tonx
New Member
A day after my favourite teams event for the year, thought I should sum up the situation as I saw it.
This being my second year in the event, I was really looking forward to getting out and facing adjustments I woudn't normally have to make, because of the 5 man teams format. The Zone final was fantastic, because the scores were low and the conditions were truely testing.
The fact that this event was in my home centre really meant nothing to me as far as expecting anything, as recently during league I haven't been able to hit the broad side of a barn. I needed to find something fast if I was going to be of any use to team Epping.
Given the ability of the lane staff at Epping really do know what they are doing, I knew that the regular house shot would be completely washed out by the event. I needed to make every shot count.
The week leading up had been a very busy week in the shop, so practise wasn't an option. I knew the key was really keeping strong mentally. Wayne Chester once told me the following statement.
"Be calm, cool and collected. Starts are irrelivant. You are good enough to run down anyone if you stay in the moment."
The night before the event, I read along my usual internet browsing, and got watching a few very old PBA matches. One of those matches was a Marshall Holman tournament win. I took note of his entire game, and picked up something that even though he did it so long ago, I felt like I could apply it to my game to improve how I felt during the delivery.
After grinding out a solid but far less than spectacular first game, I was at a fork in the road. I could start fishing for a better line by jumping around like I normally do, or I could just give myself time to work myself into the harder than house shot pattern. I decided to stay cool, calm, and made minor adjustments until I found the right shot for the day. This helped me greatly, and gave me a 203 average going into day 2. Carry was an issue that would have to be sorted, so the night was filled with brainstorming as to what to do.
On the first day, Dillan Demather had a fantastic look using his GLOBAL BREAK S75 playing a rolling hook slightly deeper than I was playing, and I decided to take a confident move in with him by using my AMF HEIST and GLOBAL BOUNTY. This proved to be the money move for the weekend, and I rattled off consecutive wins for the team. The keys to making good shots for me in deep on the condition were making sure I really posted the shot, and making sure my feet were slow enough to generate the strong angle to carry the 10 pin.
Averaging just under 220ish for the day put me to 210 over the 17 games. I lost 4 points for the weekend and was 3rd place in the Allstar team. Dillans strong first day gave him 2nd overall, and the strong rolling David Porto once locked in, was never going to finish anywhere but top average. Hat's off to him. First tournament I've ever seem him excell in without any other lefties up there.
Epping finished 4th in the mens and was 2 points off second place. This was a great effort for the centre only being in for 2 years. Next year with a team only strengthened again, we are after the ultimate prize.
Next up is the Victorian Sports Series final next weekend at Epping. Time to go work on my corner pins!
This being my second year in the event, I was really looking forward to getting out and facing adjustments I woudn't normally have to make, because of the 5 man teams format. The Zone final was fantastic, because the scores were low and the conditions were truely testing.
The fact that this event was in my home centre really meant nothing to me as far as expecting anything, as recently during league I haven't been able to hit the broad side of a barn. I needed to find something fast if I was going to be of any use to team Epping.
Given the ability of the lane staff at Epping really do know what they are doing, I knew that the regular house shot would be completely washed out by the event. I needed to make every shot count.
The week leading up had been a very busy week in the shop, so practise wasn't an option. I knew the key was really keeping strong mentally. Wayne Chester once told me the following statement.
"Be calm, cool and collected. Starts are irrelivant. You are good enough to run down anyone if you stay in the moment."
The night before the event, I read along my usual internet browsing, and got watching a few very old PBA matches. One of those matches was a Marshall Holman tournament win. I took note of his entire game, and picked up something that even though he did it so long ago, I felt like I could apply it to my game to improve how I felt during the delivery.
After grinding out a solid but far less than spectacular first game, I was at a fork in the road. I could start fishing for a better line by jumping around like I normally do, or I could just give myself time to work myself into the harder than house shot pattern. I decided to stay cool, calm, and made minor adjustments until I found the right shot for the day. This helped me greatly, and gave me a 203 average going into day 2. Carry was an issue that would have to be sorted, so the night was filled with brainstorming as to what to do.
On the first day, Dillan Demather had a fantastic look using his GLOBAL BREAK S75 playing a rolling hook slightly deeper than I was playing, and I decided to take a confident move in with him by using my AMF HEIST and GLOBAL BOUNTY. This proved to be the money move for the weekend, and I rattled off consecutive wins for the team. The keys to making good shots for me in deep on the condition were making sure I really posted the shot, and making sure my feet were slow enough to generate the strong angle to carry the 10 pin.
Averaging just under 220ish for the day put me to 210 over the 17 games. I lost 4 points for the weekend and was 3rd place in the Allstar team. Dillans strong first day gave him 2nd overall, and the strong rolling David Porto once locked in, was never going to finish anywhere but top average. Hat's off to him. First tournament I've ever seem him excell in without any other lefties up there.
Epping finished 4th in the mens and was 2 points off second place. This was a great effort for the centre only being in for 2 years. Next year with a team only strengthened again, we are after the ultimate prize.
Next up is the Victorian Sports Series final next weekend at Epping. Time to go work on my corner pins!
