It has been a most frustrating season.  It started with the Sport League I have bowled in for the past 4 or so years.  I was supposed to have a team.  I showed up the first night only to find my teammates are a no show.  Okay, I bowled solo with 2 blind scores of 170.

Week 2 I find out one "forgot" his league does not end until November and the other decided to join another league.  My daughter came in case and we bowled.  Her work schedule would not allow her to bowl every week.  A few other bowlers decide not to bowl leaving me a solo and an uneven number of teams.  So week 3, when they cannot find anyone to fill the team I decide there is no option but to drop.

League 2, Wednesday nights I am placed on a team that is pretty much a throw together.  One of the guys pretty much annoys every one.  He believes every shot should be a strike and complains about being ripped off. The reality is he is not as good as he thinks he is.  I pretty much keep to myself, talking to bowler 3 when he isn't off socializing with his buddies on other teams.  The final bowler doesn't say much to me, but complains about my bowling to the other team members.  he says it just loud enough for me to hear.   Mind you, I am struggling and cannot seem to match up equipment to condition.

League 3 Monday nights.  I was approached to fill a vacated spot and told the captain I really did not want to bowl a 5 person team.  He asked me to at least sub and check it out.  I did and was asked to join, I did.  As with the Wednesday league, I am struggling and reminded weekly why I don't bowl 5 person teams.  The pace is just too slow.

My average is way down, almost 20 pins under book in both leagues.  My timing was horrible and I couldn't figure out why.  I knew I was off at the line, but knew it was somewhere in the approach.  Unable to figure out where the problem, my desire to bowl lessened and lessened.  I didn't want to practice out of fear of reinforcing whatever it was that I was doing wrong.

I ran into my very first coach and in talking he offered to see if he could figure it out.  We met at the center and he pointed out I had gone from a 4-4 approach to a 4-3 approach.  I was still 4 steps, but the ball movement was 3.  I wasn't moving the ball until nearly the 2nd step.  I have been working on it and the timing is better.

While the timing is better, I notice the ball speed is way down.  I think that is a part of the problem.  Now I need to figure out how to increase ball speed while maintaining the proper timing. I just hope 2009 is better.  Right now I am down to a 153 in one league and 157 in the other.

Every year we have The Gathering in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  This is year 6 and I have been to them all.  It is a gathering of bowlers from BallReviews.com and Bowl4Fun.com.  Ron Clifton, aka Magic Carpet is our host.  This is the vent about this years travel to The Gathering.

Let me set the stage.  Monday night I bowled my Sport league, stayed a little to talk to some friends and then home.  There had been a major accident on the 101 that was now cleared, but still causing congestion.  I got home about 10:40 PM.  I had to get the last things packed and put in the car for a departure from the house by 3:15 AM.  I try to sleep a little, but managed less than hoped for, about an hour or two.

Now it all begins.  I get to the FlyAway station about 3:30 AM, purchase a ticket for the 4 AM bus.  Good so far.  The bus comes, luggage is loaded and on to the bus.  A family rushes on to a packed bus, 4 seats in various locations left for the 4 passengers.  The adult male asks if the seat next to me is available, I stand to let him in.  He had asked another passenger about the seat near him and he too stood to let the person in, a kid.  As the guy sits next to me he makes a comment about people liking the seats they were in.  I guess he wanted us to move to accomodate his late arrival.  Which would be sort of okay, if he communicated that before stepping in to the seat.  Personally I have a family heading to the airport, I arrive at the FlyAway early for the bus to get seats together.  But that's just me.

After being kneed a few times by the guy and 30 minutes drive we arrive at LAX.  Mind you it is about 4:20 AM, the line for the skycap/curbside check-in is the longest I've ever seen it.  I chose to go inside where at least the line seems to be moving and is not much longer than outside.  Baggage tagged and dropped off at the TSA screening station, so it is on to the security area, which isn't bad at all.

Through security uneventful and to the gate.  I make a stop at McDonalds, the only place open, grab a Sausage McMuffin and Diet Coke, then have a seat and wait.  It is now about 5:15AM.  Sit, read a little, use the restroom and finally the boarding call.  I am flying Southwest, so all A group lines up in number order with 1 - 30 on the left and 31 - 60 on the right.   I am A31, so I go stand at the front on the right, stepping in front of a gentleman.  This guy tells me he was there first.  Thinking he is not familiar with the boarding procedures,   I expaline nicely that I have #31 and we are to line up in order.  He continues to tell me he is in front of me.  I checked the sign tomake sure I was on the correct side of the post, I was.   I then said that if he was ahead of me he needed to be in the other line and pointed to the sign.  He grunts and steps to the other side, paying no attention to the numbers.  I smiled to myself when the ticket taked told him he had to wait, they were only at  #15 and he was #27.

The first leg of the flight was only about an hour into Phoenix.  Only enough time for a short cat nap.  I figure the next leg is 4 hours, I should get to sleep a goo part of that flight.  BAD GUESS.  We get to Phoenix ontime and the gate is not too far away.  A stop at the rest room and then it is sit and wait about 45 minutes.  I noticed the same gentleman from LAX in the seats and wondered if there would be a repeat of LAX boarding.  No, he finally figured out the number system and when the call to line up came, he was about 5 people in front of me -I was A 43 this time.

We get on the plane and I am seated by the window with the aisle seat taken before I got on the plane.  As the last few passengers board, the largest lady I have seen on a plane says to us sorry folks, tosses her bag in the overhead and plops into the middle seat, plus part of my seat and part of the other ladies seat.  I get jabbed in the side, nearly hit in the face with flying elbows, and the nightmare begins.  Now mind you, I am not a tiny petite lady, BUT I do fit in my seat and I do make sure I am not sticking my elbows beyond the arm rest.  In fact I usually do not use the armrest unless the middle seat is vacant.

I tried to sleep, head against the wall, and as far towards the wall as I could get.  Her thigh against mine and elbows in my side were things I was hoping to avoid.  Then my back begins to ache, so I try to shift positions to sleep.  Everytime I get almost comfortable, here would come the elbow. 

For those who have not flown Southwest recently, they no longer have the little snack packs for the longer flights.  Now they come through with a variety of 100 calorie packs to choose from.  They do not limit what you can take, but most people take one or two.  So here comes the flight attendant, I take a pack of Wheat Thins.  The lady on the other end took 2 different ones and of course the BIG MAMA takes 4.  It was disgusting to see and hear her devour all 4 within 20 minutes.  It was a relief when about an hour later she left her seat to use the restroom.  A few minutes elbow free.  She comes back with 3 more snacks, no not from the restroom, the galley is adjacent to the restroom. 

The last hour of the flight was not only the elbow, but the kid behind me had become restless and now I also got the kick from behind.  He was traveling with is slightly older brother and no parents.  The 4 hour flight was one that felt like it would never end.  Finally we get the announcement to prepare for landing.  Okay, now it is not just the elbow, but she has this mini chalk board that she puts under her arm while gathering her junk and I get that in the ribs a few times.  She sits there with all her carry on from under the seat in her lap.  The flight attendant tells her to stow it under the seat.  She does for all of 5 minutes.  I'm not quite sure what she was thinking we were in the row just in front of the wings, so it is not like we won't have time to get things together before we get to deplane.  Oh and the 4 hour flight was about 20 minutes longer because we had to fly around some severe weather.

Thankfully on the gound things got better.  My luggage arrived safely and I got out to the Rental Car Shuttle just as it arrived.  The guy behind the desk was trying to get me to upgrade from compact to mid-sized for an additional $22/day.  He explained that most compacts do not have power locks and windows or remote locking features.  I said it was fine.  He then asked if I was a Costco member, I am but didn't bring the card.  He goes and does some more calculations and says it will be a total of $72 more.  I still decline.  He then goes to get the keys and can't find them.  He goes to the back to get more keys and tells me the car has power locks, windows and remote access.  Yahoo!  I told him finally something good has happened, he laughs and says he was glad to have helped turn things around.

I get the car and head to Winston Salem.  Aside from some blinding rain, the trip is smooth and uneventful.  Hotel check-in is smooth and I get a room on the ground floor.  All is good until I realize in my repacking Monday night at home, I packed the video camera, but not the battery.  So it is off to Best Buy to purchase a battery pack.

Thanks for reading and letting me get this out of my system.  The joys of travel, but then I guess I should have expected a nightmare flight since last week into and out of Chicago went flawlessly.

It has been a while since I posted a blog.  I changed jobs and am now teaching in a Middle School.  After 10 years at the same elementary school teaching 4th & 5th grade for the last 8 years, my administrator decided she was going to force me to teach 3rd grade.  I transfered and am now teaching 6th grade math, science, and history.  I love it, the days just fly by.  The time impact is getting used to a new curriculum.

My administrator wants me to start up a bowling club at the school.  Not only that, but she would like to see it spreading to other schools and having competitions.  A major undertaking, but exciting.  I may suggest a bowl-a-thon fundraiser for the school.

On to the bowling.  I went through a major mental game breakdown after bowing horribly at Nationals in Reno, CA State Queens, and a WWPB tournament in Visalia, CA.  My confidence was destroyed and I was convinced I would never amount to anything as a bowler.  There was a breakdown in communication with my coach.  I was ready to call it quits at the end of the current season for at least a year.  The condition that would allow me to return would be when I could be happy as a low average house bowler.  I was probably at the lowest point I have been at in a very long time, even lower than back in April.

After exchanging several emails with my coach, the air was cleared.  My first coach, Bill Stempke, offered some complimentary coaching.  The coaching consisted of providing me with a series of Dick Ritger Drills to help improve my game.  The best one was a drill to maintain a consistent tempo.  In your mind you say short, short, then slide.  This keeps the tempo and reminds you to keep the first two steps short, then a step and into the slide.  That was about 3 weeks ago.

Aside from my home center, I am seeing the benefits and getting good results in two leagues.  Sundays I bowl an Adult/Jr Gold league at Rocket Bowl in Chatsworth, CA.  My partner is a great kid.  This past Sunday he walks in and tells one of our opponents "My partner is going to shoot 300."  I didn't shoot 300, but did have a great night.  Before I get to those scores, here are the previous two weeks.  Two weeks ago 201-208-168=577.  One week ago, 195-206-246=647. 

This Sunday we are bowling my friend's son.  He greets me with "You're mine!"  I laughed and said "so we're bowling you."  He told me yes and he was getting the points, it is a match point league.  I said okay.  Game 1 I thought he had me.  In the 10th I got a double, he was finished with a 212.  He tells me even if I gutter, he lost, I had a 214.  I got an 8 on the last shot for a 222.  Next game is not even close 159 to my 213.  Before the last game he tells me he's getting the point.  I told him no problem, but he has to earn it, I wasn't going to hold back.  We stay tied for the first 2 frames then he gets a 7 on the 1st ball of the 3rd and I struck.  He never recovered 172 to my 255.  On my way home I mentally added the series and had to laugh.  I had told a friend of mine that I was going to shoot 700 before the end of the season, i got withing 10 with a 690.  Up from a 165 to a 185 in 3 weeks.

My sport league at Corbin Bowl in Tarzana, CA is also going well.   These are all 4 game series, Two Mondays ago 684, last Monday 672, and this Monday 152-199-160-198 for 709.  Up from a 152 to a 160 in 3 weeks. 

Then there is my home center, Mission Hills Bowl in Mission Hills, CA.  I just cannot figure out the shot.  I am fluctuating between a 168 and 170.  Oh well, one of these days...

The confidence is building and bowling is fun again.  Bowl Well!

The pattern changed in my Sport League.  Monday was week 2 on the modified Cheetah pattern, similar to the one used for Junior Gold.  It is 35 feet of oil which is the same length as the last pattern we had for the winter.  I averaged 10 - 12 pins lower than on any of the other 3 patterns.  I wasn't thrilled when I heard, until I realized it would give me a chance to practice projecting the ball left and trusting it to come back.

Week 1, I died.  A couple of reasons for it. One is we had our prewinter meeting and it caused the league to start late which meant finishing late.  That and the fact projecting the ball is a definite weakness for me.  On a positive, I did not let it get to me.  Instead I kept a positive attitude and worked on executint good shots.  Unfortunately, I just did not match up 127-159-147-118=551.  It was 10:30 by the time we got to game 4 and that is when we are usually finishing.  I suddenly felt exhausted.

Week 2 on the pattern was better.  I stared off projecting the ball from 12 out to 9 and it was coming back.  The problem is my lack of confidence in the shot and it cost me to be inconsistent.  I did shoot a 151.

I made a comment about not being able to play a more down and in shot.  One of the guys on the pair next to us said you could.  I asked how, explaining I tried in practice and everything hooked too much.  He said to keep it out by the gutter.

I decided to give it a try and found it worked.  I had to modify my wrist position and keep the ball speed up, but when it didn't strike it generally left makable spares.  I shot 166 game 2. 

We moved to our next pair and I was still able to use 3-5 board.  I did need to slow the ball down slightly or it over hooked.  I finishd the night 187 - 155 and a 659.  I feel confident I will do much better on this pattern than I did on the similar one this past winter.

Wednesday when I returned from Reno in not so good mood, I walked around the exhibit hall.  There was everything from bowling equipment, lane machines, and everything bowling to amusements, food, candy, lighting, and toys.  While it was impressive, the mood kind of tarnished the experience. 

A little later, I ran into my coach and we talked.  He helped me put things into some perspective.  I went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.  What a cool experience.  I sat in the end room listening to my ipod for an hour and a half.  It helped lighten the mood even more.  Somehow the combination of watching sharks an other fish while listening to soothing music was the right combination.

Thursday, I again talked with my coach and then went into the exhibit hall.  We talked about what happened in Reno and what we can do to fix it.  He then told me it was over and to put it out of my mind and go have a great time at the Expo.  He had some business meetings to go to.

I had a great time.  Quite a few of the Pros were there, including my buddy Billy O.  I got my hug from him and everything was all right after that.  I talked with Tony Reyes, Norm Duke, Chris Barnes, and Tommy Jones.  I actually shared the elevator ride with Tommy who jokingly told me Tommy was his evil twin.  I joked the evil twin had to be left handed.  His reply was yea he is really evil.  He didn't know I was one of those evil lefties.

I also got to hang out with a couple people from BallReviews.com members who were working the Track booth.  I looked into the BowlersMAP.  While my coach uses it, I didn't know all the other things it can do.  If I get really into the coaching, I may have to invest in it.

The exhibiters were giving away full size candy bars, bottles including 2 liters of various Pepsi products, all sorts of food samples, and even free glasses of beer.  Some of the more interesting products available were street shoes that looked like bowling shoes, furnture made from bowling pins and lane beds, and individual beer taps.

The very best was talking with the pros and others in the industry.  I actually made a few new friends and look forward to next year.  If I was informed correctly, it will mean a trip to Orlando Florida.  This will be my first trip to Florida.  I look forward to it!