League Play: February 24, 2021

February 24, 2021

No real pain tonight, which certainly helped. My shoulder is by no means healed, but it managed to mostly leave me alone for all three games, which I greatly appreciated. Workouts with MAC Fitness continue and I'll say more in this space over time about how they're going. So far, so good, but I'm only two workouts in. My current intended schedule is 3 days per week or every other day, depending on how I'm feeling and what I'm doing that day. For the moment, I'm trying to strengthen my back and hips and see what happens. Powerbands and a mat are on the way, since digging my elbow into our very nice floors does not feel enjoyable. I'm also getting my ass back on the treadmill, which will increase my consumption of podcasts and audiobooks.

Tonight I continued my focus on putting good rotation on the ball. I didn't do it well throughout the night, but I did it well enough in the final game to give me a little boost in confidence and trust. The real change happened after I got out of a trap that I commonly get into: stubbornly assuming that I have a mechanical problem and making it harder to trust my shot.

In the second game, I started to notice very slick approaches. It wasn't just me. I think someone put powder on their shoes and it was making the approaches very fast. So fast, in fact, that I had no idea how much I was going to slide, even after slowing my approach down to about the slowest I can manage—and messing up my timing as a result. After about 20 shots this way (no, really... 180 in the second game with maybe 1 spare?), I finally replaced my H6 with an H2 and suddenly the approach felt much better. I could slide aggressively and stop comfortably. And then something nice happened.

I had started throwing my mammoth Aramiths from the right side over board 15 (the arrow right of center) to the left pocket. The ball was blowing past the left corner pin. Repeatedly. I got the message. I moved back to throwing up the middle over board 20 (the center arrow) into the left pocket and... boom!

Even though I ultimately didn't bowl so much better in game 3 than game 1, it felt good to get the strikes, both as a result of fixing my slide and of making a sensible lane adjustment. I trust my shot better when I understand what's going on.

• Triple: 756 (236-180-340)
• Triples: only 1, but it was 5 strikes in a row.
• On a roll, finally: /XXXXX/XX/ in a 340 game.
• Corners:
  • Game 1: 3 spares out of 3
  • Game 2: 0 spares out of 2

Finally, a 700 triple in front of other people in 2021. Better late than never!

Well...

• How do you know that it's the right time to make an adjustment, such as changing balls or sliders or heels or anything like that?
• Do you tend to adjust early or adjust late? What makes you feel more comfortable with your choice?

Tell me!