Teaching my wife to bowl

[EL3MCNEIL]

I'm teaching my wife to bowl because she wants to start bowling league with me. She has a tendency to reverse wrist thing when she throws the ball and it's difficult to get her out of that habit. She reverts to it when she starts over thinking her approach. Any advice on how to work it out with her or is it just a matter of lots of practice until she gets everything down?

[Gene J Kanak]

As far as her throwing a back-up ball is concerned, I would look at the results she is getting while doing so. If she does it consistently and gets decent results, I wouldn't worry about changing it. Sure, I wouldn't teach someone to throw the ball that way, but I grew up watching a lot of bowlers, particularly women, throw the back-up ball with a lot of success. If it's something she handles well, I don't know if I'd bother trying to convert her.

Additionally, be wary of coaching a spouse. My wife bowled mixed leagues with me for a few years, and it was a very tenuous situation. If I suggested she make this adjustment or that adjustment, she claimed I was confusing her. If I didn't make any suggestions, she claimed that I was just leaving her hanging out to dry and not helping her. Obviously, it was a bit frustrating for both of us. As such, if she wants to learn, I would consider having somebody else coach her. For some reason, most husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends, etc. seem to take instruction better from strangers. Now, maybe you and your spouse work better together than most. I'm just telling you what I've seen and experienced. In any event, good luck to both of you!

[milorafferty]

As far as her throwing a back-up ball is concerned, I would look at the results she is getting while doing so. If she does it consistently and gets decent results, I wouldn't worry about changing it. Sure, I wouldn't teach someone to throw the ball that way, but I grew up watching a lot of bowlers, particularly women, throw the back-up ball with a lot of success. If it's something she handles well, I don't know if I'd bother trying to convert her.

Additionally, be wary of coaching a spouse. My wife bowled mixed leagues with me for a few years, and it was a very tenuous situation. If I suggested she make this adjustment or that adjustment, she claimed I was confusing her. If I didn't make any suggestions, she claimed that I was just leaving her hanging out to dry and not helping her. Obviously, it was a bit frustrating for both of us. As such, if she wants to learn, I would consider having somebody else coach her. For some reason, most husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends, etc. seem to take instruction better from strangers. Now, maybe you and your spouse work better together than most. I'm just telling you what I've seen and experienced. In any event, good luck to both of you!

I've noticed the same thing about spouses/significant others trying to coach. It rarely seems to work.


I suspect that once they have seen the other one naked, they no longer have respect for their opinion. 

[trash heap]

I suspect that once they have seen the other one naked, they no longer have respect for their opinion. 

LOL!

[charlest]

I've noticed the same thing about spouses/significant others trying to coach. It rarely seems to work.

I'll go along with that, +1, 234, 567, 890.

If you want a divorce or worse, coach your spouse.

[milorafferty]

I've noticed the same thing about spouses/significant others trying to coach. It rarely seems to work.

I'll go along with that, +1, 234, 567, 890.

If you want a divorce or worse, coach your spouse.

I remember a couple(late 50's/early 60's) in Reno at the stadium a couple of years ago. When I first saw them, they were walking away from me. They had on identical shirts with their names on the back like a lot of bowlers do.

A bit later I saw the wife walking toward me and on the front of her shirt it said; "Please don't yell at me." It didn't make sense to me at first, then a few minutes later, I saw the husband from the front and his shirt said in big, bold, all caps letters; "I'M NOT YELLING!!!"



 

[SVstar34]

I got my girlfriend into bowling last year and we bowled a mixed league togetger this past season and we actually bowl at least twice a week together.
She's not a fan when my grandfather tries to help her she says she gets lost with all the different things. I've noticed that if I keep things simple and only suggest trying 1 thing at a time she seems to do better.

I guess it also depends on the mind set, my girlfriend wants to improve but she's not expecting to be perfect and I just try to get her to the point where she's happy with how well she's doing .

She started right around a 100 average and finished with a 125 average over 62 games. This summer she's been closer to 150 and almost got her first clean game and 200

[Impending Doom]

Me paying someone else to coach her is much cheaper than a lawyer. I've tried these things.

[mrfrostee]

My wife started bowling many years ago with me in mixed leagues. In the beginning she would literally hold the ball over her head on her approach. I would give her pointers here and there and over the years there have been some very frustrating times to say the least. Now she carries a higher average than me and is in the 2 teens.

[byronk]

My wifes been bowling alot longer than me but didnt really improve till I got into it. Now she has new equiptment thats been drilled by someone who knows what they're doing and her average has come up 20 pins in the last year. We bowl in league together and practice at least once a week. I do help her get lined up and tell her if she's doing something obvious that needs to be fixed and we have no issuse at all, she actually perfers to bowl with me and does better when im there to help her if shes struggling.

[byronk]

Oh and to the OP. My wife started out throwing a back up ball. Over the years shes taken it appon herselft to learn how to hook the ball properly. Once she was commited to it she had very little problem adjusting to the change.

[St. Croix]

I agree with all the comments on the difficulty of instructing your wife. My wife and I bowled for several years in a husband /wife league. Fortunately, the wife of the other couple on our team was a terrific bowler, so Mary listened to her advice and ignored my advice which was similar.

Beside instructing at bowling, the other activity that a husband and wife should avoid is hanging wallpaper together---extremely dangerous.

[EL3MCNEIL]

Thanks for the advice. I tried to get my wife to get someone else to teach her but she insists on me because she likes how I bowl. Plus we are both enlisted Marines so we shouldn't have any difficulty with the listening department. Been going well the last 5 years.