I remember when i switched from juniors to adults, my first time bowling in adults i felt like a little boy, like i wasn't able to compete or belong. All these big strong men and then i was there, a 18 yr old left hander who noone knew. It took me over a year to really start feeling comfortable bowling at an adult level and a feeling of belonging. It took me having to win a big regional sweeper to really get the feeling i can compete here. I'm sure everyone, or most everyone had that same feeling seeing a big 6'5 brute cranking the entire lane, and thinking man if i wanna compete i have to do this or that or change this and that. Falling into that trap put me in the biggest slump i've ever been in while bowling, over 5-6 months.
I am asking this because i have a team as i have mentioned before on a tuesday night allstar classic, probably going to be the biggest league in the area. I made a team of friends who would want to bowl together for a long time and have fun, all of them were dominant and i mean dominant junior bowlers. All of them but me have at least two 800's and we all have a handful of 300's before any of us were 17. We all took turns winning junior tournaments in the area. We all have talent, all of them are talented. But i know their going to go thru the same shellshock i did switching over. This will be their first adult experience seeing some of the best bowlers this region has to offer. Watching them toss string after string at them, as juniors we see good bowlers, but rarely do we see calm, collected machines like many adult scratch bowlers are.
I want to give my team the best chance to succeed, i've been trying to get them to bowl in some adult tournaments just to get them alittle used to it but many have work and stuff its still summer. Should i just leave well enough alone and let them work themselves in slowly and get used to it. Should i offer any advice on how to deal or how to stay within themselves?
Any comments or anecdotes on when you first went to adults would be appreciated. Just wanted to 1-stir conversation and 2-maybe see if anyone had any ideas on if i can speed along the learning process.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane