Self-Reflection is a Humbling Process

Women’s bowling is BACK and it’s stronger than ever! Just a little background for you, the Professional Women’s Bowling Association is backed by the USBC and the BPAA, along with a group of unbelievable sponsors in Pepsi, Nationwide Insurance, GoBowling.com, and Smithfield Foods. The PWBA Tour will have 14 national events in 2016, including 4 majors, and 13 of the events will be televised on CBS Sports Network. That’s 10 more events televised this year, in comparison to the 3 events that were televised in 2015. (Wow!)

This past weekend kicked off the first event of the 2016 season on the PWBA Tour. The tour began in Las Vegas, with the Las Vegas Open. 89 of the best female bowlers in the world gathered at Texas Station to compete in the first regular season event of the PWBA Tour. Texas Station, Jerry Francomano, and all of the tournament staff were accommodating and extremely welcoming to all of the competitors. So, THANK YOU!

We competed on an awfully tricky 39-foot pattern, where shot making and spare shooting were at a premium! A 201.25 average over 12 games of qualifying was good enough to cash in the event, and although there were many ladies that averaged much higher, you could certainly say it was a grind for most. After speaking with many of the other competitors and observing those around me, there seemed to be a common thread. There were lots of missed spares. Lots of splits. Lots of just not seeing the correct shape to knock all ten down at the same time. And lots of excuses.

As for my own bowling, well…quite frankly, it left a lot to be desired. My spare shooting was less than average. My shot making for the first half of qualifying was mediocre at best. And to be perfectly honest, I have no excuse for that and I shouldn’t have an excuse either. I just bowled badly, it happens. But I learned from it, and that is what’s important moving forward. I learned what I need to work on this week at practice to be better for next time, and I will be better for next time.

I read a Facebook post over the weekend, written by Ebonite International DSM and PBA member, Dave Wodka, which really resonated with me. He talked about his own bowling at the Detroit Cup at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan. He said…

I bowled absolutely horrible today…

Not because the pattern catered to a certain style, not because the left was better, not because the drop brush in the machine was at the wrong distance, not because I didn’t have the right balls, not because I needed a ball with a pin 1″ different from the one I had, not because the approaches were bad, not because I had a bad cross, not because the people broke the lanes down wrong, not because there was too many or not enough ml’s of oil on the lane, not because people threw surface in the wrong part of the lane, not because the format favored someone besides me, not because my ball rep wasn’t here or helping me enough……

I just plain bowled bad! Period! I’ll be back next weekend!”

There is no one to blame but you. What if we all had this mentality in bowling and in every other aspect of our lives? I think in the end we would all bowl BETTER and be BETTER people. Finding and understanding how to fix your own flaws is your only chance for improvement. Self-reflection is a humbling process. It’s essential to find out why you think, say, and do certain things. Bowling is no exception to this.

I will be back next weekend. I will be better throughout the rest of the season.

I’m curious…how do you reflect after your own bowling? What do you do to improve your craft? Drop a comment in the comment box below, and share your thoughts. I’d love to hear them!

Catch you next time, in my spare time. -Jackie