I have posted a few times on the site about the USBC Nationals and some of the experiences that I have encountered along the way. This week I wanted to talk about this year’s USBC Nationals and what I have been doing to prepare for the tournament.

I have exactly 25 days (from when I wrote this) until I will be bowling my Team event at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno NV. This year our team is bowling the 8:30 p.m. PST time slot, which is going to feel late considering my body will still be on EST time. My body will feel like I am bowling at 11:30 p.m. I seriously can not wait to get out to the stadium and get a sneak peek at the bowlers out there. I get extra pumped for this event every year. This year I can say I am more excited to get there than the last couple of years. Not just because I love the stage that were bowling on, but the fact that my teammates and I have been preparing for this tournament since the tournament began. We have been practicing on the pattern since mid February. Every weekend since! We have been going over drill patterns for each individual bowler, preparing different types of surfaces on the bowling balls, as well as creating a game plan and team strategy for us to follow. We have developed a plan on how we will start the tournament and the equipment for each bowler will use. We are finally working together as a team to accomplish an objective. In the past we had practiced on the pattern but we were not really good at one key thing as a team, and that’s communication. With all the new Live Streaming that the USBC is doing, I even tuned in to watch the master himself, Jeff Richgels Team bowl.  This has been a valuable method of obtaining information. Where have we done all of our team training at? Bowling IQ of course! But you know from reading my earlier blogs that Bowling IQ is the greatest training facility in the Midwest.

From my perspective, what’s left to get ready for Nationals? Well to put it simply, PRACTICE! When I say I practice, I don’t just mean that I go once a week. No. When I get down to the last three weeks before the event, I practice every single day. 7 days a week, until I hit the airport. When I practice, I have a set routine in what I am trying to work on before I go out. I take multiple bowling balls with different drill patterns and surfaces to practice with. I take notes on what each bowling ball does during each game, and track the breakdown of the lane condition. This gives me valuable information when I go out to Bowl the event. I can look at my notes, see what bowling ball and surface has worked in practice, and I can apply those to the actual tournament. Sounds like a really simple lesson doesn’t it? When you practice, you have to be doing it for a reason, just doing the motions and not retaining the information is pointless.

So for all you that read my blog, and for all those looking at ideas to do for tournaments, you need to have a structured lesson plan, a plan of attack, and then be able to implement the plan.  For all of you, who would like me to actually blog on the site daily from my Reno trip, simply reply on the site, or even email me, and I will do what I can to get it done. If I get enough responses I will bring the laptop on the trip and blog from Reno. I really look forward to getting all the responses from you so we can make that happen. Until next week, bowl well, finish your leagues strong, and if you would like to look into doing summer clinics or lesson packages, simply call Bowling IQ to schedule an evaluation. There number is (586) 268-4001.

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. He is a USBC Certified Bronze Level coach.  You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com