How to Bowl When You Know Absolutely Nothing About Bowling
When I was a kid, bowling parties were all the rage. You got to play about 2 games with all of your friends, had pizza and cake, maybe played some arcade games and, at the end, you got a bowling pin that everyone signed.
For us, bowling didn’t stop there. We had school trips to a bowling alley, joined a local kids league (where our team won first!), had bowling reunions with our family (because we’re a decades old bowling family) and regularly hung out with our friends there. It was just the thing to do at the time.
Even later on in my teenage years, despite all of the local bowling alleys shutting down and its popularity dropping, I found myself drifting towards bowling. In my sophomore year of high school I had to join a sports team because it looked good on college applications. So I picked bowling because of my familiarity with it and I didn’t think I’d have to dedicate so much time to it.
Boy, was I wrong. After going to that first practice and watching the others bowl like professionals, I realized that bowling was much more than just throwing a ball down a lane and knocking down as many pins as you can.
There was a method. There was physics, math, and both physical and mental stamina.
I, in fact, could not just “wing it.”
My 2 years on the bowling team were the best. Over that time I learned the ins and outs of bowling. I was coached on how to bowl with a consistent approach, I figured out what my marks and arrows were so that I could hit the pocket every time and I learned how competitive bowling could be (which was even more fun when we started competing against Josephine’s high school).
The team shared such a camaraderie too. If someone missed a pin, we would tell them it was okay and that the next person would pick it up. I eventually became the anchor and, if the whole team played a bad frame, I’d tell them not to worry because I’d pick them all back up. And if I failed, that was okay too. Their support was immeasurable.
If you’re looking to join a league or maybe your school’s team, definitely do it! It was the most fun I had in high school.
To get you started here’s some equipment you might need:
Josephine did a little coaching back in the day, so she knows way more than me and is hands down a better teacher, but we both hope you better understand the basics of bowling and what bowling terms and techniques you can do to get started. And most importantly, have fun!