Pros and cons of wrist guards

[Jez]

I will also use good ol Jez as an example, poor blighter was 30kg wringing wet when he was a junior, had the best concave chest to eat cereal out of and at the time was using a wrist guard that prob weighed more than he did, not to mention there was very little ball action going on. Not too much has changed in the incredible hulks stature, but due to time spent, developing his shot, strenghening and practicing with the help of Doc, he throws a great shot. It really just depends on what you want to achieve out of the game and what you want to spend your time doing.

Mick this is totally false...i was at least 40kg ring wet lol

 

[Michael Little]

Two handed bowling is fine Pete, yes they have some advantage due to the ability to produce a stronger shot and if they harness it like a Belmo, Osku and a few others have, and are able to perform it effectively, then all the better, maybe not for those that they beat, but my point is that not everyone requires or can take advantage of using a wrist guard, if people wanted to spend time developing a two handed shot, then everyone can do it. Everyone has two hands.

 

[dishman]

Y'know, if anyone else claims they need a wrist device because they are too small and weak to roll a ball properly, I'm gonna post a pic of me with my shirt off.
The skinny things that look like chopsticks hanging off my shoulders are actually arms. Really.

Just make sure you have long pants on......i don't think we are ready for a display of both your guns and tree trunk legs

 

[Shadows Fall]

Robbie Buckley has shoulders like a black snake... I know I've seen them

But in all seriousness Mick Little and others makes some very good and valid points.

I bowled for 25 years with out a wrist guard, and while I have always been rev challenged I had to compensate, and as a result became very accurate. Then I bowled Rachuig in 2003, and while my pocket percentage was very high I just couldn't compete with the carrying power of the likes of Little, Walsh, Nucifora etc

So in 2004 I decided to try one of the new Robby's Rev wrist guards, and all of a sudden my carry improved by up to 25%. I was like a kid in a candy store as I was still accurate as hell and was able to hit the pocket heaps, but all of a sudden I was throwing a heap more strikes because my rev rate increased and my release was more consistent.

Unfortunately the flip side of this was that I didn't work as hard on my accuracy which was the cornerstone of my game. I now find myself in a position where even though I can carry better, I don't hit the pocket as often and miss more spares. I have still managed to throw a 210+ league average for the last couple of years however.......

As Mick alluded to in his posts if I had been more dedicated to developing my game and working on my release etc, I probably could have strengthened my shot naturally whilst maintaining my rate of accuracy, in the process taking my game to another level.

It's easy to look at the likes of Belmo, Jason Walsh, Mick Little, Carl Bottomley and the like, and attribute their success down to their raw power and rev rates etc. This however, is light years from the truth. Most of these guys didn't wake up one day and just decide to throw the ball the way they do, they constantly work on every facet of their game, constantly trying to improve. That is why they are where they are today.

Now I have to make the decision whether to work with what I've got, or start from scratch and see if I can vastly improve my overall game.

Great topic and lots of really insightful and useful comments and opinions

Cheers

Steve

PS If only they made Viagra for wrists I wouldn't need my wrist guard!!