Bowl Your Best: Develop a Pre-Shot Routine
Dan TriskeDescription
Bowling becomes an easy game when you develop the ability to repeat shots, but a key area often overlooked when attempting to achieve this is the pre-shot routine.
A pre-shot routine is ritualistic in nature. It’s a set of actions you do before putting your shot in motion. In almost every sport, professional athletes have some sort of pre-shot routine. Basketball players attempting free throws may dribble the ball a certain number of times, for example. Baseball players may take a certain number of swings in the batter’s box before it’s time to go to the plate.
Silver Level Coach Dan Triske will walk through the components of a pre-shot routine in bowling. It could be drying the bowling ball with a shamy a certain number of times or holding your hand above the blower a certain way or tossing a rosin bag around a certain number of times.
Whatever it is, do it every time you’re about to throw a shot. It’s a key component of the mental game. A pre-shot routine tells your body it’s time to bowl. Having a pre-shot routine in pressure moments, like going for a 300 or needing to strike out for the win, calms the mind down and improves focus and concentration.
The pre-shot routine is also a time to affirm your adjustments and leave it in the ‘Thinking Box.’ The thinking box is the seating area. Once you are in the ‘Playing Box,’ or the approach, it’s time for action. The playing box requires a clear mind and concentration on your target, nothing else. After the ball is released, it’s time for information gathering. Take that information back to the thinking box, do your pre-shot routine and repeat.
While the pre-shot routine is ritualistic in nature, it is also individualistic. There is no wrong way to do a pre-shot routine, so make it yours and repeat it every single time.
Check out more free bowling videos like this one and additional mental game instruction from National Bowling Academy’s talented coaching staff.
Welcome to the National Bowling Academy. My name is Richard Shockley, USBC Gold Level Coach, and Director of Bowler Development with the Bowlers Mart Company. Today, we're gonna talk about the pre-shot routine, and how important it is. This is my good friend Dan Triske. Good to see you, Coach. Silver-Level Instructor with USBC. Dan recently got back from the team trials in Las Vegas, and Dan, why don't you give us some of your observations as to what you saw with the pre-shot routine there? Okay, well, coach, when we were at Team USA Trials, it was a great opportunity to be there. The one thing that I really noticed with everybody, both men and women, is that they all had a pre-shot routine. And part of that pre-shot routine being that they're all different was they can get in their little think circle. [Dan] In order for them to execute the shot that they need to. Right. Well, it's a wonderful bit of information. We're gonna demonstrate that now, with your daughter, Haylee, and she's gonna show us the exact way, that she does her pre-shot routine. Haylee gonna go into her pre-shot routine, she's gonna grab her chamois. She's gonna wipe her ball down, three times over the fingertips. That's what she uses. She counts them. She's gonna grab her rosin bag until it's comfortable for her, you know three, four times to there Now, Haylee's gonna put her fingers in the ball. That's part of the pre-shot routine. Try should now gets on to the approach, as she gets in her set up, she gets the ball where she wants it in her set up here. She get her shoulders turned, she's going to take the deep breath, and now she's going to execute her shot. [electronic Sound] So, when I'm back, when I grab my ball, and start my pre-shot routine, I'm thinking about, where I want to get my ball out to on the lane. And, where I want to be standing, when I step up on the approach along with keeping a smooth, relaxed, methodical arm spring and down below. Once I step on the approach, everything that was back before, it was my turn to bowl just goes away. And then once I take that deep breath, everything is in focus and what I need to do to execute a good job. Now that we've seen Haylee pre-shot routine, you know mine Dan is a little bit different. When I have my process I always my towel, I always want to have it folded exactly the right way, I'm just like, that very precise. I always wipe the ball off seven times before I go with my shot. I always use the air blower, I'm very conscious on having my hands dry with the air blower. Before I get up on the approach, I'm gonna slide my foot three times, give it a little swing with my arm, give myself a little positive affirmation, make a good shot, take your time, give ourself a little breathing, you know, time to be up here on the approach, deep breath and go. How about you? What's your pre-shot routine Dan? You know coach my pre-shot routine involves me coming up very slowly, I go and I've got my chamois, I wipe my ball down five times, I wipe down on the oil, get the oil off the ball, but i wipe it five times, I get my chamois down, now I step up, but again I'm gonna do mine very slow, once I get my feet in place, I take my deep breath, and now I'm ready to execute my shot. Right. And, in doing this, because everybody's pre-shot routine is going to be different, they're not going to be the same, nor should they be the same. So in doing that, and everybody's pre-shot routine could be different. Right. When they go out, and you practice at home, or in your home center, I think the people really need to sit down, and figure out what works for them. Right. Because when you need to make that big shot, and you need to whether it's striking for your team, or if it's at you know a high game, 300 whatever it may be, it helps you get in that circle to focus, so you're able to go out and execute that shot. And that's the important of that pre-shot routine, but it needs to be your own. Finalize your own. So, I can't tell you the importance of the pre-shot routine in your league, in your tournament competition, really focus on working on that with your game.
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