For the past few weeks, I have been blogging about the different aspects of bowling. Today, it’s time to share my story. I first got into bowling after trying out for the High School Bowling team during my freshman year. A couple of my friends were joining as a joke and I decided to join as well. Little did I know that this sport would bring me many successes, friends, and memories that will last a lifetime.
I am naturally a very competitive person, so even though I joined to spend more time with my friends, I did take it very seriously. I remember having bowling lessons when I was very young but I did not bowl competitively much after that. My dad started bowling as a kid and he was the one that taught me everything once I joined the team. I also got advice from my grandparents, who bowled competitively when they were younger. Since both sets of my grandparents and my dad bowled competitively, you could say bowling was in my blood. With the help from my family and coaches, I ended up going to a regional bowling competition my sophomore year where I bowled well enough to advance to states. I placed high enough at states to earn a small scholarship for college. I was honored to win MVP my Junior and Senior year, as well as being captain my senior year. The knowledge I gained from everyone that helped me allowed me to help the new players that were joining. Even now, I am thinking about continuing to help others by becoming a Coach for the Barberton High School team.
The friendships that were made through bowling were one of the best things about being on the team. My high school had just brought bowling back as a club sport my freshman year. Since it was so new, there were only about 5-7 girls on the team for the first two years. The smaller team lead to us becoming very close friends. We would go out to eat after matches and have “girl’s nights” that continued even after the season ended. I graduated high school in 2017, and I still keep up with my bowling buddies today.
The memories I have from being on the bowling team for four years are ones that I will have for the rest of my life. Since the team was so close, we had inside jokes and we would joke around during the matches and tournaments, which made the 8+ hour days go by a lot faster. The memories of victories, bowling my highest game, cheering on my teammates, and all the other little things made my bowling experience that much better. I would have never thought that bowling would become an important aspect of my high school career and would be something that still has importance to me today.
Comment down below to share your favorite bowling memory or to share your bowling story! I would love to hear from you. 🙂
Bowling300 