Bowling Accessories 101

Hi, welcome to the National Bowling Academy. My name is Richard Shockley, USBC Gold coach and director of Bowler Development for the BowlersMart company. And this is my good friend, Hannah, how are you? Good, how are you, coach? One of the top bowlers here in the Minneapolis area. Congratulations. She's got a scholarship going to go to Midland University. Yes. Terrific, but I want to go over some of these items here on the table of your accessories, from beginners to advanced. Let's start off a little bit about the shoes. You know, as we've gotten into more technology, bowling and different bowling centers and different approaches, they become tacky in some areas of the country, like in Florida, where I came from or in the call, they may have to have more slider, real slippery. So, what you'll do is you'll change these interchangeable soles. Tell us a little bit about the one that you wear, Hannah. So, on a regular basis, I use a 10 saw which allows you to slide more than the average. I would say most people simply like to use an eight. And if you want more slide, you can always move up in number and if you want less slide, you can move down in number. So, where I use a 10, if I wanted to slide even more, I could use an 11 or a 12. Whereas, if I wanted to slide less, I could use an 8 or a 7. Now, there's been a lot of tournaments that I'm sure that you've been in, whenever you went into practice or maybe on the nationals in Las Vegas, sometimes, it's a little different humidity out there. You may have to change your salt. Did you have to change anything at nationals this year? I did not have to change my sole but I did have to change one of my heels out just because I was sliding a little too much. Too much. Yeah, so, I had to change that out. So, really the shoe slash and the heel, you know, irreplaceable soles, you have to really take a look at those. Another thing too that you like to use. I see on your thumb, you have this Powerhouse tape. What do you use this for? Yes. So, I use this tape so that I don't get calluses but, I also use this tape because it helps me release better out of the ball. And this red tape is the slowest release, which lets me get out of the ball much farther in my approach than quick release tape. Because I like to hold onto it and just get around it at the last moment. Terrific, a lot of bowlers obviously, use what we call white tape that you might put on the inside of your thumb for the grip purposes. Do you use the white tape in your ball? I do use white tape. Yeah, I just use it so that I can get the best possible feeling, so that I can make sure I get a really good grip on the ball. Otherwise, the ball might fall off your hand a little bit and that's not what we want to happen. I also see that you've got your tape tool to help you get this Yes. into the hole properly. Yes, it's much easier to put in tape with a little tool, rather than just trying to guess and put it in. This also helps taking out tape or replacing it. Replacing tape. I use my little Swiss Army knife. I've been using that for years but this is a cool tool you can use also. What is this right here? I noticed that you've got some scissors and a little glue. Yes, so, I also carry a little manicure set in my bag just in case anything were to happen. If you break a nail or if you get a hang now or, you know, just little scissors in case, I need to cut tape. But, it's all just kind of backup stuff in case I were to get hurt. I see. That's pretty cool. Yes. I see one thing that you've got here called alcohol prep pads, you know, a lot of times, a lot of my students, when you put the cover tape on, it might tend to peel up on the back a little bit. And what do you use this for? Do you clean this off, so, it's going to adhere better? Yeah, so I use these alcohol prep pads before I put on my tape just to ensure that the tape will stick and not fall off because often it does start to peel up like right now. So, if I were to use one of these before, it would help a lot better for this to stay on. One other thing that I'm looking at here is some super glue, which is what we use in our approach shot. What happens if you're at a tournament and one of your finger grips starts to come out in the approach shot might not be open? Can you reglue here? Your finger grips yourself? Yeah, yeah, you can. I do. So, if one of my finger grips starts to get loose, I often use the super glue and just, you know, put it right around the edges to ensure that my finger grip will stay in. And another thing I use the super glue for, is if part of my shoe were to start falling apart, which has happened before, or a heel won't stick or, you know, a scenario like that. I often end up using this super glue because it sticks and just does its job. Terrific, another thing here is I say in the old days, we used to just use a regular towel to wipe the conditioner off the bowling ball. Then, with the advancements, we came up with a microfiber towel, which really pulls the oil off a little bit better. You used this at one time. I'm sure. Yes, I did. And then, after we use these, I still use this myself. We went into the Shammy pad. Tell us a little bit about this and why you use that. Okay, so, a Shammy pad basically, has the same intentions as a microfiber towel with getting, you know, oil off the surfaces of the bowling ball, except this takes more off compared to the microfiber towel, where it would smear it a little more. Smear it a little more. Yeah, and this would just get it all off. Sure, obviously, the one thing that we've seen over the years, is your shoe cover. And I don't wear the fluffy shoe covers like you do. I've got the traditional ones, but I always see you walking around with your shoe cover on. Yeah, if you don't have a shoe cover, you're in danger. You could step in water. You know, often if it snows out, all it tracks inside and you walk up there with your bowling shoe and it's going to get your sole all wet and you could fall. So, I always wear this just in case, wherever I go. You know, if I'm not on the bowling lanes or if I'm not back in the such area. I wear this because it's a big protection. So- Never made the mistake of wearing it when you're throwing a shot and go down. I have seen that before. So be very careful. Yeah. Also, I see that you've got a shoe brush. You ever use your little brush to clean the bottom of yourself? Yeah, sometimes I do. You know, if for some reason, you do end up getting water on it, this often can help get it off. And I also recently just used it on one of my heels. Heel pads. Yeah. Because it started to get a little worn out. And so, if you brush it, it's gonna take some of that back so, that I can wear it longer. So, this is really, really useful, in many cases. In many cases. Also, you have the very important Everline pass here for your surface changes during the tournament Yes. and your practice session. I know dad is your coach Yeah. And in nationals, you're going out. To use these different patterns that you're going to use. And you're usually prep pads, you know, 500 grip, 1000, 2000, to be sure that you're ready for the tournament conditions. I can't tell you how important these are. When I was coaching team USA, back in the days overseas, we had to be prepared for this. This is well, the pros are their ball reps take care of this for them all the time. Okay. One other thing is very, very important with all of my students after you ball, and your league or your tournament. And you're done with competition, you have your ball cleaner. Yes. Now, how often do you want to play in your bowling balls with the clamp? You want to clean them after every single practice or every single competition. I've had a lot of bowlers say, "What do you mean coach? I cleaned them about every 10 or 20 games." So important to get this condition to oil out of your ball and get them nice and clean. So, here you are. Thanks a lot, Hannah. This is all of your accessories bag. A lot of things Yes. that you've got here. Oh, one more thing that I forgot. When I'm bowling bad and I'm having a bad day. What is this, Advil? Yes. Relieves the pain and the stress. Do you use this for aches and pains? You're too young for that. I mean, if I get a headache, you know, while I'm bowling. Okay. I will take some Advil because it'll just help. So, helps me feel better. Helps me B ball better. So- All better. Okay, Hannah, thanks again. Yeah. Here's your bag of accessories. Have these in your bag. They're very important.