BowlingFans.com, The site for the fans, by the fans....

Tom Blasco's Expert Bowling Tips

Tuning In to your Mental Game

12/09/2005 - By Tom Blasco
      How attune are you to your mental game? How attune are you to yourself? Yes, we as bowlers periodically need self examination. We need to know if the faculties we operate by are functional or need altering, because we as athletes are affected by numerous factors, conscious and unconscious, internal and external, under the pressure of competition, we always break at our weakest links. This occurs at every level, mechanically, mentally, emotionally and physically. In addition, these factors also affect and determine your mental toughness.

      Look at the list of factors below and rate yourself accordingly with the scale provided: 1 (Extremely Negative); 2 (Mildly Negative); 3 Neutral; 4 (Mildly Positive); and 5 (Extremely Positive). Look at and examine the list honestly.

      Upon examination and your ratings, any factors designated a 2 or below should be viewed by you as an area of concern that can have a direct or indirect affect on your performance. This is true psychologically and physiologically. Faulty patterns of thinking and acting under stress, unhealthy emotional habits, poor physical endurance or strength, and similar weakest links lead to breakdown. Yes, breakdown, when you least expect it and when you want the most Ideal Performance.

      Your pattern of weakness eventually disrupts the flow between your mind and body and your talent and skill. Confidence, fun, positive energy and focus suddenly become fear, doubt, disappointment, and discouragement. Thus without the flow and chemistry underlying it, you lose the battle fast and performance goes the other direction - downhill.

Adversity	Losing
Aggressiveness	Mental Discipline
Aloneness	Negativism/Positivism
Anger	Outcome
Approach	Perspective
Arousal	Playing with Pain
Attitude	Poise
Body Language	Preparation
Breathing	Pressure
Competitor	Quitting
Concentration	Relentlessness
Confidence	Response
Consistency	Self-Coaching
Courage	Self-Esteem
Dedication	Task at Hand
Excuses	Urgency
Fear of Failure	Visualization
Habit	Will
Intelligence	X-Factor
Justice	Yes-But Athletes
Kinetic Memory	Zeal

Once you identify your weakest link(s) you should immediately attack it or them. Begin by mapping out new and practical strategies for overcoming your weakness. Focus the weakness on a daily basis, spend about 10-15 seconds each morning and evening viewing the positive aspect of your weakness so you can begin to earn the dividends of mental toughness.

We're here to help!

At BowlingCommunity.com you can get FREE advice from bowling coaches and league bowlers who thrive on helping other bowlers!

Post questions about your game, your technique or find how to overcome difficult lane conditions. You can even post videos of yourself bowling for critique and constructive criticism.

BowlingCommunity.com Recent Posts

Very Strange Ball Track Problem
by Dennis Michael - Today at 02:05 PM

Resurfacing the Storm Byte
by djp1080 - Yesterday at 11:55 PM

Summer Leagues 2014 thread
by Richie V. - Yesterday at 10:31 PM

Trying to understand this statement
by SteveH - Yesterday at 10:24 PM

Brunswick sold
by Dennis Michael - Yesterday at 06:33 AM

Any rules on speed of play?
by SteveH - 07/22/14 04:17 PM

A loss in my local association
by SteveH - 07/22/14 04:12 PM

Suggestions on a better angel
by mmalsed - 07/21/14 11:41 AM

Two years or no competitive action
by SteveH - 07/19/14 11:41 AM

push away tips
by Dennis Michael - 07/18/14 05:32 PM

2014 USBC Open Championships
by Richie V. - 07/18/14 02:41 PM

Junior gold, Buffalo, NY
by Smooth Stroker - 07/17/14 06:54 PM

BowlingFans.com Expert Bowling Tips

The Nine Cs by Tom Blasco

Mental Toughness by Tom Blasco

The How's And Whys Of Your Inner Workings-The Brain (part 1) by Tom Blasco

The How's And Whys Of Your Inner Workings-The Brain (part 2) by Tom Blasco

The How's And Whys Of Your Inner Workings-The Brain (part 3) by Tom Blasco

The How's And Whys Of Your Inner Workings-The Brain (part 4) by Tom Blasco

Hot Tips for Senior Bowlers (part 1) by Tom Blasco

Hot Tips for Senior Bowlers (part 2) by Tom Blasco

Check Your Grip by Tom Blasco

12 Keys To Personal Bowling Success by Tom Blasco

The Competitive Athlete by Tom Blasco

Fast Feet by Tom Blasco

Our Needs, Our Wants, Our Desires - What Drives Us, Our Understanding And Our Awareness by Tom Blasco

My Mind - Friend or Foe? by Tom Blasco

Impact Education by Tom Blasco

Learning Experience or Skills by Tom Blasco

Managing Your Spare Game by George Freeman

Travelling with Bowling Balls - Redux by Robert Knight

Bowling On The Sport Condition by George Freeman

Through A Child's Eyes by George Freeman

Go Practice! by George Freeman

Taking Your Time On Spares by George Freeman

Shopping For The Holidays by George Freeman

Offer Some Help by George Freeman

Playing To Your Potential by Tom Blasco

Dealing With Luck by George Freeman

When To Use New Techniques by George Freeman

About BowlingFans.com | Contact Us | Advertise With Us | Site Map
Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. | Material Connection Disclosure

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in /usr/www/virtual/usrbingeek/www.bowlingfans.com/f.php on line 38

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/New_York' for 'EDT/-4.0/DST' instead in /usr/www/virtual/usrbingeek/www.bowlingfans.com/f.php on line 38
Copyright © 1998 - 2014 - usrbingeek LLC | Copyright Policy

BowlingFans.com, BowlingFans, The Right Approach, Kegler's Connection, Tour411, BallBeat, BowlingCommunity.com, BowlSearch.com, and Bowling News You Can Use are trademarks of usrbingeek LLC. All other trademarks and tradenames are property of their respective owners.