Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Darkness Has Become Light --- A Bowling Article By Larry Ely

Darkness has become light!

I want you to put your hands in the air like you don’t care and say, “I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT”!!  Can I get a hallelujah?!!

Instead of telling you all of the things I did during my “Blackout”, let me just cut right to the chase and let you know that I have come to a certain understanding.

That understanding is that what I have actually been doing all year long by changing this and changing that is developing my “A Game”.  As you have been listening to all of this all of this time are a bunch of variations in timing, speed, body position and release, none of which could be called an “A Game”.  I can do a lot of things and make the ball react many, many ways, but I have not been able to do any of them consistently well.  In other words I have changed so much and so many times that I am always dealing with  “B to G Games”.  It is now time to perfect one of them that I can call my “A Game” and then go from there to develop maybe one other game that I call my “B Game”.  Otherwise I will continue to go round and round and round on the Merry-Go-Round.

Also, I have finally realized what I do to a bowling ball.  I did not think that I did as much as what I do, but now I realize that I basically “torque the livin’ s—t” out of the ball.  No wonder I cannot keep it on the lane!!  That is why my “A Game” will be a release that is in between ripping it and going dead straight up the back of the ball.  That particular release for me is the ball in the palm of my hand with my wrist slightly cocked in and just let it roll off from that position.  That way I do not get too much reaction, but enough reaction to hit the pocket on a good angle and hit hard.  This release is also one that is the most comfortable for me and the most consistent.  Now that the decision has been made I just need to perfect it.

The “B Game” that I will try to perfect later will be the straight shot up the back of the ball.  This is very difficult for me, because I am like the baseball pitcher that cannot throw anything straight.  In other words no matter what I do I make the ball hook to a certain extent.  However, I think that I need to teach myself this one, because there are times when I need to be able to throw the ball straight.

It does not do me any good to be a “Jack of All Trades” and not an expert at any of them.  If I can perfect an “A Game” and then a “B Game”, I think I will be much better off.

In order to accomplish this for next season I have decided not to bowl any leagues this summer and just practice, practice, practice in order to perfect these two versions.  There is a pass available to be able to bowl 3 games a day from May 21st to September 3rd at a few different houses that will help me to get this done.  Just go to bowlsummergames.com, put in your zip code and you should see two different prices to get two different deals.  One is for three games a week and the other is for three games a day and it shows you the various houses that are participating.

It only took a few years for me to get through to myself, but at least I finally did!!

Larry Ely

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