Attanding a Bowling Clinic - An investment?

Spook SG

Many new bolwers come into bowling bcoz of the initial thrill by the strikes.

Get addicted, have some spare cash and what we called monkey see monkey do syndrome..........walked into proshop and ask pro-shop operators to reccommend a bolwing ball.

And the Bowling journey beggins, few would consider taking up a proper lessons or bowling clinic.

Is this a wise move? Not quite. longer journey and may even pick up some wrong and bad habbits.

Fortunately, things have changed over the years, some schools are taking initiative to engage coaches for their students, SBF is also organising Leagues for students.

We do see more better youth bowlers compared to say 5-10 years back.

Hence it pays to pay for bowling lessons, instead of rolling the $$$$ into the gutters, its just where to get good coaches.

enginboi SG

ya i agree with you totally, you cant learn to bowl just by buying a ball, this trail and error technique will mostly result in obtaining alot of improper or bad techniques and habits, in fact i am exactly like that, i waited for 2 years before i get proper coaching, and after that, i was told of so many bad habits that i had to change, but fortunately, i past that stage already.

So it is indeed worth it to take some proper bowling lessons, but beware, please get a proper bowling coach. Well, in recent years there is a new certification from ABF(asian bowling federation) which truely test if a coach could coach!!! now quite a number of these so called SBF certified coaches are taking and failed this course. Only the really capable ones will pass. So always look for a ABF certified level coach.

jae SG

i agree that good coaching is definitely better than having good equipment.
went through almost the same process as engineboi, except that i still have many bad habits...
basically the rate of coaching is quite high, especially for a long run, and till only then we can see the result of training and going through the pain of a different set of 're-muscle-memorying', impatient and stingy ppl like me can't bear to.

enginboi SG

ya lor, actually it is very very difficult to kick old habits, as we say, old habits die hard. So it is actually easier if u can learn the right things from the coach by taking formal coaching. But very ex la, bowling is an expensive sports by itself. No choice. But sometimes trial and error by yourself may just get you very frustrated sometimes too. So got pros and cons. for me, no matter how i trial error, i dun get wat i wan, so ultimately i stil get coaching, back to square one...haha

harmzuay SG

going through the pain of a different set of 're-muscle-memorying'

Funny you should say this, Jae (Long time no see!). Muscle memory is the only thing that prevents me from forgetting how to bowl.

Its definitely worth it though, good coaching. I'm one of those trial-and-error bowlers who never got official/good coaching until my playstyle was more of less ingrained. I 'coached' myself from observing others and video tapes (no VCD or DVDs or downloaded videos then Twisted Evil ).

Like Jae, I have my share of bad habits that surface when I play nowadays. Every bowler has some. Its not the technically perfect bowlers that do well. Its the consistent ones that collect that honour.

But remember: being technically correct helps a lot.
I can't stress this enough. So yes - a good coaching clinic is always worth it if you're serious about your game. Cool

jae SG

hey, Harmy(i remember you dun like us calling u that!)
hm, i din say muscle memory, but rather 're-musle' memory-ing.
I refer to that the 'correction' of our bowling technique if we go for coaching will affect us in the short term, as our body is not used to the corrected movement yet...

harmzuay SG

Yeah, you didn't say muscle memory in the way I mentioned. But it did remind me of a word not many people use now.

It defers from person to person, but in general it'll take 4-6 hours of quality repetitions of the same movement to 're-programme' muscle memory. Obviously, the more in-grained the previous action is, the longer it'll take.

And there should be absolutely no other action performed during the 're-programming' phase. That means that if you're working on a primary release, you do that only. No switching to a spare release / alternate playstyle for the entire length of practice. I see too many people too often do diffferent things while training. I know its tempting to, but nobody ever said it was easy. Twisted Evil

enginboi SG

ya very tempting indeed, i tend to do that sometimes too, i not so patient, haha, but i did read from a very famous coach in US, his name is Ron something, he says it can be progressive, not necressary must do same thing for hours, he says if u trying a new release, start at the foul line, stationary, with with a small swing, do for some time, then progress to a bigger swing, then do one step and release, and work all the way slowly back to your start line. but anytme when you are feeling that your release is changing, you should go back one step to the fundamentals again. so this wont be so boring and after a couple of training, it will be build into your muscles memory

Armadillo SG

[quote]Originally posted by enginboi:
ya i agree with you totally, you cant learn to bowl just by buying a ball, this trail and error technique will mostly result in obtaining alot of improper or bad techniques and habits, in fact i am exactly like that, i waited for 2 years before i get proper coaching, and after that, i was told of so many bad habits that i had to change, but fortunately, i past that stage already.

[b]So it is indeed worth it to take some proper bowling lessons, but beware, please get a proper bowling coach. Well, do not trust the SBF(singapore bowling federation) certified coach, those coaches are of very low quality, always anyone that signed up and attend the few day course would pass and get that certificate. in fact, in recent years there is a new certification from ABF(asian bowling federation) which truely test if a coach could coach!!! now a lot of these so called SBF certified coaches are taking and failed this course. Only the really capable ones will pass. So always look for a ABF certified level coach. Surprised

happen to c your comments......was wondering
1. how much u knew abt the coaching certification with SBF??? Shocked U mean u sign up the course & got certified by juz attending few days course & become a qualify coach w SBF certification??? Shocked Mind u, attending a few days course does not make u a qualify coach w SBF. Mad In facts, there r much more to these.
2. Wat do u know abt the dif btween SBF or ABF coaching certification procedure??? Confused Btw, u have no idea at all....so I suggest u do ur research b4 making such comments. Best is u write whatever ur comments to SBF & find out urself........ Cool Cool Cool

Spook SG

Hmmmm,

For this Armadillo comment is fair i think, not to rule out that there are some very good bowlers who can become good coach after the certification, do not rule them out just as yet, the certification is just a process, or an indication that he/she has surpass certain level of knowlwge, not a guarantee for a good coach i should say.

Its the same whether a degree holder is not guaranteed a teacher. its just that he had completed and passed his courses.

What makes a good coach then?

I can only states some qualities of a good coach.
He/she who have the technical and theoritical knowledge, a pair of sharp eyes to spots errors, a good advising guide, know what he is doing.............................................................................etc.....

He who can bring life back from a half dead horse....hahahahaha

In EPL, there are quite a few ya...heehheheehee

AF,AW,JM,RF, AP,SP, etc.............

Aiya, for beginners to intermidiate in bowling....do not set to high expectation lor

enginboi SG

Originally posted by Armadillo:

happen to c your comments......was wondering
1. how much u knew abt the coaching certification with SBF??? Shocked U mean u sign up the course & got certified by juz attending few days course & become a qualify coach w SBF certification??? Shocked Mind u, attending a few days course does not make u a qualify coach w SBF. Mad In facts, there r much more to these.

2. Wat do u know abt the dif btween SBF or ABF coaching certification procedure??? Confused Btw, u have no idea at all....so I suggest u do ur research b4 making such comments. Best is u write whatever ur comments to SBF & find out urself........ Cool Cool Cool [/b]

wat makes you think i dunno the procedure?? i can even tell you who teach the course, how much is the course, how many days is the course, wat is in the exam, how many mcq questions, how they test the coaching components, which coaches took the test, who pass, who fail.....the latest certification results that came out is for ABF level 3 which came out just last month.

The SBF bring in this ABF certification programs, because they themselves know that their SBF certification is not enough anymore....in order to bring the standard of bowling coaches up in singapore, they bring in this ABF certification. You dun believe, just ask around in the coaching world. statistics would tell, for example, those who attended STBC level 2 certification, almost all passed, but the same people that went on to obtain ABF level 2, less than half pass!!! it would not be nice for me to name who pass or fail....but sometimes i really wonder how well you know this bowling world... you seem to be so naive to think that most of the pro shops are good and knowledgeable, most of the coaches are good coaches...please dun always come and question me on how i know....how i know...it just reveals to me that you may be a great bowler with 200+ average that youn claimed to be, that simply live in some idealistic world of your own....results speaks the truth...if you dun believe me...go ahead and check the passing rates...be my guest, then come back and question me "how i know??"

enginboi SG

ya i do agree with you that certifications does not garantee a good coach. i have uni lecturers with PhDs and tons of knowledge yet i simply dun understand wat the heck they are trying to teach. haha

but nevertheless, SBF is still pushing this ABF certification now, in fact schools hav changed their criteria to use only ABF certified coaches for their school teams, so now it is creating some panic in the coaching scene, in the recent level 2 abf certification, less than half of them pass the certification. so i guess they quite stress up also la.

so now it is more of like....got abf cert doeant mean you r a good coach....but to be a good coach you need to get at least a abf certification...this is the market rate that SBF is trying to set now...just like wat you say, a degree holder may not make a good teacher, but conversely, a person without a degree cannot be a teacher!!

Spook SG

on certification, even our Taxi drivers these need some N or O's to take test
for their license(correct me if i am wrong), how can a national coaches be less eduacated or not being properly certified?

Looking ahead, the ABF certification will be here in SG, not sure about neinouring region, it'll take some times to bear fruits........At least there's still hope for our younger ones. we the older oes just enjoy our games Mr. Green

Just hope that there will be some really good coaches spawnig through the system.

Way to go........ Wink

enginboi SG

ya, ABF certification is definitely here to stay, in fact, overseas coaches such as japan head coach also came over to singapore to obtain his ABF certification, so you can see how important this certification is...if not the japan head coach would not even bother to come all the way to singapore just to obtain this certification...but i think there is some language barrier i think...so that head coach eventually failed...

right now in the national team, the ex national coach pat henry had left due to some scandals during the sea games, so now the national team is headed by local coaches. But the controversy is that these national and national youth coaches are ABF level 2,, while the recent results have some independant coaches obtaining ABF level 3, so in fact there are some comments going around, where the national coaches are less certified than some of the local independent coaches. So this ABF thingy is indeed really pushing the standards up, because it has become the benchmark in judging a coach's ability. So most coaches in singapore are trying to obtain this ABF certification....many have tried....quite a numer has failed...stress stress stress!!!

enginboi SG

Anyway, i apologies to all other bowlers that reads about the confrontation between me and that armadillo...i really dun like to attack another fellow bowler that likes this sports, but all i said is the truth that came from reliable sourse, not just simply logging on the net, reading abit here and there and calling that justified research.

However i will not want to quote any names or sourses, becuase they have implications...not that i dun wan to justify myself or take some responsibilty. wat i provided is just knowledge that is good for most bowlers to know...my interest is with the bowlers, however you may choose to believe, you may not to believe wat i said.

So this armadillo guy is really starting to piss me off...because he seems to always question wat i said, and apparently he sides with the other side. He believes in the "TRY La" theory, where you go around trying out, wasting your money on the way...to finally get wat you want.... I hav been through that, but i dun believe in that, i believe in getting my money worth. with some basic guidance and knowledge, you stil wont become a great bowler overnight, but least you can be sure that you r on the right track...and not wasting your money. with the right certified coach, you wont have to spend hundreds and in the end realise that you learn nothing, or worse, learn the wrong things. with the right certified ball driller you will not need to buy ten balls only to find the best ball driller on your 11th ball.

Bowling, like alot of other sports, is a very political game... there are alot of allies here and there, enemies here and there, some pro shops may hook up with some coaches to push up ball sales... it goes on and on...while it is good to know there are such stuff around, does not mean we hav to get involved, we just want to enjoy the game, so these advise that i posted is in hope that with these facts in mind, you can be more careful, as bowling is a very expensive sports, some of us spends thousands on equipments and coaching, so i bet you want to make sure you are getting your money worth...

So really, whether to believe anot is really up to you...