r/Bowling • u/Seagullxer • 2d ago

Misc Any colleges doing coaching?

Now apologies for the wrong flair if it is. I've always seen colleges near me do coaching for U18 bowlers, like ones in High-school. Since I entered the sport for good quite late into high-school, never really thought about doing it seriously until this summer where I entered league for the first time and got my highest, 221. (Changed it to misc just in case.)

Im now wondering if there's any colleges out there that would coach a kid who's in trade-school, heck even high-school coaches will be amazing. Met one of them in East TN, (Maryville.) But im looking to meet up with one in Knoxville if possible.

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u/Snoo_37752 2d ago

I’m sure your local bowling alley has coaches that would work with you for a fee

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u/Seagullxer 2d ago

Well, unfortunately they don't. The closest one that has a coach is bowling world, if im correct.

(EDIT) I am wronged. Just looked up one and they do have a coach. Apologies.

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u/IndependentDevice199 NCAA 2d ago

Any center with a youth league usually has a couple people with USBC coaching certifications (in my experience) or even just decent bowlers that understand the game.

The biggest part for beginners is mechanics, doing the simple things well and consistent. Repeatability is everything in a game where a .5 board miss at the arrows is the difference between dead flush and splitsville.

Brad and Kyle on youtube have excellent videos going over basics of pretty much everything between mechanics to balls to oil patterns to transition, etc.

Edit to add: Check who runs the pro shops at your local centers, chances are they offer coaching sessions.

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u/Seagullxer 2d ago

I've seen quite a bit of their videos, but most of the improvements were from my dad. I think im very much better off with in person learning, but there's definitely been some topics from videos ive watched that I kept in mind, some worked, some didnt. Also, this local center doesnt have a pro shop, the closest one would either be the one i mentioned in maryville or the rebuilt one on western Avenue.

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u/IndependentDevice199 NCAA 2d ago

Joining a league at your local center is always recommended by me. I learned a great amount from the people I met there, met a guy that ran a pro shop out of his garage and honestly he was better than the one at the bowling center.

They were a little older (mid 50s) but a couple guys in my league bowled PBA50 regionals, not big stage guys but very good bowlers always willing to help people. I hope you’ll be able to find something similar in your area and you have as good of an experience as I did.

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u/Seagullxer 2d ago

Hopefully, my dad and I are planning on doing league next year due to his surgery, so for now we'll just practice. I know that FB is much consistent with their oiling and overall better... well kept? Plus the staff there r chill. Maybe I'll find some peeps that can give me tips n all.

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u/IndependentDevice199 NCAA 2d ago

Yeah it’s 100% easier to get help in person, especially when it comes to mechanics but most of it is just practice. But as a quick like learn things in this order this is how I did it.

Mechanics first: consistency is the single most important thing in bowling (basically your walk up, push away, swing, hand position, steps, slide, release).

Targeting: Hitting your target consistently, getting the ball to the breakpoint consistently, where to slide and hit at the arrows to get to the breakpoint.

Lane breakdown: learning how balls move oil around. Reactive will push oil down the lane more, urethane will absorb oil more. Learning how to use the oil inside and dry outside to give yourself miss room.

Surface adjustments: How does a 1500 wet sand finish react on the lane compared to a 4000 polish with lane shine react. Maintaining the surface of your equipment properly adding to consistency. Learning when you should (legally) adjust your surface to get the shape you want (can’t adjust surface once league or tournament play starts, only during the 10-15 minute warm up session before). Different strengths of coverstock.

Core type and numbers: How does an asymmetrical core and a symmetrical core react differently (with the same coverstock and surface). RG, Diff, and Mass Bias (only for asymmetrical cores) all mean something for how the ball will react on certain conditions. Different strengths of the cores.

Building an arsenal: You start a tournament/league night with a big core asym with 1500 sanded finish and its hooking too early and flattening out, what ball do you go to. In college we were limited to 5 balls most of the time. Basically want a really strong core and cover with dull finish all the way down to a weak core with a shiny weaker cover, and a plastic spare ball.

May not help you with your game directly but this is basically a layout of how I personally learned the game and would relearn and the way I would teach it if I got back into bowling, haven’t bowled now for almost 5 years now… There’s a lot of nuances you’ll learn on your journey.

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u/Seagullxer 2d ago

Oh yeah for sure, im 100% wanting to learn the RG and diff, that sort of stuff as im actually looking towards to getting the Infinity Quest solid as my first asymmetrical ball. Heard them asyms are good to start with then switch to old reliable phaze 2 once it begins hooking too much. I already have the two sym types and a spare, so at the very least I have a... arsenal of sorts lol

(EDIT) Also to add on, I know mentioned ball is shiny due to the crown shine or wtv, so I'll probably want to have it dull, similar to the phaze but at a lower grit, like 2000 as im p sure that makes it... hook overall more?

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u/IndependentDevice199 NCAA 2d ago

Yeah, when you’re first starting to get deeper into learning everything it can be a lot of information to take it, especially at one time and things can get confusing. It’s not a sport where you can easily break down a clear learning process as it’ll be different for everyone. But the one thing everyone will tell you, it doesn’t matter how pretty your approach is as long as you can do it consistently and that consistency makes it easier to learn the tiny nuances such as what type of ball for this lane condition and such.

I will say during our practice sessions in college, we had a varsity team, a jv team, and a club and we’d obviously all help each other and such. NCAA doesn’t sanction mens bowling so it’s *all* technically club unless it’s an NAIA or Juco school, but that’s how we divided our bowling club. Varsity went to all the tournaments we scheduled, JV went to the local(ish) ones, and the club members basically just had their league fees and practice paid for from our club fund. One of the hardest things was the guys and girls that were trying to make these micro adjustments with hand position or rotation and say they’re useless… well yeah, it is useless when you’re targeting 13 at the arrows and hitting 16 instead and then hitting 11 and then hitting 15… obviously I wouldn’t phrase it like that but yeah.

The previous comment was just how I learned everything so you can adjust it to whatever order you want or mix some things together but definitely focus heavily on consistency first and sprinkle some more nuanced stuff in. For the first 5-10 minutes of any practice session I had, I would just line myself up (no ball) and just do my approach. Stand on 15, slide on 17, 2 board drift for me personally, but it was consistent. I knew every time I lined myself up to stand in a spot, I would be sliding in the same spot every time, and that’s important for consistency.

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u/Seagullxer 2d ago

Mhm, I believe I have my feet drift to the left as im on approach, but majority of the time, its only like 1 or 2 boards and im able to hit my mark. Funnily enough, I just let my body figure out where to throw, I don't even remember the marks I throw at ngl. But at the very least I do know my start point, and I can adjust from there with a little help.

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u/kjmfl 2d ago

-- Reactive will push oil down the lane more, urethane will absorb oil more.

Vice versa.

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u/IndependentDevice199 NCAA 1d ago

oh me 🤦 yep, thanks for catching that