Bowling Psychology

Dean Hinitz, PhD, has been practicing sport psychology for more than 30 years. He is the sport psychologist for the U.S. bowling team, with facilities at the International Training and Research Center at USBC headquarters in Arlington, Texas, previously training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He is the lead mental game consultant in revising the curriculum for the United States Bowling Congress Gold Coaching Program.

Hinitz has been the consulting sport psychologist for esteemed bowling programs at Wichita State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Robert Morris University, and Webber International University—all of which have won national championships. He is the consulting psychologist for the Trevino Golf Institute and has consulted to the gymnastics team at the University of Minnesota as well as to the men’s basketball and baseball teams and the women’s volleyball and basketball teams at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He is also a consultant to the athletic department at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Hinitz has worked with numerous champions on the men’s and women’s pro bowling tours as well as with many amateur champions. For more than 10 years, he was a staff writer for Bowling This Month. He is considered by many to be the leading authority worldwide on the mental game of bowling.

Hinitz earned his PhD in psychology from the University of Nevada at Reno, where he is an adjunct professor. He is a former governor’s appointee to the Nevada State Board of Psychological Examiners and was previously the chief of psychology at West Hills Hospital in Reno. Hinitz maintains a private practice in Reno.