You want to bowl fast, so you change your action to correct flaws and you get more pace. Easy, right?

Wrong.

It's never that easy. Not as a bowler and certainly not as a bowling coach.

Why?

Well, changing the bowling action is hard. You can't just decide to change and then change. That would be like deciding to write left handed all of a sudden. You could probably do it if you try for long enough, but you won't write very well the first time.

But lets say you are in it for the long haul.

You know it will take a long time and you know it will be hard work. You will go backwards before you go forwards. You can accept those facts.

Most people do. Most people still don't change their action.

Why?

Bowling with fear

If you have bowled with any success, you will be afraid of making negative changes by accident. What if your new action makes you slower, or less accurate? What if you can't get back to the old way once you change for the worse? What if everything comes crashing down around your ears?

So, you say to yourself, "this is fine, I know I have this flaw but it's better than the unknown." And you stick rather than twist.

Even with a great bowling coach behind you with loads of experience - an Ian Pont or a Steffan Jones - you still have to want to make those changes.

Most people don't want to enough.

They come up with reasons not to change: The coach isn't good enough. The player doesn't know enough. You can't change anything during a competitive season.

Really it's down to fear of failure.

If you can't get past that, you can't correct your flaws.

If you can forget your fears and focus on your bowling action instead, you are opening up a long, difficult and risky road.

Just think how great you will feel when a change in your action produces more pace and accuracy!

For technical tips on bowling faster, click here.