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George Freeman's Expert Bowling Tips

Working Together As A Team
01/21/2001 - By George Freeman
Team bowling can be a challenge. We come from all walks of life, backgrounds, and experiences. Many times, a team's success in league or tournaments do not come from each individual's ability as much as their ability to come together as a team. Working together for a common goal, or teamwork, is essential for success in team bowling. Here are some tips for making your team a better team.

1. Support, don't criticize. Everyone wants to do well to support the team's cause, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. People get into slumps, or have bad games. It's important for the other team members to know that that bowler is doing their best, and probably feels bad enough already. Getting onto him or criticizing him isn't going to make it better. In fact, it could make it worse, because it could cause animosity and take the bowler even further away from what he or she is trying to accomplish. Instead, offer some encouraging words, like, "Hey, you'll get it, don't worry," or "Hang in there." This will let the bowler know that you're on his side. Knowing the other team members are behind you rather than criticizing every shot you make helps the psyche tremendously, and will allow effort to be put into shot making.

2. Don't try to be coach if they don't want you to be one. Let's face it, having a second pair of eyes behind you is very helpful, sometimes a teammate will see something a bowler is doing out of their normal routine. Now, this is tricky territory, because all bowlers are different Some bowlers want help in finding out what they are doing wrong, some bowlers don't want unsolicited advice. This is where knowing your teammates and their personalities come into play. This can only be achieved with experience bowling together, but the rule of thumb is that if a bowler doesn't want advice, don't offer it unasked for. Personally, as long as I know my teammates are not fooling around and trying their best, I will not try to help them if they are doing poorly. They know their games better than I know their games, but if one of them comes up to me and asks, "What am I doing wrong?" I'll usually suggest something if I see they are not throwing the ball like they usually do, or I'll suggest another way to play the lanes. But no matter what, I'll wait until I am asked before offering help. That's one way to do it, but of course there are others, depending on the type of people who are on your team, that approach may or may not work.

Hopefully these tips will help you work together as a team. Just remember: You're a team. No one does it all by himself (or herself). You need a good team to be successful in team bowling. Good luck to you all.

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