ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the mental skills which are concentration, management of arousal level, self-talk, and visualization. All these are skills that bowlers can employ to optimize learning and performance. All must be purposefully and systematically learned and practiced to be used effectively. In bowling, an effective offense is not only the best defense, it is the only defense. The only defense against the opponent's scoring is to score higher yourself. It is illegal to physically impede opponents in any way, and it is considered unacceptable to do anything overt, such as attempting to distract opponents by talking to them during delivery of the ball, to prevent them from achieving their optimal performance. One of the most effective ways a person can acquire and refine physical skills is through observational learning, a phenomenon in which learner can acquire and improve physical skills as result of watching another person perform the skill, then attempting to replicate the model's performance.
