Developing a junior bowler for the future

[wchester]

To ensure a steady flow of world-class players in Australia it is essential that we have a system of talent identification to spot potential performance players at a young age. Having identified those with the skills to become the top players of tomorrow, we can then provide them with the right coaching and support.

Have you got talent? You can be spotted as young as twelve years old –
Do you have these qualities?

1) Natural talent for the game & athletic ability
2) Keenness and a love for the sport of tenpin bowling
3) An appetite to learn, and the potential to improve upon basic techniques
4) Preparedness to train a minimum of three to four times a week
5) Desire and ability to compete in leagues & tournaments on a regular basis


Promising junior players are spotted through a number of routes:

a) Playing and competing in tournaments
b) Attending regional talent ID days – players are put forward by centres and coaches
c) Recommended by your coach to be seen by the local member of the Junior Bowling Australia Training Team

Players who are identified through the above may have the opportunity to attend Regional and National ID days.

Once identified, talented young players need to be in the right talent development programmes to challenge them, provide the correct level of training and coaching of the right quality, as well as regular competition.

 

[wchester]

The above are just some ideas which are still in the early development stage. No actual programme has been formed as of yet. Your thoughts and ideas are much appreciated.

 

[Grant61]

Wayne
VicTenpins has already developed a program called the State Based Training Squad. The program is in the process of being rolled out.

Details of the training squad policy together with pathways and talent ID methods are explained on the VicTenpins website.

Talent ID programs will start throughout Victoria within the next month or so.

 

[wchester]

Thanks Grant. but that's not exactly what I describe in my programme.

I want to help junior bowlers who are as young as twelve years of age, those that can show that they have the willingness to learn, and who possess moderate amount of natural ability for bowling. The future of our sport is found in our youth, and Australia should do everything possible shape the superstars of tomorrow..
Thge programme I described will have multiple levels of training available to our junior bowlers, from a grass roots beginners programme all the way up to intensive full time training regimen.
It all comes down to giving something back to the sport of bowling which has given me some forty years of joy.

 

[JWhitty]

The ACT is also trying to establish a training squad system - it's still being worked out with our Rachuig "guinea pigs", but the hope is to strengthen all ages of our representative forces.

We seem to be having a retention problem, firstly we have a tiny population to draw from (I think NT may have that third centre these days, we're down to two!), but that aside the few we do get in become disinterested quite easily.

Back in my day (I've been wanting to use that for a while, now I'm getting old ), my 'generation' of bowlers persisted through shield and most of us bowled Youth when it started, and still some went through to Rachuig.

The current generation don't seem to be making the transitions very often, particularly the girls.

There's some thoughts for your cooking pot there Wayne, but I don't have any answers to mix in

 

[wchester]

Next Steps in Your Child’s Programme

How much bowling?

The first question is, how much does your child want to compete? Competition should be fun for your child, and you don’t want to force them to do something they don’t enjoy.

Once your child has grasped the basics and started to enjoy the sport and develop self-confidence, then they should be encouraged to play in competition on a regular basis.


Benefits of Competition

1) Player develops good tactical awareness, problem solving skills and decision making.
2) Player is able to progress in the areas of the game which their coach is developing, and so complete the learning process.
3) Player develops competitive and mental toughness qualities to cope with the demands of the game.
4) Player is able to improve their bowling ranking which opens the way to further competitive opportunities.

It is important to get a balance at this stage between practice time, lessons to further develop and participating in other sports to encourage overall rounded development.


Creating this balance will allow the player to:

1) Develop the skills which will benefit longer term development.
2) Develop a game style which will be effective in junior and then adult bowling.
3) Keep the player fresh and looking forwards to competition.
4) Allow them to keep spending time with their family and friends in other activities.
5) Make non bowling friends by doing other sports.


Types of Competition

1. Practice matches

Really important and nearly always missing from a player's programme. Any aspiring player should be playing at least one full practice match a week or several practice games.

2. Training events

These are lower level tournaments, probably on a local level, such as matchplay finals events or intercity matches. Training events should be played on a fairly regular basis to get good match practice and to practise introducing new areas of the game into real life situations.

The parent, coach and child all need to understand the purpose of such matches. Obviously it is important to give 100 per cent and try to win, but it is also about developing the game for more important matches in future months and years.

3. Main events

These are the bigger tournaments in the year, eg, Junior Nationals or the other Rankings Points tournaments, depending on the level that the child is currently competing at.

At these events all the development work should have been done so that the bowler can concentrate fully on putting it into practice and raising their game to a new level.

Be careful to avoid these more significant events becoming so significant that they become high pressure. This can lead to the child feeling an expectation to get good results.

Your approach and the child's approach will be the same. The difference will be that the coach should have completed all the development work so that the player is ready to focus fully on putting it into practice, without worrying about whether or not they can do it.



So how much then..?

Competition is a mixture of team and individual events with greater emphasis on individual play as the child gets older and more experienced.

The table below is for players aged over 11.


Under 12
6 games or 2 three game series matches per week (50-80 matches per year)

Under 14
6 games or 2 three game series matches per week (60-80 matches per year)

Under 16
12 games or 4 three game series matches per week (100-150 matches per year)

Under 18
12 games or 4 three game series matches per week (120-160 matches per year)

 

[AdrianS]

Im sure equipment choice will come into this too Wayne, im pretty sure any bowler you're in charge of wont get burdened under a zillion bowling balls when they have 170 average or anything

Personally if i was mentoring a young bowler they wouldn't own a reactive till they could book 190 for a year with urethane with a solid technique, no shortcuts in my book!!

 

[storm53]

i dont know, owning more then one bowling ball could be a good thing.

I was carrying 6 balls around to tournaments long before i even won my first open masters

 

[da_cowman]

AdrianS is taking the approach where you have to learn how to adjust your wrist and speed in order to strike, rather then merely change balls.
Both are valid, in todays day and age, why do we need to learn this extra stuff?
When you have a restriction on equipment, it becomes a basic necessity!
It would be hard to do however, with kids seeing other kids hook the whole lane, I don't know how long you'd keep them around...

Cow

 

[AdrianS]

Depends how good they really want to to be Cow, instead of just showing off to their mates and the pretty girls

 

[luke]

why not teach kids to stay behind the ball and aim at a target

 

[Ando]

Has anyone directed any questions to TBA about future development programs or is Wayne talking about his own ideas again?

 

[lovey]

It's a shame we dont have any bowling centre managers like Steve Mackie around any more. I remember when I first started, Steve would let me bowl at no cost.I mean 100 games a week, because I wanted to get to the top. I feel sorry for the up and coming guys and girls of our sport. Honestly how can anyone go out there these days and practice,the cost is way to expensive. The old saying goes,practice makes perfect.I remember going to a certain bowling centre to use instructamat and they where going to charge me when no other lanes where been used. These days it's all about the dollar.I'm glad I have retired,so have alot of other people I guess.Good luck to all the young kids out there.If anyone wants some advise, I am willing to have a chat.
Cheers Lovey

 

[wchester]

Tournament Planning and Goal Setting

If your child is starting to take their bowling more seriously; training regularly and competing all year, then their coach should be recommending that you start to plan a tournament schedule and training goals more formally.

The best way to do this is to design a plan. The initial plans may only be over a three-month period, but as your child progresses the plan may cover the whole year.

Ideally, your child’s coach will be leading and assisting you with the process. It is something which your child, their coach and you should plan together although it should belong to your child as it is their plan.

Some of the most important points to remember when thinking about this area are:

1) If your child is to maximise their potential then they should have a well planned tournament schedule.

2) The tournament schedule should be planned about six months in advance and be in line with your child’s goal setting.

3) A well planned competitive programme will ensure that your child gets the right amount of competition, is able to peak for the most important events, has some good chunks of time for training with no main events, and gets some time off.

4) If you and your child are committing to a decent training programme then your child’s coach should be helping you with the plan.

5) Parent and coach should work together to plan the tournament schedule



Goal Setting and Planning

The importance of goal setting cannot be emphasised enough. It is safe to say that without setting goals, and regular three-monthly review of those goals, your child has little or no chance of maximising their potential in bowling.

Setting goals is important because:

1) Maximising a bowler's potential is a long journey. Goal setting maps out where the bowler wants to be in the future and then gives a series of stepping stones to enable the player to get there.

2) When bowlers are training regularly it gives each session a purpose. Without goal setting, the player and coach tend to drift through sessions and the quality of work drops.
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3) The bowler has ownership of the goals. Players that have committed to and set their own goals are more likely to be motivated in working to achieve them.

4) Knowing where they are trying to get to is motivating and exciting for a bowler. Having longer-term goals in place such as a higher ranking or gaining selection for a representative team is very motivating to a bowler and gives everything an added sense of purpose.

5) Goal setting is driven by long-term outcomes, but it gives the bowler, coach and parents short-term goals to focus on. This is a great help to parents around tournaments as it gives them something to focus on and talk about other than the outcome.

 

[allenj]

junior bowlers in our centre get free practice and coaching, we also have video analysis equipment

 

[burdekinsnow]

Wayne,

Whilst the idea is good in theory and whilst I agree with the goal setting and the practise and practise matches unless the talent identification is well funded it is going to fall over at the altar of the almighty dollar, espically when you start talking long distances to tournaments, coaching etc. Yes you may well be able to do regional talent identification but then if a child is identified as having potential and that child lives in Nth Qld, Nth Territory or WA you could also throw in country NSW then the cost for individual parents to reach advanced coaching and or tournaments can be cost prohibitive.

As far as coaching is concerned I do a bit at my own home centre at least I did unfortunately have had to give it up for a while. But on the subject of potential I have at least three in the age group you specify one boy just turned 12 and two girls one is 12 the other is 10. All three attend various practise sessions, all bowl league up until recently more than one per week, all three have a burning desire to succeed and the determination to go with it. The real problem that exists where I live (NQ) is the almost complete lack of junior tournaments, that is not meant as a critism of centres in NQ but just the plain truth. Outside of the NQ Junior Championships and the B & T Constructions tournament in Townsville and possibly local area Championships and Masters the closest junior circut is the Wide Bay circut the closest tournament in that group is in Gladstone which is over 700k's away for me and for most of the NQ kids even further.

As I said earlier in this post the almighty dollar is going to ruin the idea before it gets off the ground unless it is funded at a state or national level which to be honest I dont see happening. Thats my two cents worth.

 

[wchester]

If you believe I can help you with your game, please contact me thru this site. The only charge will be the cost of lineage. My coaching services are free for the first three hours..negotiable from then on..

Coaching to take place at Dragon City Lanes in Bendigo, Victoria

 

[desmondo]

I think the program being established by Tenpin SA is going a long way to achieving what Wayne is talking about. The SA Junior Youth Circuit has a graded (handicapped) division to get the young bowlers into tournaments. It then has a junior and youth division and the circuit is set in different centres and with different oil patterns. EAch round consists of 6 games and a different finals format. Last round had over 50 entries.
There is a least one centre with an active tournament program. Quite a few centres now have development squads (four of which took teams to the nationals earlier this year).
Tenpin SA has a development officer and we saw the first ever primary scool competition this year. Dion is actively going out to schools to introduce the sport and do some talent spotting.
There is a junior development squad (which should make an appearance at next years nationals).
Chris Batson has come down three times this year and is involving new coaches as part of his trips.
Pathways for bowler and coach development are being more clearly explained and overall participation is increasing (both at local and interstate tournaments).
Tenpin SA has also just had a recognition night, acknowledging those who support the sport through volunteer efforts.
There is a lot more than can be listed but I think you can see the sport is being developed from the grass roots.