This is the first person I've really worked with for any length of time. Him and his dad came to me about 3 years ago when his hand was really chewed up. 11 years old, fingertip grip, he was fit with 1/8 forward in his fingers and 3/8 reverse on a span of 3 1/2. Already showed some promise, but I fixed his fit and then we went whole hog on developing his skill. Had a whole lot of discussions about everything, and a whole lot more to come, but he's now bowling everything from Junior Gold to Teen Masters, to every local tournament, and most of the regional ones (5 to 6 hour any direction). He's 14, and I only got a video of one shot, but it was at our home house and I was trying to catch several local kids. Local Youth Masters tournament, I believe they were bowling on Boardwalk, but I'm not too sure on that one, I know it was sport compliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI3SLnXfIUoBiggest problem right now is his mental game. He's good enough physically that his scores are going up significantly, but they're kind of a distraction at this point. If he gets tapped or something, he gets frustrated pretty quick, and if he misses the spare, he can fall apart for a bit. No honor scores, but he's been close several times, he just has problems controlling his excitement, he gets amped up and starts focusing on the score potential rather than his shot. Going to get a copy of Head Games in his hands, and really hit the mental game hard this summer before he goes to Jr Gold, will be his last year in the 14 and under division, so he would really like to make the cut and put a high finish on the board. I think he can do it, just need to keep him settled down. If I can swing it, I may even try to go with them.
For the most part it's becoming more and more hands off, but that was kind of the intent. I've always thought that if you can get people to understand concepts, that you can teach them to teach themselves. So we'll talk about something, get the concept down, get him on track, and then let him work on it. If someone is just doing drills or something without understanding why they're doing them, they can get off track or lose motivation if they don't see the point. I see way too many people who work too often with coaches, and then get dependent on that coach for everything, then can't seem to function or adjust well if that coach isn't there telling them what to do. I want to drill the point home, and see how he interprets it or let him naturally develop the way he's going to do it and then just fine tune it, or make sure the goal is clear, and let him work his way towards it rather than forcing him to go the way I think he should. Over the last couple years, it had been talking and setting foundation work every couple days, and gradually it went to once a week, now it's about once a month. So far it's been working really well. Few adjustments here, little clarification there, and for only being 14 and not even into high school bowling yet, he's really pretty good. The mechanics are solid, and he knows he can trust them, now we'll probably go back to once or twice a week on mental game for a month or two and see how that works.
At the same time, this kid is highly motivated and has put in the work. I talk with his dad almost more than I talk with him, and his dad is the one that keeps track of what's going on day to day, the big source of support and reinforcement. They trust me, but they ask a lot of the right questions, they pay attention, and if something confuses them or they see something different than what I see, they'll challenge me or question me about it. It hasn't been "easy" so to speak, because several counter-intuitive things like, "well I took the ball to 1000 grit from 3000 and it's hooking less, why is that?" have created some pretty deep conversations, but it's also challenged me to explain concepts better. It's been a successful situation so far, but again, the motivation level from everyone has been pretty high, so that makes it a lot easier, and it's been fun. Actually get to bowl against him this summer in a Jr Gold preparation league, looking forward to it!
