Mental Preparation and Training
Mental training is important for the athlete, whether striving to do his/her personal best or competing against others. Mental imagery, what Bruce D. Hale of Penn State calls "No Sweat Practice," is very effective. The mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. Practice is practice, regardless of whether it is mental or physical.
Ask the athlete to sit in a relaxed position, in a quiet place with few distractions. Tell the athlete to close his/her eyes and picture performing a particular skill. Each is seeing himself/herself on a large movie screen on a bowling lane. Walk them through the skill step by step. Use as much detail as possible, using words to elicit all the senses — sight, hearing, touch and smell. Ask the athlete to repeat the image, picture rehearsing the skill successfully — even to the point of seeing the ball going down the lane and making a strike.
Some athletes need help to start the process. Others will learn to practice this way on their own. The link between performing the skills in the mind and performing bowling skills on the lane may be hard to explain. However, the athlete who repeatedly imagines correctly completing a skill and believing it to be true is more likely to make it happen. Whatever goes into one's mind and one's heart comes out in his/her actions.
