This Weekend Take Your Family Out Bowling

This weekend, take your family to the bowling alley for a fun, old-fashioned night of pizza and bowling.

If you sign up for their mailing lists, most bowling alley's will mail you coupons for a discounted game of bowling.

If you have younger kids, most alley's have bumpers and ball ramps that will help them.

To improve your technique, here are some quick ideas:

The main focus in good bowling technique is to maintain consistency by doing the same things over and over again on each throw. There are 4 things you need to master in order to be a great bowler:

Good timing

Good arm swing and follow-through

Good release

Keep your shoulders in line with your target

Once you get your technique down, allow for these bowling adjustments:

Tempo - The word "tempo", in general, means the speed that something is to be played. In bowling, "tempo" means the speed of your footsteps during your approach. For oily lanes, you want to slow your footsteps down a little bit. For dryer lanes, you want to increase the speed of your footsteps. Keep in mind that even though you are varying the speed of your footsteps during the approach, your arm motion must still be in sync with your footsteps (ie., the faster your footstep, the faster your arm motion.)

Angle - Angle refers to your body angle, or more specifically, your shoulder angle. When the bowling lanes are dry and you adjust to the left, you want to open up your shoulders. When the lanes are oily, you want to close your shoulders. Normally, your shoulders are parallel to the foul line. Opening your shoulders means your left shoulder points closer to the 10-pin during your finish position. Closing your shoulder means your right shoulder points to the 7-pin during your finish position. This adjustment is very important when trying to increase or decrease the amount of hook in your throw.

Speed - This adjustment is self-explanatory. You can vary the speed of your throw according to the bowling lane conditions. When the lanes are dryer, you want to throw it faster to get it down the lane before it gets a chance to hook too much. When the lanes are oily, slowing down the ball speed can help give the ball some time to hook.

Loft - Lofting is a very important adjustment to make. Your throw can be categorized into 3 types of lofts: No loft, Medium loft, or Maximum loft. On medium lanes, you would normally have medium loft. However, on oily lanes, you want to have no loft at all. You want to basically roll the ball down the lane. On dry lanes, you want to loft the ball so that the ball gets a chance to go down the lane before hooking into the pocket. That way, there will be less surface area for the bowling ball to make contact on.

Ball - Professional bowlers may have up to 6 or 8 different bowling balls in their arsenal. This enables them to use different balls for different lane conditions. Use a more polished ball on dryer lanes to prevent the ball from hooking too much. On oily lanes, use a ball that is a little more rough. Using particle and reactive balls can be a great way to conquer oily lanes as they tend to "dig in" more to the lanes. Having a plastic ball handy is always good for picking up spares.

Release - Everyone has a standard release that they use when they bowl on medium lanes. However, when bowling lane conditions change, the release may also need to be adjusted. For oily lanes, you want to have a stronger release with more hand action. For dryer lanes, you want to keep your hand a little firmer to keep the ball from hooking too much. When picking up spares, use a spare release (keep your hand firm and thumb pointing up at the ceiling all the way throughout the release).

Tired of the traditional game? Try some different versions of bowling to zest things up:

Dancer Bowling: As the bowler grabs his ball and heads to the lane, he needs to be busting a move.

Dancer Bowling 2: After the bowler releases his ball, the dancing begins. The rest of the players judge how good his "moves" were. Highest score wins.

Wacky Bowling: The bowler needs to come up with a wacky approach to the lane. Each one has to be different. Wackiest approach wins.

Sticky Bowling: 2 or more bowlers have to be "sticking to" (touching) the actual bowler as he releases the ball.

Oven Mitt Bowling: Put on some oven mitts and try to get your ball down the lane.

Backwards Bowling: Don't even look at the pins, just toss that ball between your legs and see how good you do.

Tunnel Bowling: Have someone stand with their legs spread across the width of the lane while you try to bowl through their "tunnel" and down the lane.

Dizzy Bowling: Spin around in a circle a couple of times and then aim your ball down your lane. Be careful not to fall over.

Ballerina Bowling: You've got to stay on the tips of your toes as you shuffle down the lane and release your ball.

Costume Bowling: Everyone must dress up in a costume and bowl the entire game in their chosen attire.

After your game is over, hold an awards ceremony giving each participant a different award. Some examples include: Most creative bowler, under dog award, strike it rich award (most strikes), in the gutter award, spare change award (most spares), fastest or slowest ball award, and best dressed award.

Bowling is one of those activities that's great for people of all ages, so you can be sure the children will have just as much fun as the adults.