Anytime you think about something, you are in a sense talking to yourself and this self-talk plays a critical role in shaping emotional responses to competitive events. Most bowlers assume that events themselves determine their emotional and physical responses, but this is not the case. These competitive events do not cause depression, anger, anxiety, hopelessness, or frustration - it is how the competitive event is interpreted that determines the response. Self-talk plays a key role in reactions to competitive situations, and these reactions affect future actions and feelings. The ability to change self-talk from negative to positive is an important skill in competitive bowling and having a better understanding of self-talk will improve these skills.