Taking a Bowling Skills Inventory

Last month’s article was a discussion on goal-setting, including both the two basic categories of goals and a way to visualize them as a path to success. The starting point of this path is as critical as the work you plan to put in. Determination of your starting point involves an objective assessment of your abilities.

In my article from April 2015, Charting a Path to Success, I took a brief look at performance factors related to goals and outcomes. With last month’s in-depth look at goal setting, the time has come to look at how to assess your own skills and determine your starting point relative to your goals.

The three areas of skill

There are a few different ways to look at the skills you need as a bowler, and anyone who has followed my articles over the past few years will know that I divide them into three general areas:

1. Technical
2. Tactical
3. Mental

Let’s look at each of these one-by-one in more detail.

Technical

Most people associate the word “technical” with the information about a bowling ball, but that is not the technical skill I’m talking about. The word “technical” is actually related to the word “technique” and it is in that sense that I use the word. Any skills related to your physical game are technical skills. These are some of the most obvious areas that people ...