For most of us, we've bowled in leagues for roughly 10 weeks. What does this entail? Maintaining that bowling ball properly to continue striking! Here are some ways to help maintain/improve your bowling balls performance.

- Brunswick Remove All Ball Cleaner 4 oz. Cleaners are the best to help maintain the coverstock. A clean ball is a happy ball! Easy-to-use spray bottle dispenses a strong degreasing cleaner designed to deep clean dirt and oil from all coverstocks. It removes most all oil and dirt from ball's surface. You may use this on all polyester, urethane and reactive coverstocks. Approved for use during USBC competition. This also does not alter the ball motion you currently have.

- Abralon Sanding Pad 1000 Grit. Sometimes a quick touch up with an Abralon pad will help your ball roll. After you toss your ball down the lane, game by game, your surface is being altered from when you first bought/used the ball. Taking your ball to a local pro shop may be a great idea. The pro shop will be able to resurface your ball and take it back, pretty close to factory finish or out of box finish. This will help with ball performance that may have been lost. Also, if that ball is not reacting correctly out of box for you, change the surface to a different grit. The Lower(180 as an example) the grit, the earlier the hook. The Higher(4000 as an example) the grit, the longer the ball goes before it hooks.

- Powerhouse Factory Finish Polish 5 oz. This product will put a shine on your ball! If you are in need of the ball getting down lane longer before reacting, apply polish. You may do this by hand but I recommend you use this on a ball spinner. The faster the ball spins while applying the polish, the more shine you will get.

Make sure you watch how your ball is reacting towards the pins. If the ball is rolling out early, higher grit abralons and possibly some polish may be in need for the future. If the ball goes too long, use lower grit abralons in the future. Remember that you may not alter the surface of a ball once the first ball of competition is thrown. Visit USBC to read more on the rules by clicking here!

How many of us have run into the issue of cracked bowling balls? I have had my fair share. You may help prevent this by keeping the ball in room temperature. The bowling balls are constantly curing and aging. I am sure some of us have opened their trunk and found the bowling ball in half sitting in there. Winter is slowly creeping on us. Those bowling balls do not like that extreme cold! Take them inside when you head to work. Spread the word about bowling! Most bowling centers have lockers that you may Rent out as well. Less lifting you will have to do bringing them in and out of the trunk.

Make use of these simple tips to help improve your game to the next level. Plus, take care of your equipment! They are not cheap! Remember to enjoy the game of bowling and as always, Practice Practice, Practice!

Steve Lemke Bowling.com SFA NCAA Coach