A Tale of Two Games

A small group of us decided to take four weeks of bowling lessons. When we've completed the course, we'll each receive a free bowling ball and bag. The instructor didn't go much beyond the basics. Pins, good! Gutter, bad. The lessons included two practice games, which I treated as free passes to fail for the sake of improvement.

Inconsistency defined the first game. My release point kept changing and I may have bounced the ball once or twice. When the game was finished, I tried not to look at the monitor, but succumbed to curiosity. 90. The instructor gave me nine words of advice, "Move to the right, slow down and swing through."

The second game started inauspiciously. In the first frame, I knocked down five pins with the first ball. I tried to relax by loosening my neck, taking a deep breath and shaking my arms. Stress has a way of sneaking up and tightening the muscles.

As I stood with my left foot aligned with the center dot, time seemed to slow and the lane looked shorter. With the instructor's advice in mind, I went through the motions. The ball left my hand low to the ground, rolled slowly through the intended marker and caused enough commotion to knock down the remaining pins.

I would regain some consistency and close out the next eight frames with either strikes or spares. Only the tenth frame remained open with a defiant seven pin left standing in the corner. I peeked at the monitor. 182. Better, but still room for improvement.