Bowl Expo is an annual, international convention for the bowling industry. Below is a link to a YouTube interview with Joe Schumacker from Bowl Expo 2016.

Source: booksofjobe.com

It’s finally my favorite time of year. The God-forsaken hot weather has cooled off, the yardwork is nearly done for the year, and my favorite sport is starting. Every Sunday I can plop into my recliner with a snack, flip on the TV, and settle in to watch my warriors do battle.

I love bowling. I love doing it, watching it, talking about it, you name it. I have a miniature toy ball and pins on my desk at work. I’ve got both miniature and full-sized bowling pins as decoration in my basement. I have a small collection of bowling shirts, and if left to my own devices I’d probably have a whole separate closet devoted to them. This very well could be the most unpopular post I ever write, but here goes nothin’.

First, there’s the recreational aspect. There are no other sports (aside from golf) that can be played professionally at the highest level as well as played by a bunch of people just for fun, often with the inclusion of alcoholic beverages. You can’t go play baseball on a Friday night with some friends just on a whim.

That’s one of the things I love about bowling. Literally ninety-some-odd percent of the population can participate. Sure, many of them are not very good at it, but there’s another great thing about it – you can have a good time even if you stink.

Not to get off on a tangent, but here comes a tangent: I started bowling at about five years old. My parents both bowled in a league, I was in a youth league, and I would bowl extra sometimes outside the league. It was not unusual to be at the local bowling alley a minimum of three or four times a week up to my teens. Over the years, I saw the following people have fun bowling: toddlers, the mentally challenged, the blind, paraplegics, senior citizens, people with one arm, and one guy with an artificial leg. In what other sport would that wide an array of people be able to participate? Now, some of those people required some extra assistance like bumpers in the gutters, a hand rail, etc. but hopefully you see my point.

I’m making the assumption many (if not most) of the people reading this have never bowled regularly, ie. a weekly league. If you have one night a week to spare (no pun intended) and have a few extra dollars to spend, I highly recommend trying it out. I imagine non-bowlers think league bowling is competitive, serious people who throw fits if they don’t strike every frame. Let me be clear – those leagues really do exist. The thing is, there’s a league for every level of bowler. All the ultra-competitive types have their own league. The last league I was in was full of people mainly looking to have a good time on a Wednesday night. They kept score, sure, and everyone wants to bowl the best they can and win if possible, but it was all in the name of good fun.

And now, allow me to pull out my very own special prop.

Professional Bowling is sport, dammit. I think sometimes people confuse what they do with some friends and a pitcher of beer with what actual professional bowlers do. The consistency and focus it takes to bowl at their level week in and week out is insane. Some of them bowl as many as 64 games over the course of just a few days just to place in a tournament.

I decided to do a little googling before I started this post. I found some very passionate arguments about why bowling is actually not a sport, in their opinion, and to be honest I found the ignorance infuriating.  Many of the arguments went back to the same point – ‘anything you can do (sometimes better) drunk is not a sport…if old people and handicapped people can do it, it’s not a sport…‘ and then my favorite…‘one of my friends bowled a 300 one time, it’s not so hard.’

Okay, so points one and two both make the same argument: basically, it’s too easy. It’s not challenging enough to be considered a sport. I will try to stay brief and refer back to what I said at the beginning when I mentioned bowling for recreation. There’s a difference between bowling for fun and bowling for sport. Kind of like the difference between some guys in the park playing flag football versus NFL games. It seems so obvious to me, I can’t understand why people don’t see it.

As for the guy whose friend bowled a 300 – I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume they’re telling the truth. Bowling a perfect game is an extraordinary feat, and one I myself have never accomplished; never even gotten close, really. But my first thought after reading this was, what did your friend bowl the game before and the game after?

If someone bowls a perfect game in a PBA tournament they obviously win that particular game, but they don’t just cancel the tournament and give the person the trophy right then and there. It’s about how well you do over an extended period. Plus, I’m really trying not to fly off on tangents with everything I say, but there’s also the matter of the way the lanes are oiled for general recreation play versus league and sport(pro) conditions.

Okay, I’ll end my little tirade. I don’t like to let my posts get too long-winded and I really could write tons more. I could probably create an entire separate blog devoted just to bowling, but I’m too lazy.

In the end, I guess here’s what I was trying to say in this bowling-themed manifesto: Bowling is awesome. The pros deserve a little more respect, and the sport in general deserves a little more respect, but if there’s one thing we can hopefully all agree on it’s that bowling with your friends can be a lot of fun.

With that said, it’s Friday – the weekend’s coming up and you may be looking for something to do. Whether you think it’s a sport or not, go to your local alley and bowl a few games, and just have some fun.

Source: bowlingtechniques.net

Aiming in bowling is like throwing a ball in football. You have to establish the target and find the best moment for throwing the ball away when nobody pays attention. In what concerns bowling, you have to find the right spot that can demolish the equilibrium of the pieces, transforming your shot in the best possible one!

How to aim a bowling ball-that’s a question that experienced bowlers occasionally have a hard time answering. The answer is also technical and based on observations. Aiming is also something you must feel and something that cannot be properly defined. It is a result of hours of practice and even the consult with experts who are doing this for a lifetime. More, the answer to “why aiming there?” cannot be given. The experts say that when they aim a spot, they concentrate all their positive energy upon it and, finally, they give the best strike in history!

Visualize the path before releasing the ball

So it is then after you take the ball in your hands and start bowing in order to arrange your equilibrium and put it on the foot you want, you have to look just below the ball to see how the platform can be visualized. If the visualization is complete and it is according to the center of the platform, which means that your aim is good.

If your visualization is rather to a side or to the other, which means that you will have to aim again. Of course, you should practice aiming lots of times and from a lot of distances until you finally find the best point of aiming. You could also try aiming from various distances from the platform!

Some players say that the best position is 5 or 10 feet from the platform while others are supportive for the 15 feet position. Aim is a factor that also depends on each player’s dexterity and ability of visualizing around. It is not an established rule and you will not find one anywhere.

It is relative and a theory of relativity would definitely imply more calculus and math than any other exercise of descriptive geometry.

Develop your game, get comfortable

In this respect, you will that you will soon begin having higher and more consistent scores! You will do everything by practicing and finding the spot of your own. Aiming means learning the game, learning YOUR game.

First of all, you have to develop your style and afterwards, everything will seem a piece of cake. After wall, bowling is a game that implies having fun with your friends and learning to focus all of your energy towards a certain point.

Some people even practice it instead of yoga because they also consider it a very appropriate physical exercise and that is why they practice it like going to gym! It is very surprising to see lots of people who made out of bowling a performance sport, actively participated in championships organized by themselves and became local superstars! Bowling, like chess, is a game of the mind!

Source: http://perfectbowling.com/200-bowling-average

Source: helpwithbowling.com

If you have been bowling for a while now and are still not able to get those devious strikes then this is the information you need. If you are wanting to become a better bowler then you will need to be able to bowl strikes regularly and consistently. Initially, this will not be very easy for most bowlers but if you remember these bowling secrets and practice enough you will most definitely become an expert bowler eventual.

If you can consecutively bowl strikes, you will earn yourself quite a few bonus points and this will also help you a great deal in increasing your bowling average. Bowling multiple strikes in a row is the key to achieving high scores. The question that you need answered now is how you are supposed to bowl strikes, not to mention multiple strikes in a row?

First of all, you need to understand that there is not a single person on this earth who will be able to bowl a strike every single time. Not even the best professionals can accomplish this feat. The below mentioned secrets of bowling will help you to get a lot more strikes than you are used to once you master them.

If you are not an experienced bowler, you must first learn the bowling tips for beginners. Learn the basics first, and then build up to the advanced bowling techniques. But, if you are an experienced bowler looking at bowling as a serious hobby, want to win tournaments or just want to impress some friends with your bowling skills or just improve your overall game then you should learn and master these secrets.

Bowling Secrets:

1. You have to learn how to be able to hook a bowling ball. This process involves you twisting your wrist when you are letting go of the ball. When you start, you need to have your hand under the bowling ball and when you are letting go of it, you have to turn your hand towards the left (if you are a right handed bowler). If you are able to correctly do this action then you should see the ball move straight at first and then curve towards the pins as it reaches the end of the bowling lane. If you are a right handed bowler then you should aim at the second arrow to the right when releasing the ball. Hooking the bowling ball is the only way you will be able to consistently bowl strikes. A straight ball is not going to cut it.
2. If you are looking to score a strike then you will have to aim for something that is called the pocket. If you are a right handed bowler then this area is between the first and third pins and if you are a left handed bowler then the area is between the first and second pins. Hitting the pocket gives you the best opportunity to strike.
3. You need to seriously consider the lane conditions before throwing your ball if you want to get a strike. If the lane is oily, you will be able to smoothly deliver the bowling ball, but you will find it very difficult to keep it in control. Learn about controlling your bowling ball speed.
4. An often overlooked secret in bowling is picking up spares. You are not going to strike every time, so those spares become very important. Do not let your focus down just because you didn’t strike. Concentrate harder and pick up the spare. Once you are hitting the pocket correctly, you should not be leaving yourself too many splits to worry about. Picking up spares will really help you score higher.
5. It is very important that you are concentrating completely on the target ahead of you if you want a strike. All of your energy should be put into focusing on the pocket. Empty your mind of any other thing that you might be thinking of, keep yourself calm and always remember to be positive or else you will never gain the confidence required to score a strike. You have to start focusing as soon as you take your first step onto the lane as things can start to go terribly wrong from here only. The mental aspect to bowling is very important, and once you master this, you will be well on your way to high scores.
6. The next secret which you need to learn is to not waste strikes. This is the main goal we are trying to teach you here. Bowling multiple strikes in a row is the only way you will hit the really high scores, so once you get a strike you don’t want to follow it up with a bad shot. Try to get in a good bowling rhythm or “zone” and knock out consecutive strikes.
7. Another great bowling secret is not letting your emotions get to you. If you just hit a turkey, don’t get to excited. Your adrenaline might be pumping and you might throw harder than usual. Or, you might have not had a mark in 3 frames, and are getting frustrated and try to change your approach. You need to stay consistent, almost robotic in your approach. Do not let your emotions effect your throw.
8. One important bowling secret which is easy to do, but sometimes hard to actually motivate yourself to do, is practice. The secret here is to practice a lot. You should practice your bowling technique quite consistently over and over again until you are able to perfect your method for scoring strikes. You will only succeed in achieving high scores with a lot of practice. The pros are always practicing, and so should you.
9. The final bowling secret is to get a good bowling guide to fine tune your game. If you are serious about achieving new high scores, raising your average, and winning tournaments you need a great guide such as The Ultimate Bowling Guide. We have presented some great secrets here, but the bowling secrets you will learn in this guide are really going to give you the edge. We have read every word in this guide and really improved our game. And we thought we were good! There are other guides available, and we have seen most, but we highly recommend this guide over all others.

If you follow all the above mentioned bowling secrets you will find yourself bowling strikes sooner rather than later. You do not even need to have a bowling ball or a bowling lane in order for you to be able to practice your bowling technique. You can just practice your form at home. As soon as you are able to find yourself a technique that is most suitable for you, you will find yourself getting a lot more strikes than usual even though it is not guaranteed that you will throw a strike each and every time.

Source: helpwithbowling.com

There is just something about a bowling alley. The sights, sounds, and smells just seem to induce a sense of childlike enthusiasm and excitement in people of all ages, which is only heightened for children. And for the older, more experienced bowler, it just feels good to teach a child about bowling for that first time.

The first thing to think about before that child picks up a bowling ball, is what to wear to the alley. Make sure the child is wearing comfortable, loose fitting clothes, and socks. Tight clothes and shoes that do not fit hurt the bowling experience by hindering the movements of the child. Properly fitting clothes assures the full range of motion and flexibility that is necessary to bowl a good game. Also, try not to take a child to an alley during peak hours.

When small children enter a bowling alley for the first time, they can get scared. Bowling alleys are very noisy places and because there might be many people rolling their balls down the alleys at the same time, loud talking, and other noises . Once they are inside and look around the fear goes away.

The concession stand is a good place to start for kids to show that good things come from this loud, scary place. The bowling balls will be colorful and children will usually like watching them roll down the alley even if it is from a distance.

Something to remember when bringing small children to the bowling alley is to request a lane close to the restrooms. Older children may get a chance to wander about if there are other children in the group that require more attention. Most bowling alleys have an arcade that offers pinball and air hockey games and sometimes prizes for tickets or tokens. While children are playing in these safe areas, the parents have the chance to sign up for a lane and get all the shoes that the family will need in the correct sizes.

There are usually special bowling balls that even the smallest bowler can feel comfortable with. You may have to ask for them separately. The adults then explain the basic rules of bowling to the children. The children will not usually take these things very seriously in the beginning so be prepared. Bumper pads may be used for smaller children to be able to hit pins at all. The bumper can be raised and lifted very easily and will keep the ball from turning into the gutter when the youngster fails to throw it with enough strength. The bumper pads also make everybody a better bowler not just one bowler. Sometimes this makes the game a little more fun because there are no losers.

The youngster might not have to learn how to score when they bowl for the first few times. Many bowling alleys have personalized the use of automatic scoring programs to make the time at the bowling alley more enjoyable and easier to score. Most of the bowling alleys in this country are very willing to provide training on these automatic scoring systems. Families can take a part in the scoring system by typing each family member’s name in and even giving funny nicknames. Young children are delighted when they see their name light up on the screens. This is one of my favorite memories of bowling with my family as youngster.

A child will have to learn where to find a bowling ball and the right way to throw it. They will also have to learn the courtesies that are practiced by all bowlers, giving the player to the right of their lane the right of way on throwing their ball down the aisle. Don’t forget to tell them the courtesy will be passed on to them when another group is assigned the lane to the left of theirs. Usually the person that assigns the lane will do the courtesy of only placing other families and other children to lanes of the direct left and right of you. This practice cuts down on the children interfering with other bowlers and vice versa.

Children will also learn about wearing socks with their bowling shoes to prevent any blisters or sore spots and because there are many other people that use the shoes too. Children like we stated before will fall in love with the concession stands because they will find that pizza is made there. A slushy has always been a favorite treat out bowling along with nacho’s and pretzels. The treats will make the time out bowling more pleasurable for the children and most adults will love the night off from cooking dinner. Whenever you take the whole family or a few kids at a time always know about where the children will be and set a time for them to check back with you.

Try to get the child to use correct bowling form. Teach the kid about the arrows on the alley, and how to use them to help aim. After the child is bowling in correct form, gripping the ball right, and releasing correctly, you can focus on ball speed if you want.

Taking older children to a bowling alley is a good place that they can have some privacy away from the adults and all be in the same are at the same time. They enjoy the arcade more than the small children and will roam and visit the snack area casually. One thing to remember about older children is that they can cause a stir if not checked on regularly. They may wander into restricted areas and even leave the building if unattended. Overall if you follow these few simple rules for bowling with children you are going to have a great time. Smaller children are a little more to handle in any public area but bowling will keep them busy and entertained for hours.

We hope you and the kids you teach will enjoy your time bowling. If you or your kids are ready to step up your bowling game and improve your bowling technique, we recommend lots of practice and a good bowling guide. The Ultimate Bowling Guide is simply the best guide on the market today if you are looking to improve your game. It will show you how to throw the perfect hook, how to maximize your grip, and amazing strategies to improve each one of your shots. Happy Bowling!

Starks hosted 14 kids and 10 fathers/grandfathers bowling at SpareZ Davie.

Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Randy Starks hosted 14 kids and 10 fathers/grandfathers for bowling at SpareZ Davie as part of his “Like Father, Like Son” program.

The students attend Madison Middle School in Miami. Randy will continue to host various activities with the group each month. Diane Philbin, Jared Odrick, Derrick Shelby, Caleb Sturgis and Olivier Vernon came to show their support.

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