One of our Team USA players with the potential to be an elite player in our game, Darren Tang, has made it to three PBA telecasts in his young career, finishing second twice.
What's interesting about Darren's game is his early timing. In bowling, we define timing as a reference to where the ball is in relationship to the feet. In Darren's case, he lets go of the ball at the line before he finishes sliding, which is why we say he has early timing.
Getting deeper into his timing starting at the beginning of his approach, we see Darren get the ball into the swing early with a pretty big extension of the ball out in front of him.
By the time Darren gets into his second step, the ball is already at the top of his backswing. You might notice a similarity to one of the all-time greats, Pete Weber, who also gets to the top of the backswing early. Pete's had one of the best careers ever, so we don't necessarily need to get Darren to change this.
Darren starts to bring the ball down before he plants his pivot step, which is where he and Pete differ. Pete lets the ball hang until he's in his pivot step, but Darren is a little early. All the while, Darren's shoulder alignment is excellent and his head is level as he approaches the line.
As he begins his downswing, he turns his left hand so the palm is facing the ceiling, which locks his left shoulder in place and keeps it in front of him. At the same time, he's loading up his right arm so he can unload at the line and create his power and revolutions.
Everything looks great as he's about to let go of the ball, but one area he's been working on at the point of release is his trailing leg. He rotates his leg around his body, which can potentially lead to going around the ball or cutting it off short, which can cause Darren to miss to the left. This is because his whole body rotates with the leg, so if he rotates a little early, it can cause problems.
Probably more important is his sliding knee. We can see how his knee is pointed in the same direction as his toe at first, but once his trailing leg rotates behind him, his knee points off to the right. If we can't address this, it might result in some knee issues, which we definitely want to avoid.
One more note on Darren's timing: it's okay that it's early because he can repeat it. While his timing may be early compared to most elite players, it's perfect for him. His timing is consistent, which is the most important thing.
Rod
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