In the last 10 years, I’ve been lucky enough to coach many very talented young bowlers. During those years, I’ve had the opportunity to see these bowlers excel at the Provincial and National levels time and time again. But how can they consistently bring their "A" game at those tournaments? Well, the answer is pretty obvious but simply needs to be said: teamwork.

It doesn’t matter if it’s with Bantams, Juniors, Seniors or even adult league players, you need to have the proper environment for bowlers to play well. When everything’s going your way, it’s easy for bowlers to cheer and support each other. But the mark of great teams is when the going gets tough: they pick each other up, they don’t stop cheering, they keep a positive attitude.

Since my coaching experience is limited to the YBC, the following points relate more to young bowlers. But they may also be applied to adult bowlers as well. Here are a few things that I try to follow in order to create the right type of environment:

- Make sure that bowlers keep their focus on bowling. If someone still has their mind on school, work or another situation when they step into the bowling centre, it’ll affect their play. If your mind starts wandering somewhere else, it’s very easy to start losing concentration and having problems on the lanes. I try to remind the bowlers that if there’s something bothering them, it’ll have to wait after bowling;

- If there are any personal problems between bowlers, clear these up as quickly as possible. I know, I know: "Easy to say, not easy to do". As a coach, we sometimes have to play the role of psychologist/parent/adult/coach. And whether we like it or not, it’s inevitable to have tension between players. If we let these spats go on, they can become a much bigger problem and there’s almost no chance to create a good team spirit;

- Give the bowlers the feedback they need to hear. Be as honest as possible to the bowlers. The one thing I couldn’t stand as a YBC bowler was when a coach would tell me "You’re doing great!" when I’m actually bowling like crap. It’s insulting and you don’t have much respect for the coach after. If a bowler throws a bad shot, there’s no reason to say "It’s OK!". They might not like to hear what you have to say but at least they’ll respect you more if you do. But when they do throw a good shot, make sure that they know you saw it;

- Analyze, don’t criticize. It would be easy to start yelling at bowlers when they’re not playing up to their potential. Instead, take the time to analyze what’s going on: is he/she having a technical problem? Too stressed? Something else bothering him/her? Talk to the bowler: this might be more helpful than simply watching him/her play. I think one of the most important things to do is to make sure that the bowler understands why they threw an average or bad shot. Just stating the obvious solution won’t help the bowler develop;

- Be committed as much as possible to the bowlers. Well, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is probably more about a personal style of coaching but I think that there should be a connection between a coach and an athlete. Simply being an "authority" figure might have worked 30-40 years ago but not now. And if they feel that you’re there with them and for them then the message will go through better;

- Remind the bowlers that league play is good practice… and also for fun. Some will take it too seriously and not enjoy the game; others will take league play as a waste of time. For those who take it too seriously, I try to joke with them and help them realize that at the end of the day, it’s still just a game. For those who don’t care that much for league play, I let them know that there couldn’t be a better time to practice: no stress, organized games, team play. It’s a perfect situation to simulate tournament play.

Speaking about tournament play, the first thing that should be done as a team is to give yourselves a specific goal to accomplish. If the only thing you look for is to "Give your best shot to win" or "Let’s go for the gold!" more than likely you won’t accomplish anything. If things don’t go your way, your chances of winning will seem slimmer and it’ll be easy for the bowlers to get discouraged. I don’t know how many really good teams I’ve seen think this way and end up doing the same thing: they play well for a game or so and when they start struggling, they simply fold. I try to have a specific score for the team to beat. If we beat that score every game and win, mission accomplished. If we don’t win, we congratulate the other team and wish them good luck. And we’ll work hard next year to get better.

2 years ago the Senior Boys Team that won gold in the Quebec Provincials bowled over 5200 in 4 games. We finished second, well behind their score. Even if we’d reached our goal, we would’ve still ended up with silver. We wished them luck and they went on to win Gold in Calgary. The boys were very disappointed and really wanted to go back to the Nationals the next year since they would be held for the first time in our home province. We came in better prepared, won Gold at the Provincials and then picked up Silver at the Nationals. What made it that much sweeter was the way the boys played: they never gave up, never stopped cheering and always believed in themselves.

As a YBC coach, you want young bowlers to have as much fun as possible and enjoy playing this great sport. Hopefully, they will gain all of the values that teamwork can bring: sportsmanship, self-confidence, determination, perseverance, support for one another. If they can integrate those values within their daily lives, they’ll become better persons for it. As a coach, you can’t get any better than that.