Setting goals in bowling

GeorgeF

Hypercell = Hyperhook!
GOALS IN BOWLING


I just presumed that every bowler sets goals but the more I talk to younger the bowlers the more I realise that they nothing about goal setting. Here are tips, hope they help........

1. Deciding your goals

* understand your commitment to the sport - sit down with your coach and/or parents, decide on mutual and beneficial goals

* understand the level you want to reach within the sport - Are you happy being a league hack or do you want to be World Champion?

* knowing the skills that will have to be acquired and the levels of performance that will be needed - what part of my game do I need to develop and improve

* know where this will fit into your overall life goals - is bowling your life? What are your career goals, how will bowling fit?


2. Setting effective goals

* Be Precise: if you set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that achievement can be measured, then you know the exact goal to be achieved, and can take complete satisfaction from having completely achieved it.

* Set Priorities: where you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

* Documentation - write down all your goals and keep them in a place where you see them every day! This helps you keep focused

* Goals - Short, Medium and Long term goals should all be included in your Goal Map.


3. Set Performance Goals not Outcome

* This is VERY important, goals based on outcomes are extremely vulnerable to things beyond your control. Make sure you have direct control of performance. All goals should be tangable and measurable

eg. Performance goal - 'I will hit my target 7 out of 10 shots'
Outcome goal - ' I will avg 230 every game '

* One difficulty you will face is that people who are ignorant of sports psychology. Coaches, parents, media, fans, etc. base their assessment of success on winning. This completely ignores the effect of raw luck on high quality performance. As with many things, stick with what you know is right rather than what uninformed people think.


4. Rewards and Failure

* Failure in meeting goals is useful in improving technique and long term success as long as you draw useful lessons from it and feed these back into your training program.

* You should allow yourself to enjoy the achievement of goals and reward yourself appropriately. Lessons should be drawn where appropriate, and should be fed back into training.


Here some quick examples of Short, Medium and Long Term Goals (I have set and met)

Short (3 month time frame)

1. Bowl 10 games per week (including league)
2. Hit my target 8 out of 10 shots
3. Exercise regulary - run 2-3ks 3 times a week
4. Clean and Maintain bowling ball coverstocks on my arsenal after each bowling session
5. Bowl 6 tournaments each quarter (as outlined in my schedule)


Medium (6-12 month time frame)

1. Bowl 24 tournaments per year (as outlined in my schedule)
2. Conduct 4 clinics in Australia and 1 Internationally
3. Bowl at least 4 International events (as outlined in my schedule)
4. Participate in Local, Queensland and National Championships


Long Term and Life Goals

1. Represent my country at Asian and World Championships
2. Attend and participate in the AMF World Cup
3. Win a Nationally rated tournament in Australia
4. Finish no.1 in the Australian Rankings

I hope this gives you some insight to goal setting, its a huge part of our game which people tend to forget about. Hope this helps........


George
 
Here's a tip......
When I was younger and much more into my bowling than I am now, I used to set goals and stick them on the back of the toilet door. That way you read them at least once a day :cool:
 
Hi George
Thanks for once again sharing your wealth of knowledge. I have just passed all this info onto my 14 year old daughter! Great food for thought!
Cheers
Bernie :D
 
George,

Thats great stuff!!

I know alot of bowlers (both junior and adult) that will find your example of goal setting very useful.

Cheers
 
Thanks George, I am sure it will help many.

I have always set goals, and continue to revisit those goals on a regular basis, depending on outcomes and where I am at with my game.

It's amazing how many people don't set any goals.. and expect to achieve
 
Hey George,

I noticed that you also include other exercise other than bowling into your 3 month plan.

My boyfriend and l both play league (we aren't great, but manage to get over 100) and we found that when we went walking every afternoon after work, and did our regular weekly bowl at league, our scores were higher.

We don't know if it was the walking (regular exercise) or not, but it sure ended up being great!

I find it hard to set goals, my games are all over the place.

One game l can get about 135, the next, 120, then the last is around 90.

Before l was the opposite, bowling badly, but then improving as the games went on.

Its really frustrating, my fingers are getting sore the more l bowl (say, by the 2nd or 3rd game) and l think this is affecting my bowling.

My current goal is to get over 100 every game l bowl. Once thats stablised, l'll move onto other goals.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do with the whole finger-hurting thing?
 
My..frist peice of advice..im not sure if everyone else agrees..but...get coached..to get the basics down...im not sure what you know? but..its always good to have a coach...but like..up the top said..do u just wanna be happy playing in a leauge..or..a good bowler but in a leauge or wat? you know..and there are im sure many people who wuld be willing to help coach you...
 
Finding a coach though very much depends on what level you want to be at in the sport.
I think what turns alot of newcomers to the sport off getting coaching is the basic skill drills. Ive noticed that alot of people dont see it as bowling.
I personally happily do one or more of the drills each time I go to training just to keep fine tuning my physical game.

In saying that though, this doesnt belong here as this is the subforum for the mental game.
 
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