This year, my season started with a major. There I was, jumping back in with a difficult pattern and surrounded by intense competition.

One might think that isn’t the “ideal” way to start when you haven’t competed in 10 months, and are training a new knee after surgery.

But here’s the thing: sometimes (ok, ALL of the time) you just have to jump in.

As much as you can practice your game, you can’t practice competition. I’ve been practicing A LOT. But…the only way to get better at competing is to compete.

A few people commented that they were surprised that I bowled a major so soon after my knee surgery, saying that seemed sort of gutsy to do. Yet, to be honest, I hadn’t really even questioned getting back into it. I knew that being back in competition was what I needed.

You can work on your game during practice sessions, but you can’t mimic those moments of competition. Not only do I thrive on those moments, I knew my game needed that competition too.

Even though I told myself I was going to go easy on myself and not beat myself up, I knew I just had to get back out on the lane – competing, not just practicing.

The only way to really stay sharp is to get back out there and compete.

The first day, I’ll admit that I felt a little bit off. I could just sort of tell that I wasn’t sharp yet. On the second day, I felt things starting to come together. As I keep going, I know this will continue. Every time I show up and shoe up, I know I’m learning something. I’m always evolving forward.

With every ball thrown in the competition, I know I am getting sharper and more polished – even if I make mistakes.

Mistakes are allowed.

Just as I have been commenting that I can see others are doing their best, so am I. So, I’m really focusing on giving myself that grace to make mistakes and learn as I get sharp through the season again. 

I think it is important to make a conscious effort to keep our minds out of that place where it tells us, “You should have done better.”

I’m keeping my overall game in perspective. Each competition is training me for my next competition.

I am applying the same sort of perspective to Madden and his game right now. He has Junior Gold this July, and he’s not quite sharp on the lanes yet. But I feel that with the competitions he is doing right now, he’s on his way. There are things to work out in his game, but they are not only going to be worked out in practice. It will take getting out on the lanes and learning through the competitions.

Where he is at in his bowling journey, there are so many things he’s not supposed to know yet until he has competed more. He’s not going to know how to read the lane while other players are on it…until he’s on the lane with others. He’s not going to know every ball reaction until he has bowled more of them on more patterns during competitions. He’s not going to know how to handle the agony of defeat until, well, he feels that agony. The only way to feel it all, and to get there is… by doing. 

Wherever you are on your bowling journey, don’t let yourself get frustrated by the moments that you’re learning through the competitions either. Because dealing with your “misses” and taking away valuable information about how each game played out is all part of how the competitions themselves are training you.

It goes back to what I talk about over and over again. It’s all part of the process. 

The reality is that if you want to get sharp competing, you have to compete.

You can’t skip the part when you are winning the competition. Whenever I have won, there have been countless competitions that have taught me what I needed to know to arrive at that win. 

It’s through those defeats, and that frustration that I was able to arrive in the winner’s circle. 

And, it’s all because of that little voice I kept hearing in my mind that said, “Keep going. It’s going to be worth it.”