What to do when the fire is out?

When it stops being enjoyable it's just over. Who likes doing anything forever??

I remember a commentator saying that Pete Sampras was so intent on doing well at the Pebble Beach Invitational he lissed the Australian Open to practice at the end of his career.

Sometimes it's just over, as much as you enjoy the good times the bad just outweight's the good. It has to be enoyable ...
 
twenban said:
When it stops being enjoyable it's just over. Who likes doing anything forever??
Click to expand...

Exzactly.

There is more to life than bowling, the sooner people realise this the better. I used to bowl 5 times a week, tournaments on weekends, because i was somewhat competitive at it. Than it's just the same thing over and over again. If you have a family, get your kids into sport, go watch them instead of bowling, it's there time now. I am luckly enough that I have another sport to play that I am fairly good at and it's great to go there play than go home, teams sports are where it's at.
 
ENJOY is the word - if that stops happening, what is the problem with moving on? There are different areas in our game to suit whatever life brings - 'old' does not mean bored, facing up to what your mind and body tells you is the way to go ..... ENJOY watching what the young things can do with the equipment but the reality is acceptance of your own ability and if you don't like the new scores, don't like the new equipment, don't like the different (not so different, I say!) attitudes of today -move on.

Ageing in our game is an option nowdays with great Senior competition and friendships - just different from the real competitiveness of the past but it still beats in all our hearts and blood pressure!! Everyone needs a break at times and reading about the young ones feeling the same way is just the reason for renewing interest or just moving on to family etc.

To my mind, the greatest gap in our game at the moment, is around 35 to 50 .... too old (what a dreadful comment on 35's !!!!) to wing it like the 18's but not old enough to ENJOY Senior competition ..... Masters sports are the ultimate events for those who have passed their prime (once again, how dreadful !!) as WE are allowed the odd XXXX, don't have to all play and stay together, can sleep early and get up late and no one laughs at Nanna Naps.

Flower
 
I never said I didn't enjoy the sport. I love tenpin bowling. Have since I first rolled a ball back in 1970. I want my passion back and I don't know how to get that.
 
FLOWER said:
WE are allowed the odd XXXX, don't have to all play and stay together, can sleep early and get up late and no one laughs at Nanna Naps.
Flower
Click to expand...

Since when did you ever have the odd XXXX ?
Their shareholders are probably very grateful to you..
 
I've been effectively out for 12 years, having returned in the last 3 months. My how things have changed! A 200 average is nothing these days, and a 220 average isn't much more. No one in the juniors had a 200 average except longayroux, and a 700 series was one hell of an achievement. Back when I started, I was 14 and it took me a good year of practising several times a week to be able to get a big hook on the ball and maintain some sort of accuracy. now, it could be a month and someone has a pro style and bowling off scratch. I'm finding it tough to adjust to the new mentality of the game, and as a 200 average still means something in my eyes, I'm struggling to get there. I feel like my high game of 257 back then would rival a lot of the 300's being bowled today, but it's hard to back that up as essentially it's a mental issue, not a physical one. I like the competitive side of bowling, but I find I'm having to just think about having fun or else I'm going to feel very disappointed and end up leaving again. The one thing that got me though was when I walked into the bowling alley, it still smelled the same, and I tell you I could smell those proshop chemicals and lane oil every day and be a happy man!
 
Is bowling the only sport that pretty much runs every week of the year? Most other sports have an off season. Bowling doesn't therefor it can only lead to burn out. In my opinion.
 
Very interesting topic! I once quit bowling for 6 years, not only due to lack of passion but because I just had higher priorities in my life at that time and something had to go, so I took a break...a big one. I came back more passionate than ever, but after a few years of wanting to eat and sleep bowling found myself just going thru the motions again. My enthusiasm wasn't helped at all by my very poor form over a long period of time....vicious cirlce really! I didn't want to walk away again, mainly because the first time I had lost touch with too many friends, and having moved to a new city I knew bowling was my best chance at making new friends, so I decided to allow myself to just go through the motions, just bowl league and focus more on having fun than being serious. After at least 2 years in this stage I am finding those little sparks of enthusiasm and ambition starting to come back further fueled by the thought in the back of my mind that I am not getting any younger and I had better achieve some of my personal goals soon! Only in the last 3 months are some of those nice games coming and with every good day comes a little more enthusiasm! I think it is entirely up to the individual to decide what is best for them, bowling is not only a sport of skill but very much involves a persons emotions and state of mind at that time, it is really a very personal and individual thing. It is always sad to see someone walk away from bowling, especially if that person is talented or has potential to achieve something good in the sport, but at the end of the day each bowler has to do what they feel they need to do.

That is my opinion anyway!
 
Have any centres in Australia contemplated an adoption of the PBA experience league? It seems to have done wonders in the states.
 
I'm sure plenty of centers have contemplated it, but it's amounted to nothing due to lack of interest in that particular center.
 
PeterB said:
Johnny, what exactly is the PBA Experience League?
Click to expand...

It's a league where you bowl on the 5 PBA Patterns and quite possibly some of the Major Patterns as well. It lets you get an idea of what the Pro's bowl on week in week out. I have just joined a Sport Legaue here and The first pattern up is the Scorpion. It's good fun. I enjoy it more then the House shot league I'm bowling in. Which is just stupid!

Later Da Cowman!
 
The center i bowl in tryed to run a PBA experence league and it was great the idea was to change to lane condition every 4 weeks. I strongly agree with this idea but i feel that the number of bowlers who want to challange there skill level are limited. Some of us are to interested in our high league average bowled on easy house conditions to realy support a PBA experence league which i feel is sad. I like nothing better than being challanged because when you master the harder condition you feel rewarded. The league that was started here only lasted 6 weeks before a large number of bowlers left. I feel the TBA and bowling centers need to look very hard at the development of our sport and place more importance on these types of conditions.
 
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