DELIVERY MAN: The bowling style of PBA legend and Team USA star Walter Ray Williams Jr. is often thought of as a classic stroking style. While he does rely on accuracy and doesn’t put a lot of revs on his ball, Williams’ unique delivery doesn’t jibe with other strokers.


league night, but those descriptions don’t take us very far in learning anything new about our games and how to improve. That’s one reason why USBC


Coaching wouldn’t mind seeing those labels go away entirely. “The problem is you can’t define what


those styles are,” says USBC Coaching Specialist Stephen Padilla. “You can make some generalizations about what a cranker, stroker or tweener is, but there is nothing definitive about that. You can’t simply look at a bowler’s ball speed and rev rate and say that equals this kind of bowler. Even in the bowling community there’s not always agree- ment between what the generalities are between a cranker, stroker and tweener. Just because you might say it’s a particu- lar style doesn’t make it so.” USBC Coaching has been working


Label Maker STYLE You have your “crankers” — that is,


a bowler who throws with a lot of power, puts lot of revs on the ball and has a big hook. Then there are the “strokers,” who are considered classic-style bowlers who rely on accuracy and a smooth delivery. Finally, there are “tweeners,” which seems to be a catchall phrase to describe anyone who bowls with a style that has elements of both the cranker and the stroker. But what do those terms really mean


when you get right down to it? Are all bowlers who throw hard crankers? Of course not! Anyone can throw a straight ball hard. What about bowlers who have a classic stance and delivery, but have a big hook? They’re not necessarily stro- kers, right? It’s easy enough to say that they’re tweeners then, but that really just muddies up the waters even more. What is a tweener anyway if no two tweeners are exactly alike? Using those labels is fun and easy,


and pretty much everyone knows what you mean when you talk about them at


While the terms cranker, stroker and tweener may go away completely someday, they are still in common usage at bowling centers nationwide. What other less common styles are there?


POWER STROKERS This term is really just used to identify a particular type of tweener who relies on a high backswing and open shoulders to generate potential ball speed and a big hook, but uses the timing of a stroker. It can also be used to describe a stroker with a high rev rate, or a cranker with an


on ways of defining bowlers’ movements and the way they make the ball move down the lane in ways that will make the old bowling terms that define a bowler’s style obsolete. “We’re breaking it all down,” says


Padilla. “For example, we’re looking at ball speed as one component of a bowler’s style. Rev rate, footwork, tempo, overall timing — the relation between the upper body and the lower body dur- ing a shot — arm swing, release, and much more.” Padilla explains that each of those


components can be defined in a much more precise way than to simply say, “That bowler is a cranker.” By defining those components, coaches can then look at an individual bowler and help him or her make improvements to their games. “If we all talk the same language as coaches,” says Padilla, “then we can eventually understand the same


What’s in a Name?


unusually smooth release.


ROLLERS A lot of beginner bowlers and some seniors use this style, which is char- acterized by straight- er shots and direct lines to the pocket. Typically, there isn’t much or any hook to the ball.


SPINNERS A popular bowling style in Asia, spin- ners release the ball so that it is rotating along a vertical axis. Because of that motion, very little of the ball’s surface touches the lane, which is what the spinner intends. The aim is for the ball


to proceed until it strikes the head pin, at which time it will proceed to move down the front row of pins in the direction opposite its spin. As it moves down the row, its spin and mass deflect the pins into one another in an attempt to make them fall.


NO THUMB/ TWO-HANDED These two styles are very similar in the sense that they are intended to get higher revs on the ball. The ball is often held with both hands or balanced on the forearm while the bowler executes a bent elbow back- swing.


USBOWLER 25


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