MANILA, Philippines ? It takes just around two to three seconds for a bowling ball to leave a bowler?s hands and reach the pins 50 feet away.

The bigger battle, the true aim of a bowler?s throw, actually happens in his or her mind before that first step to the throw happens.

?If your dominant thought is negative, the outcome would be negative,? six-time world bowling champion and three-time Guinness World Record holder Rafael ?Paeng? Nepomuceno told Inquirer Health.

Mental training, more than the physical one, actually helped one of the sport?s greatest (if not the greatest) athletes achieve his stature. Nepomuceno, who espouses a monitoring system to ?switch off negative thoughts and replace these with positive thoughts right away,? conducts mind-training seminars for sports and bowling players. These techniques include concentration, visualization, imagery, affirmation and emotion.

Nepomuceno, who held an April 14 press conference at the Nutrilite business office in Makati City as part of the world athlete endorsers of Team Nutrilite, talked to the press a day before he flew to England to compete in the World Tenpin Masters April 16 to 21.

?When I wake up I visualize the event. After praying, I visualize how I would want to deliver a shot. The subconscious mind is like a computer. What you program here is what would take place. The subconscious mind cannot distinguish reality from the unreal,? Paeng told this writer.

For continuously teaching and certifying bowling coaches all over the world for three years (and counting), Nepomuceno, 52, recently received the Mort Luby Jr Distinguished Service at Barnsley, England from the World Bowling Writers?an international association of Tenpin Bowling journalists, public relations practitioners, industry leaders and bowling federation officials.

WBW is composed of members from 150 countries.

Filipino kid bowlers

His next project with Nutrilite involves teaching Filipino children to bowl.

Paeng disclosed he had visited the organic farm of Nutrilite Institute in the United States, which was one reason he felt confident with the nutritional supplement.

Other world athlete endorsers of Nutrilite are Jamaican Asafa Powell, the world?s fastest man since 2005; Liu Xiang, the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal in track and field; Sanya Richards, a Jamaican-born American citizen and 2008 bronze medal holder for the women?s 400-m competition; and Ronaldinho, European Footballer of the Year in 2005.

Paeng suggests bowlers to form a ?crystal clear visualization that you see yourself perform. Mix it with emotions. Feel that you are going to win. When a negative thought enters replace it with affirmation right away. Do a self talk: ?I?m always good, I am a champion. If you?re nervous, I?m always calm and collected at all times. Do it repeatedly.?

He said that as the International Ambassador of the United States Bowling Congress, he has been around the globe to train and certify bowling coaches?which would have been costly on their end if they did it on their own.

He also said his energy booster Nutrilite Double X, which contains 12 vitamins, 9 minerals and 17 phytonutrients, helped compensate for the increased demands on his body.

Double X, made by Carl Rehnborg who is considered the global inventor of dietary supplements, has in its literature antioxidants protection, targeting key groups of cell-damaging free radicals namely hydroxyl, superoxide, singlet oxygen, peroxyl and peroxynitrite.

Nepomuceno was also named by the prestigious Bowlers Journal as ?the Greatest International Bowler of All Time.?

He has collected 118 titles here and abroad, with perfect 300 scores 14 times, and has received three Guinness World Records in bowling.