Bowling Team Strategy

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 2/11/2014; Updated: 12/12/2022

If you want to be part of a successful bowling team, develop a strategy to win. One sure way to win your team game is for each team member to win his opposing player match. Some leagues record points for individual match wins while other leagues do not.

Regardless, it is important to win your match against your opposing team player. It is important for each teammate to win their opposing matches as well. Make a silent commitment to yourself that during each match you bowl, you try and beat your opponents score.

For example, if you bowl first on your team’s lineup, try to beat the opposing team’s leadoff bowler. If you bowl third on your team lineup, target the score of your opposing team’s third player. Don’t simply try to beat your opponent rather try and win the match by as many pins as possible. One of your teammates may be bowling poorly in a given game and you will need to make up the difference in pinfall by increasing your lead over your opponent since team scores are cumulative.

At the beginning of the season, record how many matches you win and how many you do not. If you can finish above the 50% plateau of wins versus losses, then you surely helped your team over the duration of the season. If you win more than 60% or 70% of your matches, likely with a little help from other teammates, your team will finish well above the middle of the pack in final team standings at leagues end.  Convince each of your teammates to place emphasis on winning their matches, on doing their job.

A good team does the little things to help with the team goal of winning the league. Some teams practice together and get to know each others games and mindsets in competition. Practicing as a team can be fun and help galvanize your teammates by creating an atmosphere of winning as a team. There are times when bowlers who compete in tournaments look beyond the value of team bowling because they are so concerned about their own efforts. This can be a mistake in that team bowling helps develop a well-rounded mental approach to the game and can be an asset.

Team bowling can help round out the competitive aspects of your game. Next time you take the lanes, break out your bowling notes and record how many times your game scores defeated your opposing players’ scores. Developing a winning awareness from game to game is part of the mental game needed to emerge victorious at the season’s end.