Coaching Myths

Coaching Myths

Intended Audience: Everyone

Why Bust This Myth?

Recently, I was perusing one of my favorite online bowling discussion sites. There was a topic started by a bowler who was returning to bowling after a 5-6 year absence. The bowler had success with a coach in the past and was contemplating using a coach again.

The first 6 replies to the post can be summarized as follows: you don't need a coach. Each response gave a different reason why a bowler doesn't need a coach. While "you don't need a coach" can be a valid statement, the reasons given in the responses to this particular post were a bunch of myths.

I respect that the replies only intended to help. However, the reasoning behind the replies was flawed. There are probably thousands of other bowlers out there who have considered coaching for any number of reasons. The concept is not limited to bowling.

Myth: Elite Bowlers Don't Use Coaches

This statement is often heard from self-proclaimed "elite" bowlers. It's a load of manure. There seems to be a stigma in modern culture that if you seek help from another person it somehow makes you inferior, week, or somehow lacking. That is also a load of manure. Everyone needs help at one time or another. Bowlers are no different.

To debunk the myth, let's start at the top with the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) professionals. People seem to think that these highly skilled and highly successful players don't need the help of a coach. At the very least, people seem to think that these top players may have used a coach in the past, but they don't need a coach anymore.

The fact is that most of the top professionals regularly seek the help of a coach.

We hear it right from the players' mouths. Witness the number of times on a PBA telecast that the winner looks directly into the camera and thanks his/her coach; the same coach the telecast commentators talk about helping the winner get his/her game back on track. I've had the forture to personally interact with several of the currently exempt PBA members and have talked to each about their practice and coaching schedules.

We also hear it from the coaches. Consider John Jowdy, the only coach (thus far) inducted into both the USBC and PBA Hall of Fame. In his book, Bowling Execution, Coach Jowdy talks about helping a large number of top-level professionals over the years while they're out on tour. There's also Doctor Dean Hinitz. He is generally considered the grandfather of bowling psychology. The proloague of his book "Focused for Bowling" is written by Brian Voss, a PBA Hall of Famer. In the prologue Mr. Voss describes at length how much help he has received and how grateful he is for getting that help from coach Hinitz. Two of North America's top coaches, Len Mal and Ron Clifton, have both described to me coaching sessions they've had with top professional bowlers. Another top coach, Mike Jasnau, has videotaped lessons with top professionals.

We read about it in bowling publications. US Bowler magazine consistently mentions coaching and training regimens for the top bowling schools such as Wichita State as well as for the national teams like Team USA. Bowling This Month magazine features articles that discuss problems the pros have overcome and how they were overcome with the help of good coaching.

Why do the best bowlers in the world take lessons? Like everyone else, top players experience slumps and down times in performance. They know where to get help when they need it. The "I'm a tough guy, I don't need help" mentality did not get these players to the top and doesn't factor into their continued success.

It amazes me that there are self-proclaimed "elite" bowlers who believe themselves to be better than the top professionals simply by not needing a coach. Maybe that's why we never see those self-proclaimed "elite" bowlers competing for a major title or making a living bowling.


Myth: The Best Bowlers Fix Themselves

Without a doubt, the best bowlers can fix what they are doing wrong. They do it on a daily basis, making the correct physical and mental adjustments to their game. However, even the best bowlers fall into slumps or at least have periods where they struggle more than others. Why? Because they miss something that starts to go wrong, they depart from the path of bowling success down a detour to troubled performance. To understand that, one must understand what causes a slump.

A slump is caused by doing something consistently wrong over a period of time. Most often it is something small that creeps into our game at an abnormal time. Maybe we've strained our sliding leg and favor it slightly by decreasing knee bend at the line. Left unnoticed, over time this small flaw can grow into a larger flaw: we decrease the knee bend a little more and a little more until our balance at the line suffers. That's simple enough to understand. Slumps are ended when the problem is corrected or overcome. That's also simple enough to understand. So why do the best bowlers, if they can self-diagnose and correct, have slumps? It's because they miss a flaw that creeps into their game and become a larger and larger problem over time as it affects other parts of their game.

If a bowler is regularly observed by a coach's trained eye, minor flaws can be caught before they develop into major flaws resulting in a slump. Even a bowling friend who is familiar with another bowler's game can keep an eye out for changes. However, will that friend also know how to fix the problem? Maybe, maybe not. Which leads us to the next myth.

As an aside, even a friend who just "helps out" from time to time in a productive fashion can be considered a coach. Maybe not a professional coach, but does it matter more that the help is successful or does the status of the source matter more?


Myth: All You Need is a Video Camera

A video camera represents an unbiased view of a bowler's mechanics. They are valuable tools in spotting problems in a bowler's physical mechanics especially since they can be played in slow-motion and freeze-framed to isolate specific incidents. With the cost of video camera constantly decreasing, more bowlers are able to use the technology to advantage. They are doubtless a huge help in spotting one or more problems.

It is often suggested to keep video of a bowler when the bowler is bowling well. It can then be compared to video taken when the bowler is not bowling well. That's good advice. It should be easier to spot when the bowler is doing something wrong. The operative phrase is "should be". The person watching the video tape must know what to look for and must be able to recognize differences that could result in poor performance versus better performance. Just because there is something different observed in the current video when compared to the video taken when the bowler is bowling well doesn't mean the something different is causing bad results.

Few bowlers spend much time watching and correcting other bowlers' games. Because of that, few bowlers have a coaches trained eye to diagnose a problem when it is seen and identify the root cause. Also, many bowlers will simply not be honest enough with themselves to admit a flaw when they see it. A coach has no interest in lying to a student about something that is wrong. The coach has less emotional attachment to a student's game than the student, so the coach can be more unbiased.

Consider an exception: the bowler in question is capable of spotting what is truly wrong, honest with him/herself that there is a problem, and can identify the root cause. Wonderful. Fantastic. Now what? The bowler knows what is wrong. Assume for a moment it is a new bad habit, one that the bowler has never dealt with before. How does that bowler fix it? They've never been able to do it in the past because they've never done it in the past. What is the best and quickest way to overcome the problem? Trial and error? That will work over time, but what if another new bad habit is acquired while attempting to fix the original flaw? Would you go to a surgeon who operated like that? "I don't know what's actually involved with removing a brain tumor Mr. Smith, but I'm willing to give it a whirl with this hacksaw and plunger over here." I don't think so.

Good coaches typically work with a range of students who have a wide variety of challenges to overcome. Coaches gain experience in helping different people fix different problems with different solutions. It is easy enough to understand that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. So not only can coaches observe and recognize problems faster, they can help the bowler fix the problems faster.

There's one other point to make here: a video camera tells us nothing about what is going on in the bowler's head. A bowler can execute one shot and fall on his face while focusing on a flawless swing, perfect release, and smooth delivery. The same bowler can execute a shot while focusing on a flawless swing, perfect release, and smooth delivery and fall on his face while thinking about a chocolate chip ice cream cone. Both shots look identical to a video camera.

Coaches also help with the mental game. Things like positive visualization, confidence, and staying in the moment are concepts as foreign to a video camera as the concepts of astrophysics is to a rhinoceros.


Myth: All Coaches are the Same

"Coaches just want to change you."
"Coaches want you to do something different."
"Coaches want to fit you into a mold."

We often hear these statements made about coaches. Why?

Consider a patient who complains to his doctor of daily headaches. As the doctor delves into the patient's background, the doctor finds out that the patient has a habit of snorting airplane glue for a couple of hours every day. After some tests, the doctor is able to determine that the headaches are being caused by the glue. Should the doctor recommend the patient take a few aspirin every day or recommend that the patient stop snorting airplane glue?

Of course coaches want their students to change things. A fear of change is understandable. Most of us fear change at some level. However, change is the only way a student improves. When someone persists in doing something the same way over and over and expects a different result, we generally label that person "insane". To quote PBA member Robert Smith, aka "Maximum Bob" from an article in Bowling This Month magazine, "If you want to improve, you must be willing to change." Continuing to snort the glue isn't going to cure the headaches; neither is not taking the aspirin.

Good coaches understand that the key to good performance in bowling is repetition. A good coach is not going to suggest a change for something that is working for the student - something that the student can repeat over and over. There is room for improvement for everyone: at the very least, small things that could be better or things that make it difficult for the bowler to repeat over and over from start to finish. It is in that space that good coach will suggest changes.

Notice the repetition of the word good. Not all coaches are created equal. Some are more adept at working with beginning bowlers. Others are more adept at working with advanced bowlers. Finding a good coach is a completely separate article. The point that needs to be made is this: don't just all coaches from the experience with one or two bad coaches. Like bowlers, they are not all the same. Each bowler must find a coach who can relate things in a way that the bowler can understand, encourage the bowler to improve in a positive fashion, and provide positive corrective measures to help the bowler improve. Not every coach can help every bowler.

It should be mentioned that a coach can not and should not always be judged by his/her students. Each student has a different level of "coachability". Like the original example, some students will just take the aspirin and others will stop snorting the glue. The person taking the aspirin, so to speak, is not likely to make the coach look good or recommend the coach to others.


Conclusion

There are many myths that surround coaching most of which are related to our common fear of change. When looked at individually, these myths don't stand up to closer inspection.

Coaches offer an trained, knowledgeable, external point of view that can not only recognize a problem but identify the root cause of a problem and suggest solutions. They understand that there is no "one size fits all" solution, that each bowler is different, and what works for one bowler might not work for another. A good coach will treat each bowler uniquely, tailoring improvements to the bowler. Coaches also help improve a bowler's mental game, something that can't be seen on a video camera. True "elite" bowlers continue to use coaches to avoid slumps and as a shortcut to success.

While it is difficult to generalize and say "every bowler needs a coach" it is at least equally wrong to say "no one needs a coach".

Bowl well!