What do bowlers who win tournaments and bowlers who miss cuts have in common? Goals. By themselves, goals don’t really mean anything. Anyone who wants to achieve something needs to take action. This article is about the actions you can take when preparing for a tournament in order to achieve your best possible results.
We’ll start with a discussion on getting started with your training plan and then go into the details of what and how to practice for each week leading up to tournaments. We have used this to great success in my training with international players and refined it to a six-week system that gives us the best chance of achieving our goals.
Getting started
Preparation for a major tournament (or series of tournaments) begins with establishing your expectations, establishing what you need in order to achieve those goals, and then determining how much time you actually have to prepare. Ideally, this process starts at least six weeks prior to a major event, such as the USBC Open Championships, your first national or regional PBA event, or in the case of my athletes, international competition.
Goals
First, let’s start by understanding that your scoring average and your finishing position are results, and they are out of your control. Harder-than-expected conditions can make a scoring average goal impossible, and easier conditions can make that goal seem silly. Your finishing position depends greatly on what everyone else does around you. These aren’t fully in your control.
What you can control is your execution, your decision-making on the lanes, your adjustments to hit the pocket, and making your spares. These aspects of your performance are what you can control, and they are the focus of how you should prepare. Performing your best doesn’t mean you’ll win, but it improves your chances. Take care of yourself, do what you can do, and see what ...
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