Tournament bowling is a lot different than league bowling. When you bowl tournaments there are a lot of variables that you don't have to contend with in league play.

When you bowl tournaments you usually will find yourself in unfamiliar surroundings. The more information that you can find out about the center that you are going to and the tournament format, the better you can prepare yourself for the unexpected. Find out if the lanes are synthetic, wood or a guardian finish. Synthetic lanes tend to give you a lot of early skid and snappy backends. Wood lanes, if they are older, can be very heavily tracked in the middle and hook early with lots of carrydown as the day goes on. And guardian can be very spotty with an early hook as the lanes break down. If you can, find out if the condition is a normal house shot or something more demanding (flatter with less oil in the middle).

When you bowl tournaments some formats will require you to bowl across several pairs of lanes and at different times of the day. If the lanes are being oiled only once a day and you bowl on two different shifts then you will probably face two very different lane conditions.

Example: There are two different squads, an A squad and a B squad. A squad bowls at 9 am and again at 4 pm. B squad bowls at 12 noon and at 7 pm. The lanes are oiled once in the morning before the first squad at 9 am. Chances are that the very first shift at 9 am will be very oily and you will need a bowling ball with an aggressive cover stock (a solid particle or reactive resin shell sanded with a dull finish) that will grip through the oil.

When you return at 4 pm the lanes will have had 2 shifts of bowling and will hook more and you will probably need a little less aggressive ball cover (a solid or pearlized reactive shell semi shiny to shiny) that will give you a little more skid and good back end. If you bowl B squad at 12 noon, the lanes will probably be semi tight with a little more hook area than the 9am shift. You probably will need an aggressive cover stock that is (a solid particle or reactive shell dull to semi dull) that will grip the lane but not too overly aggressive.

The late shift at 7 pm will probably hook a lot and you will probably need a very shiny pearlized reactive resin ball to give you some skid in the heads (front area of the lanes) and still finish on the backend.

If you bowl at 9 am (first shift) use your warm up or practice wisely to try to find an area of the lane where you get your best ball reaction. Watch your ball reaction and also the ball reaction of others to see on what area of the lane they are getting a good reaction. You may not be able to play your favorite line so pay close attention to your ball reaction.

If you bowl at 12 noon (second shift), get to the lanes early before you are to bowl and try to find someone who throws the ball somewhat like you and watch what area of the lanes they are playing and this will give you a reference point from which to start.

Try to be prepared with your equipment. Have a least one ball for extremely oily lanes, one for medium oil, one for medium dry, one for extremely dry and a spare ball (5 balls). Being unprepared with equipment could be fatal if you are to compete with others who are better prepared. As your level of competition increases the demands of your equipment arsenal will also increase; there are tournaments on tour where I have drilled as many as 6 balls in a week.

If you have any bowling-related questions or have a problem with your game and could use some advice from a professional bowler, Mrs. Daniels can be contacted one or two ways. Snail mail: Cheryl Daniels, P. O. Box 250014, West Bloomfield, MI 48325. Email address: Cheryl_Daniels@msn.com. Also, please visit Mrs. Daniels' website: www.my.freeway.net/`Shebe.