Bowling as an occupation

2025/06/09

I have written about Patrick’s bowling as an important occupation to create a new life in his teenage life. He was quiet and only talked to his family. Bowling supported him to create new social relations and participating in university life. Even he has been more confident.

Today I want to share with you more about a view of bowling as an occupation from these angles:

              the form of the occupation of bowling,

              the function of the occupation,

              and the meaning of the occupation.

To look at bowling in a big occupational picture, let’s imagine Patrick engaging in bowling.

Bowling      

Situation: Patrick is 21-year-old student majoring in Japanese and International relations and lives in a student dormitory. He was so quiet and talked only his family until he was 18 years old. He has been rarely interested in sports.

The form of the occupation: When he was 18 years old his family started bowling every week, because his mom wanted to play with his family.

He became a skilled bowler when he was 19 years old and joined a local bowling league. He had a good team and enjoyed playing and competed with his teammates. But he quit the league when he started the university and the dormitory life. He invited his roommate from Korea to bowling. He enjoyed spending time with him and learning how to use chopsticks to eat cup ramen. He nominated to be an officer in the bowling club and encouraged students interact well in bowling. He developed social skills as well as bowling skills. Recently, he is satisfied with the club activities where everybody laughs at someone’s having gutters as well as having wonderful performance.

The function of the occupation: At the age of 18, he started playing bowling with his family. He developed his bowling skills that caused him getting confident. Bowling also supported him to have good relationship with his roommate from Korea. He also expanded social interactions through the local bowling league and the university bowling club. Through participating in playing in different situations, he acquired not only physical bowling skills, but social skills with different positions.  He had a sense of belongingness to those groups. Through the sense of belongingness, he was comfortable with others, satisfied and confident with others, in social situations. Bowling supported him to get physical and social skills to develop his participation in society.

The meaning of the occupation: Patrick wasn’t social nor confident. But he cared about what others think about him. Acquiring bowling skills and high scores, he became confident of himself.  Through bowling activities, he started connections with new people and had a sense of belongingness to different communities. He enjoys sharing goods and errors with his allies. He got a place to be active and comfortable. Bowling supported him to open to others and to grow to adulthood.