Ebonite

Mar 29, 2010

Mark Baker wasn’t a bowling prodigy.

It wasn’t even his first choice of sport.

Baker said he was about 13 or 14 when he first started bowling; his mother wanted something for the two of them to do together. The first year they participated, she out-averaged him.

“I was a fairly good athlete — I was named best athlete of the year at my high school and a high school all-American basketball player and all that good stuff — she never let me live it down that she could beat me in bowling,” he said. “After that it took me about six months to get good. That year I think I was 140 and she was something like 141, the next year I was 185 and three years after that I went on tour. I never had any great aspirations to be a professional bowler.”

Born in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on March 27, 1961, bowling was just something he did in between activities he said. He played four games of college basketball before he decided that neither the sport nor the higher education was for him.

“By the time I was 18, I was doing pretty well at bowling,” he said. “I was bowling for money and I was doing OK at that. I beat all the guys around town at bowling and there was only one place to go from there. Once I became good, I had high expectations. Bowling seemed like fun and I was good at it.”

He joined the Professional Bowlers Association and went on tour full time in 1982; in 1984, he won the Miller Highlight Classic in Miami, the first of PBA major titles he would capture during his 9 years on tour.

Although Baker is known for his abilities as a bowler, he is probably better known for his abilities as a coach. It is his ability and love of coaching that has led Baker to where he is today — a full time bowling coach.

Baker first began to utilize his ability and love of coaching through Camp Bakes and the Bowlers Dream Camp.

In 2006, Baker held the first Camp Bakes as a way to help bowlers with a 175 or higher average take their game to a higher level by bringing in some of the most successful names in bowling, past and present, to help students with every aspect of their game.

The four-time PBA titlist said that the idea for the bi-annual camp came about with the advent of BowlersMAP, a software program that maps bowler motion; the program is distributed by bowling ball manufacturing conglomerate Ebonite International, Inc.

“I thought with how much success I was having with it, if I could have some people for three or four days we could really improve people’s games,” he said. “I called Ebonite and they said ‘run with it.’”

But, Camp Bakes was just the beginning, Baker aspired to take it to a much larger level — and he is doing that — gradually.

In 2007, Baker and Ebonite concocted the Bowlers Dream Camp, an annual event that is what its name professes it to be, a bowler’s dream.

Where Camp Bakes focuses on the basics of bowling — equipment, timing, lane play, etc. — the Bowlers Dream Camp focuses on the five patterns of play used in the PBA. To help these bowlers, Baker brings in the top players currently on the PBA tour, such as Ebonite’s Tommy Jones and Jason Couch, Columbia 300’s Chris Barnes and most recently the newest PBA major title holder, Hammer’s Bill O’Neill.

Attendees of the camp have their bowling balls drilled by pro bowler Dino Castillo, who says that the Bowlers Dream Camp is the ideal place for bowlers looking to learn more about the sport, he said.

“Any bowler who wants to learn more about the game, hone their skill, increase tournament bowling, or just to get better, this is the cream of the crop,” he said. “Dream Camp has the best of the best in bowling teaching what they know and how they do it; essentially give out their trade secrets that truly make them the best the sport has to offer.”

For Baker coaching full time has always been a dream and last year finally took the leap.

“I quit my job July 1 (2009) to (coach) full time; it’s my passion. I actually do love it,” he said.

Inking a deal with Baker wasn’t something Gallagher or Ebonite International, Inc., had to think about, Gallagher said.

“There was no question, what he was proposing works hand-in-hand with what Ebonite International advocates as a company,” Gallagher said. “Coaching is a vital part of any sport.”

Beyond the shared belief in the importance of coaching, Gallagher said that Baker’s philosophy was a factor in the company’s ready agreement.

“Mark’s philosophy is one of cause and effect; that what happens down the lane is because of what happened on the lane in the approach,” he said. “Mark can watch a bowler and tell almost instantly what the problem is; so when he called it was more like ‘when can we start.’”

Baker has worked with Ebonite International professional bowlers such as Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones, Jason Couch and Bill O’Neill.

“Mark has the best eye of any coach I have ever worked with. He can watch me on video and tell me what I am doing wrong and how to fix it in a matter of minutes,” said Hammer bowler Bill O’Neill. “My father’s coaching got me to the tour and Mark’s coaching has taken me to the level I am at now.”

Columbia 300’s Chris Barnes said Baker is the “go to guy” for the pros.

“Mark, quite simply, is the best coach in the game right now,” Barnes said. “He has found some commonalities among bowlers today that fit regardless of rev rate or axis rotations. In addition, his ability to mix today’s technology and effectively communicate what he sees sets him apart.”

The bowlers aren’t the only ones that get an education out of their sessions with Baker, Baker said.

“I’ve learned as much from them as they have from me,” he said. “As I coach other people … taking all the things I’ve learned from those guys and applying it to my other students really helps my students.”

Baker will do anything it takes to reach as many bowlers as possible.

“Between camps, clinics and individual lessons and being the house pro at Fountain Bowl, that is four different ways to reach more bowlers and coaches,” he said. “I am just trying to get to more bowlers.”

Baker doesn’t have a “one size fits all” solution to making someone the next Bill O’Neill or Chris Barnes nor is it his goal to make everyone a pro; he just wants to keep the game alive.

“It’s been my livelihood for a lot of years and if I do my job and bowlers don’t quit, we have a sport,” he said. “My theory is that if people get better at something they don’t quit — anything you do; if you get better you aren’t going to quit.”

Attendees of bi-annual Camp Bakes, praise the individual treatment they receive as well as the improvement to their bowling games.

“I have been bowling for 4 1/2 months now, am very serious about my bowling game, and have high expectations and goals. I was recently introduced to Mark Baker at my bowling center and have been working with him for about a month now. Bowlers constantly ask me how I have improved my game in such a short span; my reply is Mark Baker and Camp Bakes. I am certain that I will reach all my goals with him as my coach,” said Shawn Tamjidi, who attended the May 2009 Camp Bakes in Las Vegas.

Another attendee of the May 2009 camp said she wasn’t sure what she was in for when her husband first signed her up for the camp and was afraid of being looked down upon because of her skill, or lack thereof.

“Everyone interacted on the same level (including the pros) and the camaraderie was fantastic. Mark and his team always went out of their way to make everyone feel special throughout the training,” Darlene Wright posted on the Camp Bakes Web site. “I had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the pros and really got to know each of them on a personal level. When the camp was over, I knew I would be remembered. I now hold a consistent 180 average. I take every opportunity to tell everyone about Camp Bakes, and what a difference it made in my life! In fact, my husband now regrets he signed me up because I am beating him in winning side pots.”

The key to successful coaching is to personalizing each participant’s experience.

“I try to make it as individual as possible because everyone’s experience is different,” he said. “You tell the same people the same thing over and over again eventually they are going to stop listening to you; so I have to keep it fresh for them and I have to keep it fresh for me.”

Baker and Gallagher have hopes to grow Baker’s coaching business beyond his home base in Southern California where Baker lives with his wife, Shannon, and two sons Myles and Gage.

Neither Gallagher nor Baker intends to limit the program to just Southern California or the United States. Gallagher said while Baker has done several camps for Ebonite on the East Coast he’d like to see more camps, clinics and center programs all over the country, nation and the world.

“Bowling is a global game. Why shouldn’t we create good bowlers globally?” Gallagher said.

Baker is more than ready for the challenge.

“It’s a blast. I look forward to going to work; I know a lot of my friends who don’t … A lot of it also was Ebonite stepping up and saying, ‘Hey we believe in your coaching abilities and we believe what you are doing for the game is good so we’ll help you out some.’ That definitely made the decision easier. I was going to do it regardless but that made it easier.”

And, with his 15-year-old son Myles just taking up bowling and 10-month-old Gage nearing his first birthday, Baker isn’t planning to give up coaching any time soon.

“I just love bowling,” he said.

—  Ebonite Bowling Balls & Bowling Equipment - Ebonite is a brand of Ebonite International, Inc. Based in Hopkinsville, Ky., Ebonite International is a privately-owned company that services bowling centers, distributors and retail outlets domestically and internationally. In addition to Ebonite, the company’s consumer product brands include Hammer, Robby’s, Columbia 300, Track and Powerhouse™; its commercial product brand is Ebonite Bowling Center Direct.

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