And when they do shoe up, what they are likely to find out is that all the asymmetrical cores and particle coverstocks and honor scores and local tournament wins and ego stroking in the world cannot help them win a seven-game match against Norm Duke or Walter Ray Williams or Pete Weber. At least not for several hard-knock years of learning the trade and getting your butt handed to you on a regular basis. It is exceptionally rare for any bowler to have immediate success at the PBA Tour level and the world is filled with stories of the highly touted amateur and junior player who found the transition rudely difficult to make. But why is it so hard and what makes the players out on Tour so good?

I believe it boils down to four things, namely: confidence, experience, focus and adaptability. Indeed, all of these qualities are things that must be acquired over time. You’ll notice that I excluded talent (which is a quality that many attribute directly to success) and, while important, is infinitely less important than these other four qualities. I acknowledge that talent certainly has a way of making things easier and is often a deciding factor, but usually only when competitors are equally matched in the other four qualities. Of course, in order to attain these qualities, there is another quality that is required, and this may be the most important of all. That quality is perseverance, without which none of us could achieve any of our goals, especially the ones which will stand the test of time and the criticism and reflection of the experts.

Next time, I will discuss the details of what I mean by these four qualities and compare specific examples of how they are utilized by the top professionals as a means for making them the great athletes that they are today. Hopefully, this will shed some light on why the pros are so good and maybe help those aspiring to those same levels of achievement on their own journey to success.