Column: Let's Ditch The High Five In Bowling
Column: Let's Ditch The High Five In Bowling
The high five is dirty and needs to be retired in bowling. So what do we replace it with?
Unlock this article, live events, and more with a subscription!
Already a subscriber? Log In
You step on the approach, throw an amazing shot and a sick messenger comes across for a strike. What’s next? A cavalcade of high fives from your teammates.
But when you get back to bowling after being locked down from the coronavirus pandemic, will those high fives be welcomed or rejected?
Let’s be honest, high fives are kind of gross when you think about it. I don’t know where your hands have been and you don’t know where mine have been (they’re clean, I promise!).
The study compared handshakes vs. high fives vs. fist bumps and concluded that “nearly twice as many bacteria were transferred during a handshake compared with a high five, whereas the fist bump consistently gave the lowest transmission.”
Where I’ve bowled, fist bumps in bowling have traditionally come after a tough break or open frame. So, let’s switch it up. Instead of giving a high five for a good shot, move it to a more sanitary fist bump.
Or even better, what about an elbow bump as demonstrated by Francois Lavoie and Anthony Simonsen below.
In the meantime, let’s all follow Kyle Troup’s advice:
This coronavirus public service announcement is brought to you by @KyleTroupPBA ?@FloBowling @PBATour @Storm_Nation pic.twitter.com/kAYV56Th74
— Lucas Wiseman (@Lucas_Wiseman) June 9, 2020
Lucas Wiseman is the senior editor of FloBowling. He has covered bowling around the world for more than two decades. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.