twitter!

In this post I'd like to tackle a reader suggested topic. Ive decided on Kelsey Abrahamsen's question which is as follows:
"Tips on how to stay positive even when you're bowling bad, so hopefully you can pull your self out of the deep hole? That way you don't keep bowling bad? Just a thought :) I know I've had plenty of times where I throw a couple of bad shots, and the rest of my game, or even my day is blown."
Thanks for the suggestion. I feel like after this past weekend i can certainly say that controlling emotions can go a long way.

1. First and foremost, the game and certainly the tournament, is not over after a few bad shots or a bad game. I see people give up all the time because they threw a bad game or two. Theres no excuse for that. If you are still bowling, you are still in it.

2. Get EVERY SINGLE PIN THAT YOU CAN! If you are having a rough time, its ok to get a little frustrated. But you cant let that frustration take away from your bowling. Ive missed cuts a lot by under ten pins. Missed spare, missed split counts, fill balls, they all contribute.

3. Take it one shot at a time. Each ball you throw is seperate from the last. Focus on that one shot at that one moment. Threw a bad shot? Oh well, focus on the spare, then think about what happened after. This also means that you cant change what happened in the past. You cant change the score, so stop thinking about it.

4, Finally, never give up. Always finish. Leave on a good note, If you are 80 pins off the cut with one game left, then go out there and make 12 great shots. Or if you are completely lost, then make moves and try and figure it out. I missed cut at the Invitational by 9 pins, but i rallied from -73 to -30 when i felt completely lost. Now i know i can do it, but need to work on doing it sooner.

I hope that helps. To say it more bluntly, you just got to force yourself to stay positive. One of the things i do is i tend to "bowl mad." Like, if im bowling bad, i look at the lane as my enemy and i want to kick its ass. So once i line up, i put all my energy towards striking. Not exactly positive, but not negative either.

As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to ask questions about this or any of our posts. We will happily answer the best that we can.

@torchedlane
-Cameron

Mental Game.. PC4 style

“The big difference between great players and good players is behavior, especially in adverse situations. Some players can leave a solid 8 or a solid 9, and it’s like it doesn’t faze them. That sort of behavior is what I think all of us need to strive for. It’s not that I want everybody to go out there and be mechanical or not be emotional."- Norm Duke

The Mental Game, the hardest part to the game of Bowling or any sport for that matter.  In about 97% percent of every bowler and athlete, it is the weakest part of everyone’s “Game” and is the game that will never have a maxium level or a peak to it. The Mental Game is the part of sports that can always improve and grow to help you reach your goals in life.

Some of the things that go into the mental game, is everything that has to do with bowling once you step into the bowling alley for practice, league, or tournaments. It’s a thought process, it’s a routine, it’s whatever you want it to be.  You can make your game however you want it to be, its personal that’s what makes it so great.

I am actually trying to strengthen my mental game at the moment, I am working with a sports psychologist Doc Kolasinski.  She is from Florida and is very knowledgeable about the mental game and it is an absolute honor to be working with her. (the quotes actually came from one of her articles).  If anyone knows me from the past, My mental game is by far the weakest part of my bowling game, It is still today an issue with me and what is holding me back. Now I want my mental game to be the best quality or part of my game, which is the reason  why I’m working with Doc.

Since I gave a little background to my mental game and what my opinions on it so lets get into some of the things I have learned so far during the strengthening and learning of the mental game. First lets start off with books to read, “Focused for Bowling,” “Mind Gym” and the
“Inner game of Tennis”. Although I have not read these books I was suggested to read them and also heard great things about them and the readers learned a lot. I plan on getting to them this summer and read them.

Working with Doc, I have learned from her that the mental game is a five step to a good mental game. There is the 5 areas to the game as I mentioned before:

Area 1: Take responsibility for your performance

Area 2: Control your emotions

Area 3: Control your thinking

Area 4: Focus on the present

Area 5: Committing yourself to constant learning

If you can get these areas of the mental game under control, you will be able to achieve the results you want to achieve.  As I stated before, the mental game is the weakest point of the everyones game and it has no peaks to it.

Taking responsibility for your performance is something that everyone I believe struggles with. Everyone rarely takes responsibility for their performance and it bugs the absolute hell out of me. People point the fingers so many different ways and directions, instead of pointing that finger at the one way it should be… at themselves.  I believe that is where people lose at. They look at the carry the opponent got and rarely look at what they did during that match or throughout the whole tournament. Like I stated before, it is the weakest part of the mental game that everyone has, as well with controlling emotions.

Controlling emotions has always been my weakest part of my game but it is improving and will continue to improve. Showing negative emotion is something you see throughout every level of bowling but it’s apart of being a competitive bowler because you want to succeed but it is something that needs to stop. Im not trying to tell you to go out there and have no emotions but you need to control them and find ways to keep those in check. If you can do this along with controlling the other areas of the mental game, you will find yourself bowling better than ever.

If you ever want to talk the mental game with me, feel free to talk or ask. I’m always looking for ways to help or improve my own mental game.

PC4

" I’m a very emotional person, but I require a certain type of behavior from myself because staying composed brings many benefits. It allows me to keep my heart rate and blood pressure down, which allows me to stay under control. It also shows my competitor that I can handle the situation – and not only can I handle it, but I can handle it and still be a threat, which can scare the heck out of them.” – Norm Duke

Short Patterns 101

Tonight i would like to write about something that i think i feel confident enough to write about. Overall in the last 3 years or so, i have had much success on short patterns. Granted there were times where everything went out the window, but all in all very successful... in the following post, i would like to explain a couple things...first, i would like to overview what short patterns are. secondly, id like to examine how i attack the pattern before i throw a ball and my adjustments throughout the day....and thirdly, hopefully cover ball choice, surface prep and laneplay.


What are "short" patterns?
I guess referring to a pattern as short, medium, or long is all relative....a 39 ft pattern is long compared to a 30ft pattern....However, generally we see short patterns around 35-38 feet in length. The most common and probably well known short pattern is the PBA Cheetah pattern at 35ft. Of course, there are plenty of other short patterns from WTBA, Kegel, etc. I think the shortest ive bowled on was a 33ft WTBA pattern..... JG used WTBA "Beijing" this year. So if you are a top level bowler, you see short patterns fairly regularly. This makes it important to know how to attack one and what to expect.

My gameplan.
After a while, you start to see certain patterns develop while bowling on shorter stuff. One could say that, lane surface aside, most play pretty similar. So, my first thoughts before even throwing a ball is to start as far right as i can. I literally stand on 1-board or in the gutter. Dont be afraid to move really far right. Your mind will force you to keep it on the lane. Because you have around 25ft of backend for the ball to hook, you can expect everything to hook. Couple that with lane surface and you can have some crazy ball reactions. During practice, i try to gauge how the lane surface will play into my ball roll. When the friction is high, i have to adjust for the energy spent earlier and vice versa for harder lane surfaces.

Now, as for adjustments, i find that i rarely ever move my feet or target during the day. When i do, its really only a board or two. I want to keep myself from messing around with the inside, so i try to keep my front target outside of 5 the best i can. I never really find ymself having this problem as outside of 5 stays pretty consistent throughout the day.

Ball choice and surface prep.
The fact that i have two different urethane balls should say something about my preferred ball choice on short patterns. However, ive found success with all different types of ball. I only choose urethane cause it allows for a more controlled approach to the pocket whereas reactive can give a little unpredictability. Remember, urethane isnt a "no hook" ball, it just needs friction to move as it doesnt absorb oil. The only downside to using urethane, is there needs to be a straighter trajectory for the ball to obtain optimal carry. Unless the lane is high friction, i cant really "hook" it from the right. I need to stand right and throw it straight or even a slight right-to-left path. 


Surfaces are key. Polished is usually a no-go on shorter patterns. You need to be able to control backend as there is a ton of it. You might be able to get away with polish if there is low pin. However, polish creates a more violent change in direction so it would be wise just to avoid it completely.  have yet to see anyone really bowl well with polish on short patterns.

Laneplay.
I sort of addressed this in the "My Gameplan" section, but there is a issue ive been struggling with that i want to put out there. We all know that patterns break down. We see it all the time. However, i still have a hard time understanding the breakdown of short patterns. I think if you are in the right area with the right ball, you will see very little breakdown. As ive said before, moving left could spell trouble, especially if you are not used to throwing at the gutter. Add to the fact that not everyone can play as right as others, moving during a block is very uncommon. At JG, the only time i had to really adjust is when the 1 board didnt hook on a pair i hit and had to switch to reactive. Other than that, i stayed in the same place the entire block. If anything, i made accidental moves left and had to realign myself right.

Conclusion.
Overall, short patterns are fairly straight forward if everything is done correctly. One of the best things you can do is to practice throwing it up the gutter. Even if a shot isnt there,just practice it. Make sure your ball is 5 and out both at the arrows and down lane. Also consider picking up a urethane ball. There are at least 3 different companies making urethane, which shows that people are understanding the benefit on having one. Finally, remember that the more controlled ball reaction you have, the less chance of leaving wide open splits. Because of the amount of friction, uncontrollable ball reactions can cause some ugly games.

As always, thanks for reading. I sometimes tend to not make sense or give false info, so if there are any questions or comments, feel free to ask and i will give my best answer.
-Cameron
"I dig the urethane!"

Losing weight

I said i would follow up on my weight loss goal so here it is. I thought about making a sister blog just for this but decided against it, choosing to just post updates now and then here.

Basically im looking to shed about 20-30 pounds by the time i head back to school. I have lost weight in the past so i know i can do it. However, it will be hard getting back into the healthy habits i had way back when. So, to help myself achieve that goal, ive set some rules. These rules are subject to change including adding and subtracting, but overall these are what im going to abide by.

1. My official weighing everyday will take place in the morning after my shower. I will only wear underwear and sometimes a shirt to determine a true weight. I will weigh myself at the gym purely for satisfying curiosity.

2. Water only. Restaurants, bowling, traveling, home, etc. Purely water. There are some exceptions. I can use 0-cal enhancers like Mio, and can replace water with unsweetened teas. The only time i will allow myself to not drink water is when im making mixed drinks (rum and cokes etc) as those are only once in a while. Even fruit juice will be cut back, unless i drink some OJ for breakfast. Thats at my discretion.

3. There will be certain foods that will be avoided completely and some that will be extremely cut back. Ive decided to completely eliminate Mayo from my diet. This includes mayo based sauces as well (big mac sauce.) Along with eliminating mayo, im going to do my best to cut back on cream based dressing and sauces as well. (caeser dressing, ranch, alfredo, etc.)

4. I will try to keep a record of everything i eat. This will hopefully give me a better idea of how many calories i actually consume on a daily basis.

5. Finally, im going to have to force myself to plainly eat less. There will be times where i cant avoid unhealthy foods, but the detrimental effects can be avoided if i just eat less. So for example, instead of 6 tacos from Jack, only 4. this saves nearly 400 cals.

A few strategies i plan to deploy include:

- Sugar free lattes. Saves 50 cals per drink.
- Always having a water bottle around to drink out of
- Been reading that green tea increases metabolism slightly, so i am looking into that.
- Working out at least 3 times a week, including at least 45 mins of weight-loss speed cardio.
- Eating nuts and fruit as snacks instead of chips and cookies.
- Fish fish and fish.

Basically, there is no specific diet i plan to follow, just a few rules that will cut back on intake and increase burn. I look forward to executing my plan and perhaps i may enjoy it. Perhaps i may find new things that i like.

Thanks for reading
-Cameron
"Hard work sucks"

Offseason Goals, Plans...

Seeing as it is the "offseason" for college bowling, it is time to take a look what i can do to better myself for next season. As of right now, college bowling IS the most important part of my bowling career right now, so everything will be geared around that.

One of the first things that i would like to do is to create a workout regiment and stick to it. I have a history of stop and go gym time, which i would like stop. This workout regiment should help with upping my endurance, overall strength, and weight loss. Along with gym time, this also includes general activities like basketball (anybody want to hoop it up?) and hopefully, some tennis. I thought about trying something like p90x or other systems, but i think i want to do my own thing. I will probably pick up some light free weights and a mat to do some things at home when i am bored.

My plan for this is to use a combination of a liberal food journal and the outreach of this blog. Weighing everyday, tracking caloric intake along with fat intake and then output at the gym and time spent doing activities. This also includes eating better. No specific diet, just watching out for the problem foods and learning to like new things. I still plan to eat the stuff i normally do (jack in the box tacos) but less of them and less often. More detail will come at a later post.

Along with the "diet" and exercise, working on my bowling game is pretty important too. My main focus this summer will be to work on my targeting system and getting my moves down. People say im good (crazy) but this will hopefully improve my game to the point of where i have less bad shots throughtout a series. Other than that, working on leverage could also give a huge boost. This is mostly at the line and keeping my head steady throughout the approach. After that, anything that comes up will be tackled accordingly.

Those are the two most important goals for me this summer. I feel if i can stay with it, my game and confidence going into school in september will be elevated. Something else i would love to achieve is to win a major tournament this summer. JBT invite, TPC, LVO, or JWTC come to mind. I am tired of taking second in every big match. If i make it to the final of any of these, watch out, cause im bringing everything i got.

I would also like to learn a new skill or sport. I still plan on building that horseshoe court, but tennis, hockey, basketball are also on the radar. Maybe curling? is there still a club in seattle? anybody down for that?

So all in all, this summer will focus on physical activity. Just trying to better myself.

As always, Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your goals in the comment section as well.
-Cameron
"Tearin' down the wall!"

College Bowling

Hey everybody, sorry that I have not been keeping up on the blog. it's been a busy year for sure, but as like cameron I have had time to write a blog up... I just never sat down and did it, so I apologize for that.

well lets see where to begin, I won't do a full season recap of tournaments and finishes but maybe just somethings i noticed that were different from singles to team bowling on a regular basis.

Equipment:

One thing that I have noticed is a lot college bowling is not about the high end stuff. like your nanos, nexus, world beaters..etc. it's a whole different game, I mean granted you still see some of those rocks out at the tournaments but you can't throw them all day as you would say compared to a JBT or what not. The lane develops really fast and begins to transition really fast to where you won't score with a high end ball because of the 5 man 6 or so game blocks. I have noticed that your middle end and low end stuff is where you want to be for equipment in bowling.

Lane Play:

College bowling is not about playing the lane how you want to play the lane, it's about playing the lane the same with your teammates and breaking it down to your strengths, granted its not always going to work that way but all of the successful teams in college bowling play the lane the same way. The lane develops very fast as i have said before, for a 6 game block you end up in front of the ball return or up next to it playing around 5th arrow or deeper. there have been plenty of times where we have had to loft the ball to the arrows to get the ball to finish through the pocket.

As cameron stated in his post, there is no hey let's see how this ball might do type of thing like you can in a singles competition. its pretty much you are throwing what the coach wants you to throw, granted you can make a suggestion and talk about it but for the most part there is no lets do it on your own type of thing.

Sectionals is around the corner and everyone is working hard to earn that trip to Lincoln NE for nationals. should be a fun time for sure... if you get the chance to experience college bowling. take the offer and the opportunity, its worth it.

Sorry for the extra long delay.

if you have any questions or suggestions for a topic let me know!

Perry

Welcome back perhaps maybe

One of the first things I want to say for my first post back is that I apologize for just dropping off the face of the planet in terms of blogging. I am not going to sit here and make up excuses saying that I’ve been busy with school, bowling, life etc. I have had the time, but I just never sat down to write it out. Certainly there have been many things to talk about over the last few months. There has been many college tournaments, numerous practice sessions, and plenty of adventures off the lanes. So, I have been sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write about. Since it would be hard to give play by play on all the tournaments, in this post, I’ll try to sum up some things I noticed throughout the year. So heeeeeeere we go!

I have found throughout the year how a different bowler I am during college tournaments than say regular singles events. First of all, in collegiate, you have 4 other teammates all bowling with you and a coach watching every shot thrown. Now, what seemed to bug me is that whole coach thing. Growing up a singles bowler, I never had to relay information or talk it out with anyone. I’ve also never really have been taken out. Lets face it, no one wants to be taken out of the game. But with 8 bowlers on a squad and 5 doing the bowling, it’s something that’s going to happen to everyone.

Now, I will do anything it takes to win or help the team win. I have been taken out many times and just took it in stride. I was always prepared to jump back in if I had to. Pride is something I have to swallow for the good of the team. But at the same time, I feel as though I could potentially put up big numbers if I was given a “second chance.” However, I am sure that everyone has that same thinking and obviously it is never always correct.

I want to leave that there so this doesn’t turn into a rant. The other side of my “problem” is that when I have 7 other teammates and a coach watching, I feel I “cant” do some of the things that makes me bowl well during singles stuff. It is hard to explain, its almost like I have little freedom to experiment. It comes down to me wanting to not disappoint anyone on the team or the coach. I am afraid to make the moves that I would make otherwise, or switch to the ball that I have a feeling will work. Being a feel bowler and trying to be technical during tournaments do not mix. Then the fear of being pulled comes into play. I feel if I make a move that is seen as weird or strange and it doesn’t work right away, I am done for the day. It’s not the right thinking, but its always there.

As for general lane play, with the exception of a couple tournaments, the oil broke down the same way. Usually the say starts out tight until about the 5th frame when things start to open up. Then it is just moving to the left and balling down the rest of the day. It almost is as simple as it sounds. People will tell you college bowling is just that. One of the best things to learn is staying ahead of the moves and reading each others ball reaction to get a feel. This minimizes misses and opens which add up fast. A move one frame early is 40-50 pins a game for the team. Over 6 games that’s 300 pins.

So that is just whats on my mind and felt like putting down. I am not happy that I didn’t give recaps for every tournament as that could’ve been very cool. Perhaps next season. As for now, my teammates and I are preparing for our trip to sectionals where we will try to qualify for nationals in April. This is also where national singles qualifying will take place. So this week I will be working hard as im sure Perry will be too. As the week goes on, ill start to try and put some ideas on paper to get on the blog. There is just so much information not to put on the blog.

Thanks for sticking by us.
-Cameron