Greetings, everyone!

Finally, a few positive signs surrounding my bowling game in this new season. I managed to sneak in a short practice session this week, mostly focusing on trying to get some control over my spare game. I've been way too inconsistent so far, and spent some time trying to figure where I've gone wrong. I decided to stick with my urethane spare ball, for now. I worked on some new angles of attack for the spares I've really been struggling with, and early results have been positive. I completed last night's set with only 3 open frames, 1 each game. Two of the opens were splits, but in all honesty they were splits that should have been made. I missed one 10 pin, out of the 2 that I left. I was forced to make more ball changes last night then I was comfortable with, but it worked out ok. Here's the breakdown.

I chose the Black Widow 3.0 solid for the first game on lanes 5 & 6. Spare, strike, spare, followed by a 4-bagger and a spare. Missed the aforementioned 10 pin in the 9th, struck and spared the 10th for 217. Switched to the Motiv Pride Liberty for the 2nd game. Two spares, double, spare, double, spare, before leaving and chopping the 3-10 split. Filled out the 10th for 201. Switched to the Storm VEBO for game 3. Spare, double, spare, strike before leaving another 3-10 split, and chopping the opposite side of it this time. Spared in the 7th, and struck out for 226, 644 series. The team took 5 points, lost 4.

I continued to be challenged by the amount of friction present in the league shots so far this season. A very warm September hasn't helped the situation, either. I threw the last 5 strikes last night standing on 30, crossing the arrows around 16-17, trying to hit a break point at 10 downlane. Now, I understand that many of you reading this will be saying something like "I cross more boards on the fresh than what you're trying in game 3." I get that, but to me it feels like I'm watching Jason Belmonte loft the gutter cap at the arrows! Anyway, it's hard, but it's also fun and educational. I was more proud of those last 5 strikes I threw than I was of any of the other strikes during the evening. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it!

As always, feel free to message me with questions or comments at [email protected]. I hope your league season is all you want it to be! Until next time:

• Practice what makes you uncomfortable.

• Enjoy the league experience.

• Go bowling!

Craig