Learning Lessons While Bowling

Long time ago... when I was still a Network Marketing Leader, we used to bring our teams along and play bowling together to learn lessons to improve ourselves, improve our teamwork and also improve our business :)

Still remember Ace going along with us one time when we went bowling with our teams.... And I think he was only less than 1 years old..

Anyway, after that, we never really went again... and for many years, I havent bowled any more after that...

A year ago, Ace was invited to a birthday party at Dubai Bowling Centre and the kids were allowed to bowl and also play at the arcade and Ace had a great time at the party.

The other day when we were having dinner in the Noodle Bowl in Abu Dhabi (as we were there for the QAH Festival) , Ace saw people bowling and it reminded him of the good time he had.. and so he kept asking his dad to bring him bowling.....

So his dad agreed to bring him.. and then I asked F if she is interested and she said she doesnt mind and so.. the whole group of us decided to go bowling after the SWG Bazaar lor:)

My son always seh is 100 marks one ;) wahahahaha.....  but when it comes to actual bowling.. ahem...

Well, Ace had a rather hard time during bowling...

Apparently, his memory of bowling was good and fun because they bowled in the children's alley where there are guards to prevent your ball from going into the drain... But we were using an adult's lane and so there were no guards by the sides and Ace kept throwing his ball down the drain because his hand will curve...

I was a little impressed.. the first few frames.. he had a zero score and he was still ok.. still happy.... I was starting to think he stopped becoming such a sore loser liao...

But perhaps I was too early to judge... Because by the fourth frame, our good friend started to throw tantrum and get upset liao...

That is his "I am so upset because I get zero all the way" face...

And then we tried to encourage him lah... first by telling him that everyone starts out doing something not so well. Some people have talent, some people dun.... but no talent also never mind.. just have to practice lor...

And then asked him to practice when other people are playing...

I also taught him how to visualize in his mind that he will strike. His dad and Uncle C tried to teach him the actual technique of doing it...

And of course, some hugs give him extra motivation and love lah :)


After all the prep talk, finally Ace made some improvement. He ended the whole game with a score of 8. Hahahahahaha.....

Partially also I think Ace is a kinesthetic-visual learner. When people give him audio instructions, he does not understand and does not follow. So we repeat right.. and then he gets frustrated and insist that he already did what we asked him to.

Midway when we were bowling ,this group of emirati youths came to the lane beside us..

We were so curious leh, the kanderra they wear like a skirt right.. how to bowl like that?

After observation, we realized that some of them jit tao roll up the kanderra and show their pants so kanderra now becomes a shirt...  One of them will walk to the lane and then just before bowling use his hand to hold up the kanderra...

Few days ago, our friend posted that  first time he say people bowling without shoes lor... not afraid the bowling ball drop on their feet and smash them meh?

And true enough, we saw another group of indians bowling without shoes.. and yet another group of emirati people bowling with one leg in slipper and one leg in bowling shoes... wahahahahaha

Only in Dubai I think  ;)

For a while hor, I was wondering if we should borrowl tat contraption.. it is for kids who start bowling.. for them to put the ball on this stand and then just push the ball.......

And I wondered too if we hsould have asked for a kid's lane with the guards by the side so that Ace doesn't feel such a huge sense of defeat....

But Max says, "Don't need lah... like that how to learn..." And after I gave it a thought, I think learning ot accept defeat and use it as a motivation to do better is also a lesson that Ace will need to learn. So let him learn lor...

That is my score.. A on top is me:) haha.. for me, I also learnt some lessons..  I bowled better in the first round and the first few frames because  I had more energy and also because I was more focused. I think it is my habit to start strong and lose steam along the way. Had to refocus and make effort to really concentrate so that I can pick up again and finish well:)

That is Ace showing a sad face because he did not do very well.

But I must say that after going through all the coaching by so many "teachers" he improved like 300% by scoring 25 in the second game:) wahahahahaha.....

I asked Ace what he has learnt during the bowling session, he said he has learnt to Never Give Up and to listen to instructions. Because he realizes that as long as he dun give up and listens to our well meaning advice, he can improve:) I hope he will remember these lessons whenever he meets with diffiuclties in life...

That is WL... she very got seh cos she used to play every week.. even got her own shoes, her own guard and ball type... I also learnt some lessons from her.. at the start, she was missing the ball cos her body sort of forgot how to play.. but after a few frames, she got her groove back.... Lesson learnt.. all the practice you had in the past is never ever wasted even if it takes your brain and body some time to remember them :)

I asked Ace if he wanted to go bowling again.. he said YEAH BUT he wants to go with the barrier by the sides so that he can score more points! wahahahahaha...

Previous Post: SWG Charity Food Bazaar 2014