What's missing:
As far as raw information - not much at all. We have access to a lot of information that covers everything under the sun pertaining to bowling. Youtube, Amazon, chat rooms, book lists, etc . . . has put the information out there for pretty much anyone who wants to know something about bowling. There are masterclasses, seminars, one on one sessions with a coach, video analysis from several reputable sources -- all available to any who want to search it out.
The problem as I see it: we need better students, better information coordination, and better application of that information. For example: When WebMD came out, it was a hypochondriac's wet dream - they could self-diagnose to their heart's content without having to go to an actual physician. In some cases, some more publicized than others, the person who did their research via WebMD (or the internet in general) discovered something about their condition that their local physician didn't (or misdiagnosed). However, after making that 'discovery', they still had to go to a physician that specialized in that particular field to have the proper treatment. But honestly, how many people do you know go to WebMD on a regular basis, even if they are having some sort of medical issue? Not that many I'd imagine. They may go to Google, type in some things, and have a buffet of information, and go thru and find what sounds right to their underinformed sensibilities. If Google leads them to WebMD - great, but it's not like there's a filter that says "The information on website A is accurate and verified by the AMA- this information on website B is heresay and should be taken with heavy skepticism."
Likewise, with the amount of self-diagnosis available, so many bowlers who make the effort to improve some aspect of their game are told "read this book" or "watch this video" or "This PBA star told me to do this and it really helped me - so it should help you too". Fine and dandy that it works for one person and they say it's gospel, but it doesn't necessarily work for the next person. It's great if you're a Assimilative learner when someone tells you to read these 5 books and it'll really take your game to the next level. (For those who are old enough, think the old NBC show "The Pretender") However, that approach begs a couple of questions - 1. The author is a gifted enough communicator to describe every element of their material in such a way that it's easy to relate to, and 2. the material covers in depth enough facets of the experience that connecting the dots for things that aren't mentioned is reasonably easy to do. For those who remember their texts in high school/college, the same subject material can be covered 10 different ways by 10 different authors - each covers the material with their own biases and emphasis, their own flavour (if you will). But I've yet to see a book be able to respond to a direct question from a reader asking for more explaination of a concept in ways that are meaningful to that reader.
But what if you're not a Assimilative learner, perhaps you're a visual learner. No problem - Youtube is your friend, or the vhs/dvds put out by many of the big names in our sport - Earl Anthony, Dick Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr, Norm Duke, Fred Borden, to name a few. Anyone of them will show you many of the things you need to know in such a way that you can stop, go back, slow-mo, really get in and look to see what's going on. Except that with a video, the premium is on the visual experience, and I've noticed a lack of actual explanation as to what's going on and why. It also helps when you have someone who can point out what is supposed to be learned in each video, almost like having a video whiteboard like Madden uses when he commentates football showing "This guy's gonna come this way, this defender is moving up into this area, the blocker comes here and 'BOOM' makes a hole so they ran for a gain". Then the video starts up and you know what to look for and you can then follow the play better. Works well in football shows, works ok in PBA telecasts, but in most bowling videos - it's just not there, and the viewer has to really observe and infer exactly what they're supposed to be seeing. More helpful for the large changes (swing plane, foot work, ball motion), not very helpful for small changes or self analysis. Videos and books, even well written ones are broad brush strokes (Bob Ross and his 'happy little trees'), and cannot hope to completely address any specific situation a bowler might be having.
So you aren't one who can translate Reading into Doing, and the whole video thing isn't working for you, because what you do is so different than what you're seeing - then you're probably either a 'experiential' learner, or a kinesthetic/tactile learner, you learn by doing (and isn't bowling at it's heart all about doing?). Or, perhaps you've done the reading, and watched the videos, and it's taken you so far, but you want to go further. So you decide to look for a coach, or at least someone that can answer questions that have come to your mind when doing the reading/watching the videos. In some cases that translates into "Someone who appears that they know what they're doing". This help can go in a couple of different directions - either describing what's going on in a chat room/community to get another person's take on what you're experiencing, or perhaps asking someone at the lanes to take an eyeball to your bowling and give opinions/pointers. Depending on a lot of factors, luck apparently being #1 on the list, you can find someone to show you the ropes - but again - depending on their style and ability to communicate/relate, it can either be a rewarding or completely frustrating experience. "You get what you pay for, plus or minus 100%" If someone can link up with a great resource on a forum and get things explained successfully - great. It's free, and all you risk is your ego. However as is the case in an online forum, for every knowledgeable person, there are potentially so many more non-knowledgeable people who chime in that muddy the waters. Likewise, you may have someone local who will take a few minutes to look and can point out some things for free, or you might pay someone for an hour lesson that is a waste of time and money. As someone earlier in the thread said (paraphrasing here), those who can do - may not be able to teach others to do it. Or, the person might be quite gifted in explaining how to duplicate what they personally do when bowling, but only that one style - which may not work (or be physically possible) for the person who's asking for help.
Let's also not forget that we're speaking of bowling, which like many sports has it's own fair share of people who go cannot fathom the concept of actually working to improve other than actually going out and doing it. All you have to do is roll a ball, and knock down some pins, just keep doing that. Likewise, anyone can throw a ball, so baseball, basketball and football players don't need someone to tell them the best way to throw a ball, or catch a ball, or run with a ball. Why would someone need to read, or watch videos, or even have someone coach them - they just need to practice, right?
So, ultimately there is plenty of information available to the prospective student, but the challenge is that the information isn't necessarily in high demand, mostly self diagnosed and applied, and to a degree isn't well coordinated/customized. I'm seriously leaning with Gary Parsons on this one: for those who want to learn and grow in the sport - we need a stable of educators/instructors, not just coaches/teachers.
My opinion: A teacher doesn't teach by presenting ideas/tools/procedures via a formula that is standardized. What should happen is that a teacher 1. has the ability to observe, analyse, and detect the actions/procedures that would most improve a bowler based on that bowlers ability and style. 2. Communicate those observations/improvements successfully to the bowler using methods that the bowler can relate best to (whether verbally, visually, tactile/experience based). 3. Design a plan such that it encourages the bowler to keep learning and progressing in their time away from the teacher. Basically, someone well versed in pedagogy as it pertains to bowling.
However, the student's goal and motivation comes into play here as well. Are they becoming a student of the sport, or just be the top dog of their particular house? Do they want to be a multifaceted player, or become good enough to not be embarrassed during league? As someone mentioned earlier, are they going for 300/800, just wanting to learn how to pure a shot, or understand how to play lanes? I'm not going to get into the debate about walled up shots/cake houses/whatever in this particular post, but the motivation of the bowler comes into play in determining what level of commitment they are going to put into their 'craft'. The typical house bowler isn't going to pick up more than one or two bowling publications in their lives, they're probably invested in learning the idiosyncrasies of their particular house (or houses if they are in multiple leagues) - so they're not going to invest in the long haul. I dare say they can be called students of the house as opposed to students of the game. There's nothing wrong with that, but I would propose there's not enough right about that either.
So, does bowling need a Bruce Lee/Michael Jordan/Tiger Woods - a shining example of what bowling can be? I would argue that we've had several over the years that would/could be related to by various types of bowlers. You would be hard pressed to find someone over the age of 30 who hasn't heard the names Earl Anthony or Dick Weber . . . Parker Bohn III, Jason Couch, and Patrick Allen have been representing the sport well for the Lefties, with Norm Duke and Brian Voss representing for the righties. I know Robert Smith has the game that most young power players want to emulate, and Chris Barnes/Diandra Asbaty/Jason Belmonte have been the most recent faces of both the PBA and USBC. Pick any of them and you'd have your generation's Bruce Lee. I think having a notable personality out front does help, especially if they're espousing training and education, but my opinion is that they're just not enough. Bowling has had our share of dynamic personalities doing the same things that Tiger has done for the PGA (not that they needed any help from Tiger), and yet bowling is still seen as a John Daly sport instead of a Tiger Woods/Sergio Garcia/Rory MacElroy sport.
But in a similar vein as golf - when was the last time you went to a course where there wasn't a Pro at the clubhouse who could be contacted for lessons? I bet that golf pro had lessons from several different sources. He/she might have a natural talent, but I'm sure it was honed with an independent eye. If the USBC can have Gold/Silver/Bronze level coaches, I'm sure that there could be a master level training class for bowling educators - train the coaches if you will. A year or two ago, someone (and I want to say it was Gary) posted a hypothetical series of certifications/training courses someone could go thru to be classified as a "Certified Bowling Professional."
"I believe bowling should have a comprehensable certification program so the instructors/coaches/teachers of the sport can be trained to be "bowling professionals"- much like golf. Golf-as-an-institution is light years ahead of bowling-as-an-institution and is one of the reasons it has much, much more respect.
Lets see, where would I begin: I would start with 4 domains: coaching, lane maintance, business, sports psychology. Each domain would have comprehensive cross training.
(1)Coaching certification would mean completion of the following: Ritger Level III training, USBC Silver Level certification, additional training with two or more of the following masters: Tom Kouros, John Jowdy, Mo Pinel, Bill Hall, Mark Baker. In addition: IBPSIA certification HOTS (I) and HOTS-on-Lanes, IBPSIA Busiesss course; a fundamental sports pyschology course on coaching and Lane Maintence certification (Kegel).
(2) Lane Maintenence certification: Completion of Kegel's Level I certification; certification by Brunswick or AMF or training by Sam Bacca, completion of the Lane Inspection Workshop; Advance Certification class via Mo Pinel. In addition, a comprehensive course on Lane play for the scratch and aspiring scratch player. Advanced certification: completion of Kegel's Level II certification class.
(3) Sports Psychology: Intro to sports psycology certification (Dr. Dean); Sports Psychology classes offered by USBC; a class on sports psychology for coaching; a class in business and sports psychology; a course in Mental Management by Larry Bassham; an Advance certification class in sports pschology.
(4) Business certification: completion of the following IBPSIA business course, a course in sports pschology and business; BPAA's The School for Bowling Center Management. Advanced certification: Completion of the BPAA's OnLine Management Training and Certification Program.
Competion of each domain carries its own certification. Completion of all carries certification and the recognition that the student is a fully certified certified "Bowling Professional".
The program could be adminstrated by IBPSIA and/or the PBA with additional classes relevant to the PBA enviroment/contextual concerns. Completion of these classes carries the weight of being "PBA certified" in each domain."
(http://forum.bowlingchat.net/viewtopic.php?p=19180#p19180)If we could get a Master/Apprentice type of situation available, where prospective educators could spend a month apprenticing under (for example) Mo Pinel, Jim Merrell, Fred Borden, Jeri Edwards, Ron Hatfield, Del Ballard, Ron Clifton, Mark Baker, John Jowdy, and so on . . . . I think that there would be a huge opportunity to set a standard for bowling education - not just for coaching for competition, but really delving into the art and science of bowling. If that "Certified Bowling Professional" course came out and after a few graduating classes dispersed into America, I think that you'd start to see stronger bowling centers form, and hopefully not just in well established bowling cities. I firmly believe that between 2 and 5 in every state would provide enough potential draw to find who the people who are willing to learn are, and if they are found and learn - they'll come back to their home centers and spread the word.
Gary says (again, paraphrasing) "one can't grow what one doesn't understand." Well, there's a corresponding phrase - "if you don't know it, you can't sell it", or perhaps a simpler way to put it is "the proof is in the pudding." To continue the food analagy, the PBA/USBC is treating Bowling Ed like the Food Network treats most of their shows: "Here's what can be done by professionals, isn't this impressive?" What we need is someone local who says "Here's what they did on the show, how they did it - taste each step of the way, and if you don't like that flavor - here's how you can adjust it to something that you like more." Taking that philosophy will make some better bowlers (and cooks), and start improving the whole bowling experience. Improve the experience - and you'll bring bowlers back time and time again.
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