2007-2008 High School Bowlers Blog

End of high school career signals the beginning of the next bowling chapter
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, May 15, 2008

It's been about three months since high school bowling has been over and it feels like forever. Even with my high school bowling over, nothing with bowling has even come close to stopping. Daily I am up at the bowling alley practicing trying to get better.

Just recently I had my first lesson ever in my life with Tom Carter in Rockford, this has helped me so much within the little time I have had since I have seen him. But let's do a little recap since I've last blogged.

Denny's High School All American has come and gone. I wanted to congratulate Natalie Cortese from Illinois for winning and I don't know who the boy who won was, but to him as well. I wanted to say congrats to everyone who participated, especially those who I know.

Last time I blogged I was letting you know how I bowled at the Wisconsin Tour. Well I've participated in a few other tournaments since then. On March 16th I bowled in the ISBC which is Illinois Bowling Club. I tied after eight games of qualifying with Maggie. Well we ended up having a roll off and I lost, by a pin. It was hard to deal with since I had missed the cut in February by 10 pins, but I've learned that spares are very important because of this reason. Then I had spring break, just a lot of practice and getting myself ready for all the upcoming tournaments.

I try to get about six games in a day, for a small block, but sometimes I don't have a lot of time to do this. Lately with practice it's been about one or two games, and some days none. I have been so busy with school work, that it's getting harder to get up and practice. I just recently sent in my entry for Teen Masters for I had a direct invite back this year for finishing in the top 16 last year. Hopefully I will pull through a little better this year, and finish a little higher. Also I am going to be participating in Junior Gold this year in Detroit, it' my first year, because I never knew what it was, so I am a little excited to go.

While I'm out there I also will be bowling the Youth Open with some friends that I've met through the past two years, and I am going to bowl in the North Point Insurance Co. tournament for the seniors. I'm a little busy for the summer, but it's completely worth it.

Well on a recent weekend I finished up with some more tournaments. I bowled our Illinois State Youth Leader State Singles & Doubles tournament and I just had my finger tips and span fixed on my bowling ball so it was a little rough on Saturday, because I wasn't use to it. Sunday was a different story. I didn't get home from Singles & Doubles until about 1 in the morning, and I had to be up at 4 to go to Madison, Wisconsin.

Well let me tell you it was a little rough, but I pulled through. I got my plaque for winning in March, and I started the day off a little slow, I was up and down with 200s and 190s. Then I said to myself, I want this, and put it through my head, I set a goal for myself. I came back the fourth game with a 269 putting me in first +74 because I was +5 before that game. I continued to bowl better and better until the eighth game of qualifying I started to get pains in my leg. I finished with a 180 game, but I was +115 for eight games, in first place. Once I was in match play the pain in my leg went away. I lost a few of the matches, but won more than I lost. I came in a little slow with some low games, but I gradually did better and finished in first with +212. This also was on a Sport shot so I was excited; I wanted to break the +200 mark, and I succeeded, I was very happy with myself. Then after the girls were done I stuck around to watch Jason Price bowl, because we had been keeping up with how we were bowling towards the end of the day. So I watched him and he finished first for the boys. It was a fun day. I am 3/4 in winning, so hopefully I can pull through in the future and do as well as I had that Sunday.

After the tournament, I took a small break because I pulled a muscle in my hand. I signed to go to Alabama A&M last month so I am all set for school, and I move in August, so I'm pretty set. I've got graduation this month so school has been my main goal, to finish strong. Good luck to everyone, in everything they try to do. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want to.

Going to Vegas this summer for Teen Masters tournament
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, March 9, 2008

I apologize for not writing in quite some time. I have been extremely busy lately with bowling and school. I guess it took a blizzard to trap me inside and give me time to write... haha.

Since I last wrote, I have bowled in the Ohio High School State Tournament (as well as a couple other tournaments). I had the honor to represent my school as an individual, and bowl three single games at the tournament in Lancaster, Ohio.  At the state tournament, I had a bad day. The shot was pretty tough, but it wasn’t terrible. However, that’s how I bowled. I shot a 520 series. I finished 71st out of about 120 bowlers. It was a very disappointing finish, but I still have next year to do better.

Since the state tournament, I have bowled in the Pepsi Regional Tournament and the “Kick-Off” Qualifier for the Teen Masters. At the Pepsi, I shot a 649 series. Hopefully that is good enough to make to the state tournament.

Today, I bowled in the Teen Masters Singles event in Beavercreek, Ohio. There was around 25-30 bowlers there today from a few states. All the qualifiers have the same sport shot. I played pretty tough all day, but it seemed to open up for me as the day went on. In six games, I shot a 1,158 series. That tied me for third place, meaning I advance to Las Vegas, NV for the National Event.  That event is held in July, right after the Junior Gold National Championships.

Good things come in threes
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, March 6, 2008

Well, I guess good things come in threes. I bowled that 753 a week ago, the following Wednesday I was prebowling for Sunday high school league because I had a tournament in Wisconsin and I shot 731, and this past Saturday I shot 771 in youth league. I have been bowling pretty well lately, and I can't really complain about it.  This past weekend I bowled in a tournament in Wisconsin, the condition wasn't the greatest but I got my way through. I ended up in 2nd in qualifying, and finished in 1st after match play.

Lately, bowling has been going pretty well. I didn't get picked for Denny's, but I'm not upset, because I know Natalie will do a good job representing the state, but good luck to everyone participating :). But yeah, there hasn't been a lot going on besides league, and tournaments, but our bowling banquet for high school is this Monday, so hopefully that will be something good to talk about.

Bowling is a year-round sport; leads to Bowler of the Year honors for Melanie
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Feb. 25, 2008

It all started Friday Night, Senior Night for the LaSalle-Peru township Cavaliar Senior Athletes. Every year they have a senior night during the last home basketball game for every winter sport, well this year was my senior year, so it was my year to be recognized.  It was my time to walk to center court to get my flower, and walk off as a senior, knowing my career as an athlete in high school is over. 

Well, after we were all recognized for our hard work and great seasons I was just about ready to leave, until a random stranger to me, approached me. His name happened to be Jim Cogdal, the sports editor at the News Tribune, our local area paper. He came up and introduced himself, and asked if he could briefly talk to me, and I was for sure up to the moment. Jim asked me a few questions about my high school bowling season and how I was doing at the moment, everything was going well. The purpose he had approached me was to inform me that I am the Bowler of the Year for our area.  He was telling me this is one of the few years they have been able to give this award out for no one has really been a catchy eye in our area since 2003 when Kristi Tapscott went to state. He was telling me about the award, and how he need to have an interview and take a couple pictures with the boy bowler of the year Brian Koplin, who also goes to my school. 

So that was a top to my Friday night. We ended up having the interview on Saturday and also taking the pictures after I had bowled league. So that is something I am very proud of and wanted to share, but lets get to some news about the bowling area...the bowling just never seems to end for me. Actually it's basically my year-round sport in reality.  I know some people just bowl during high school season or they just bowl youth league and they are done, for me it's a different story. I bowl every second I can. Well this past Saturday I had youth league well it was a rough morning getting out of bed at 7:30 so I wasn't sure bowling was going to go well. That was a false statement. I ended up getting to bowling, being in one of the best moods I had been in, in a very long time. The day had gone by so slow, but my bowling had gone over excellently.  I bowled a 255 following with a 289, finishing with a 209 for a 753 series. 

At the moment it is the youth high for this season with the next high score of 706 from a bowler who isn't even from our town. I have been working so hard on getting a 700 in youth league let alone a 750. I was in my second game and I got a strike on the first ball, and then Ii left the 6-10.  After that 6-10, I struck up into my 10th frame. I was in my tenth going for my final strike, and the little kids in the league didn't realize how I was bowling, and all you could hear was OMG she has 10 in a row, they didn't know any better. I wasn't really nervous, I threw a really good ball, I was confident that I had it. Nope, I left the solid 10 pin. I wasn't very happy with it, but I dealt with it. I learned from this, that you have to take each frame one by one. 

Well after I was done bowling my bowling center hosted the Team Event state finals, so I stuck around to make sure that no one needed a sub. Well no one did, so I just watched from the side. Saturday ended with a good day of bowling, but a long day for sure.  Sunday I had to get up at 4:30 to bowl a tournament up in Mt. Prospect, which hadn't gone over as well as I had hoped, but that's alright. You learn from these experiences, you learn from not reaching your goals. I bowled in the ISBC which is a tougher tournament because sometimes they put a sport shot out. Well I finished up overall -144 not a very good day for me at all. I think that from being so tired, my head was not in the game as it should have been, and I let the little things affect my game.

I've learned from this experience that I have to stay strong, no matter what, I just need to be myself. I ended up missing the cut by 10 pins, which I am alright with, this is the first cut I have never made since I started bowling tournaments last March. I know in my mind that I have done a very good job over the past year. Even if others don't think so, I will think so myself, everyone has a bad day, it happens. The pros even have those days. I think not making into match play will teach me that lesson, that everything matters no matter what you do.  If you want something to happen, you need to work for it, it won't just come to you.  On that note, I will keep on pursuing my dream and try harder and harder everyday.

Heading to State to represent school as individual bowler
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Feb. 24, 2008

This Saturday, February 23, we bowled in the Southwest Ohio District Bowling meet. This is arguably the best district in Ohio. Therefore, we knew we were going to have to bowl very well to advance to the State Finals next week. The top five teams would advance, and also the top five individuals that were not on an advancing team. There were 20 teams there. We bowled three regular team games, and then ten baker games.

Our first game got off to a good start. Just one of us struggled, and by the end of the game, we only shot two good scores. We only shot a 992. I shot a 257, and teammate Chris Via shot a 256. In the second game, we bowled more consistent scores. I started with the front seven, and shot a 265. As a team we shot just over 1000. After the second game we were in 9th place, moving up from 13th. The third game was my worst, but the team’s best. I shot 184 (for a 706 series), and the team shot 1051.

Going into the baker games, we were in seventh place. Stebbins, Fairmont, and Centerville lead the pack. We were 1 pin from sixth and 44 pins from fifth. Last year at the districts, we were in eighth place, and further down from the fifth spot, and we missed the state berth by just 4 pins. We knew it was very possible to come back, especially with ten baker games. However, we didn’t bowl well. It was a rough start with the first three games. Finally we starting shooting better about halfway through, but then we fell apart towards the end of the bakers. As a team, we ended up ninth.

However, I received the honor to advance as an individual to the State with my 706 series. I finished fifth overall, and third from non-advancing teams. Congratulations to my friend Brice Ream from Urbana who shot a 698 and qualified to state as well. The state tournament is next Friday morning near Columbus. Hopefully I can represent my school well, as I compete for a state title. Good luck to everyone competing Friday.

Team's appearance at Districts could lead to State showing
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2008

We’ve bowled in our Conference Tournament and the Sectional Tournament since I last wrote. The conference tournament was held at our home lanes, and the scores were fairly high. I finished third individually (I think), with a 686 series. As for the team, we shot well all three games. We were in first place after the first three games.

After the first three games, we bowled five baker games. In order to win the conference, we had to win at least two baker games and total pins for the match. Stebbins had to beat us in three games and total pins to win. Unfortunately, we didn’t bowl good enough to hold on to our lead. Stebbins ended up beating us in three baker games, and beating us in total pins by just 4 pins. That gave Stebbins their second straight conference title. Congratulations to them.

Next came the sectional tournament. This was a very interesting tournament from the start. After the first game, we were in first place with a 995. The shot was supposedly a house shot, but it played extremely difficult. There were only a few bowlers averaging over 200. The second and third games, we only shot in the mid-800’s. We dropped to fifth place. The top four teams advanced, meaning we would have to make a comeback in the five baker games.

We were only 8 pins from fourth place (Bellefontaine). We were consistent with our baker games, but they weren’t high. The first four games were all around 180 to 190, but the fourth was a 207. That put us about 60 pins up on the fifth team. As long as our final was baker game was decent, we should advance on. Our last baker was only in the 140’s. We figured our season was over. Bellefontaine shot a 203 their final game. Once the scores were totaled, we found out we topped Bellefontaine by 8 pins, securing fourth place, and a spot to the District tournament.

The district tournament will be held next Saturday morning. Last year we didn’t advance from Districts, missing the State tournament by 4 pins. This year hopefully we can advance. After bowling on the tough shot at sectionals, we may benefit from bowling on an easier shot. We went down to Eastern Lanes in Middletown to practice today, and most of us shot well. I shot a 690 plus a 218 my last game on the tournament shot. It seemed pretty easy, but really dry.

It will be interesting to see how fast the lanes break down and dry out on Saturday. We bowl three normal games and ten bakers. The lanes are wood, so they will transition a little quicker than what were used to. Twenty teams will be at the tournament, and five will advance, hopefully one of the five teams will be us.

Season finishes on a high with college bowling on horizon
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Feb. 16, 2008

It's over, the season is over...but bowling isn't done for me… Last weekend was the IHSA girls state finals. Well it started off with Thursday, I got out of school early to go practice at 4-5 for my scheduled time for state. Well everything was going well, so I started to work on my spares and then ended a little early. Coach, my mom, and I went out to dinner and talked about everything from the season and how I had done. Once we were done with dinner we went back to the hotel, and I hung out with some of the Morris and Sycamore girls that I had met in the past year. It was a lot of fun, we went swimming and just sat around and talked. 

Friday was the big day for all of us. The start of the tournament. I started off really strong with a 715 series. At lunch break I was in 2nd place, so I was a little overjoyed. Once lunch was over I didn't start off to great, but I pulled myself through. I couldn't double up, and that's what everyone else seemed to be doing, but I finished the first day with a 1262 in 13th place after day one, qualifying myself to day two. In first place was Vanessa Wells from Salem with a 1371. The teams were also doing well, in first after day one for the teams was Schaumburg with a 6,041 series and the 12th team to go onto day two was Morris with a 5,603. They made the cut with the top 30 girls who weren't on a team, and the top 12 teams for day two. Before we got to leave, they took pictures of all the individuals and teams for opening ceremonies for Saturday. 

Once we were all done with the bowling alley, my family and coach went out to dinner, and then went and hung out at the hotel again, it was a fun weekend. Saturday morning was a rough start, everyone seemed to be running late, but it was alright. I got invited to go to breakfast for the 2nd day with the Morris girls to have pancakes in one of the parent's rooms, so I went to that, and that was a lot of fun. The second day started at 8:30 instead of 9:00 on Friday. I started off bowling with a group of girls that I knew so I was happy with that. My first set wasn't as well as I wanted it to be I had a 181, 214, 234...I know I could have done better the first game, but its alright, it happens to everyone. 

After the first set I went up a couple of spots, I'm not sure where I was placed at lunch, because I didn't bother looking. After lunch I came back, and bowled a 218, 244, and a 177...once again my last game could have been better, but everything happens, there's nothing you can do about it. I am overly happy with the way I finished, I beat our school record by a pin, so I now hold all the records for the girls bowling team, so I am happy with that. After all the bowling was over, I finished 7th. The top ten were Marilyn Gawlik, Megan Buja,Mollie Sloyan,Chelsea Gilliam, Tara Gamblin, Vanessa Wells, Me, Michelle Wallenberg, Brooke Peterson, and Trista Flowers. Overall I got a chance to bowl all of these girls except for Mollie and Trista, but I did bowl close to them, so it was a fun weekend. 

Nothing beats getting to bowl the winning team the last game though. Going into the 12th game Schaumburg and Rockford Jefferson were I believe 60 some pins apart from each other. I was bowling against Rockford Jefferson with my group of individuals, and Schaumburg was on the lane next to us, so it was a lot of fun. Overall I am glad with how I did this year, because last year I didn't make it to the second day, and my goal this year was to make it to the second day, and to beat some girls who I have lost to previously in other tournaments outside of school, which I had accomplished. Now once high school season is over, I am still out bowling tournaments, in fact I bowled a tournament on Sunday, and I was +308 for 12 games, but we had match play in there so I won a few of my matches, so that helped bring the score up a little bit. So hopefully my bowling will continue to do better, and I am finally set with college, I plan to go to Alabama A&M in the fall, so as of right now, everything is going great. Let's just hope everything stays the way it has and or get better. Congrats to everyone at state this year, Great job and good bowling, keep it up :)

First loss humbling; brings back focus
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Feb. 8, 2008

I have been really bad at keeping you all up to date on my season and I apologize!!! I can now say that senioritis has completely set in and I am barely getting things done now days. Not a good thing! But so far the bowling season and my senior year in high school have been going well and I look forward to the last few weeks of the season.

Picking up where I left off on the last blog (wow that was a long time ago), we have had four matches. Our first match since the last one I mentioned last blog was against Wichita Southeast. We had to bowl against them at Thunderbird Bowl, which is their home house and the location of the State tournament this year. The team started slow and we found ourselves behind going into the third and final game. Three of us managed to step up the last game and put up some big numbers and finish with the win, 2703 - 2562 including my 669 series.

Our next match was at home against Bishop Carroll. They have a losing record this season and we have NEVER lost at home in my career bowling for Heights. Well, this match would change it all. Our high man shot a mere 615 series, and as a team we bowled our lowest total ever. As a matter of fact, even our varsity girls beat us (give them some credit they are good!). Usually when one person bowls bad, someone is there to pick them up and make up for their score. This time it wasn't the case, as each and every one of us bowled significantly under our average. We were handed our first loss and the hopes to a perfect season were lost: 2489 - 2402. This took us out of our first place position in our league, and put us into a tie for second with Wichita Northwest. This loss really opened up all of our eyes and we realized that just because we are Wichita Heights doesn't mean we automatically win.

Coming off the loss we had to bowl again just three days later against Kaupan Mount Carmel, who was still undefeated. Practice before the match was much more focused and dedicated to bowling how we know we can. This was another home match and we were determined to get back to our winning ways. We came out strong and coasted to a win, 2680 - 2536, including my 708 series. This gave Kaupan their first loss, making the city league race even more interesting with three teams tied at the top.

Our next match was against Wichita West at their home house, Seneca Bowl. Seneca will be the location of the City League tournament, so it was important to get familiar with the lanes, approaches, environment etc. We bowled fairly well, and came away with the win 2619 - 2138, including my 652. We were happy with the win but knew we needed to come out here and practice again before the city tournament. 2619 typically wont get it done in our league so we need to find a way to score better at Seneca and continue to practice our spares.

Well this gets you caught up! We are currently 7 - 1 (6 - 1 in the city league) and are tied for first with Wichita Northwest (Kaupan ended up losing again later). We have one more match at Thunderbird Bowl before the city tournament on Saturday, February 16. Overall I am having an up and down season, averaging less than last season while having my highs and lows. I am happy with the team and how we are preparing going into the big tournaments at the end of the season and feel that we will be able to do some big things! As long as we continue to believe in what we are doing and keep our confidence in ourselves and each other we will be fine. There are definitely some great teams throughout the state so we need to be peaking at the right time to take it all this year. I have all the confidence in the world that we can accomplish anything and everything we set our minds on. Let's do this Falcons!!!

Thanks for reading :)

Winning streak could lead team straight to state
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Feb. 7, 2008

What a season so far! It’s been a couple weeks since I wrote, and we still haven’t lost a match since we lost in Urbana on December 13. In the last couple weeks we have had some key wins. We beat a good team, Tecumseh, on the road. Then we went on to defeat Northeastern at home. Today we bowled a solid Northwestern team, who came in the match with a 10-3 record.

The match was at Northwestern’s home lanes (Victory Lanes). By the end of our fifteen minute practice session, we we’re all locked in. We all shot good the first game. My teammate, Drew, shot a 278, and I shoot a 299. I had the first 11, and buried the final shot in the pocket, but left a ringing ten. That would have been my first 300 game in a high school match, and the first 300 in Kenton Ridge history since becoming a varsity sport three years ago. I came back with a 236 my second game. I had a 535 series, along with Drew who also shot a 535. Everyone on the team did great, averaging at least 230.

Our score from the first two games were as high as we ever shot, 2395. That is a 239.5 average. However the match was not over by the end of the second game. Northwestern shot pretty good as well. Congratulations to John who shot a 300 for Northwestern. That is the second 300 game in Northwestern’s history, and first since becoming a varsity sport this season.

After the first couple baker games, we secured our victory, extending our winning streak to 12 games. The regular season ends tomorrow with our conference tournament. If we finish ahead of Stebbins, we will win our first conference title. The tournament tomorrow is at Northridge Lanes (our home lanes). We’re expected a large and very supportive crowd. It will be tough to beat Stebbins two times in a row, but we up to the challenge.

After the conference tournament tomorrow, it will be time to get ready for the post-season. Friday, February 15 is the sectional tournament in Urbana. This is the bowling alley we have struggled in this year, so hopefully we can turn things around. The top four teams will advance from there to the district tournament held outside of Cincinnati (in Middletown, OH). After districts is state. Hopefully we can make an appearance to state this year (after coming up 4 pins shy of a state birth last season).

Strong finish puts me on top at sectionals
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Feb. 4, 2008

Here we go again, the season is almost overrrr. At least for me it is. This past Saturday we had sectionals in Dixon, IL. It was an intense dayyy let me tell you. No one knew how things would turn out this year because we had some new teams in our sectional compared to normal, and these were some teams to watch out for. The day started off bowling a close team to home St. Bede. We had a good start and a good day in general. We bowled six games across the house. Every game we moved to a new pair. Well we bowled the first 2 and I was in first for individual. Then for game three, I was -10 from first and second place, they were tied, it was two girls from Morris. After game four I was -20 from first place and going into the last game of the day I was -30 from first.

Overall I pulled it off and finished strong with a 246 game, which had brought me to the top overall. Actually I tied with one of the girls from Minooka. May I add these girls bowl up in the Chicago area all season and are in a much tougher conference than what the girls in my conference are used to. To finish first over all the girls felt amazing. I didn't cry this year, but the other girl who qualified, her name's Courtney, she's from Rock Island she finished 5th I believe and qualified onto state because the other girls ahead of her where on either Morris or Minooka. Overall I finished the day with a 1,297, one of my higher set series. So it was a good weekend. So hopefully this week will go well, and I'll keep an update on how practice and State go. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS GIRLS BOWLING WHO QUALIFIED TO STATE :)

College campus visit squeezed in between tournaments
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Feb. 1, 2008

Well last Saturday was a big day for my team. We were at the Dixon Invitational, and it was held in the house where our sectionals are tomorrow. We did pretty well overall, we finished 12th out of 22 teams. I finished 2nd individually with a 1,239. Well then Sunday I was on the road to Alabama to look at a college down there. I went to Alabama A&M to see how I liked it. Overall it was really good and that's where I am planning on going in the fall. We haven't had a lot of bowling because our season is almost over and our last meet was 2 weeks ago. Once sectionals is over it's off to state, and hopefully I can go again this year, and possibly the team. Tomorrow I will post about sectionals and let you know how that went.

Early successes in season openers
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Jan. 23, 2008

The Kansas high school bowling season has finally began! With the different formats from state to state, I'd like to make it clear how HS bowling works here. Each team consists of six bowlers, who will be spread across 3 pairs of lanes. Usually, a team's top two bowlers will be on the first pair bowling with the opposing team's top two. The third and fourth bowlers will be on the next pair, and the fifth and sixth on the next. After three games, the top four individual series' from each team makes up the team total, throwing the two low series' out. The higher team total wins! Yes, that means no baker format for us :(

We opened up the season with a home match against Wichita South. They won the state championship two years ago, but unfortunately lost a few seniors and have had a rough time of late. A great team effort gave us a 2789 - 2389 win, including my team high 738 series.

The second match proved to be our biggest test of the season so far. It was an away game at a house we historically have not bowled well in. We were bowling against a school rival and the other bowling powerhouse in the city, Wichita Northwest. By the second game, we built up a lead of about 80 pins and felt if we just managed to stay clean and shoot mid-200's for the last game we would be in good shape. We slowly saw our lead slip away, as Northwest got hot and gained a lot of ground. In the end, we pulled off the win in a difficult house, 2564 - 2547, including my 631 series.

Our third match was a triangular, where three teams are involved. One team was from our city league, while the other was not. Wins and losses to teams outside of the city league do not count toward city league standings, but do count for overall record. Wichita North and Liberal both proved to be solid teams, but with our "homelane" advantage we held our ground and won 2752 - 2615 - 2572, NOT including my stellar 602. Yes, I threw the ball great that match (sense my sarcasm?), and did not need to use my score!

Overall the first week was an unusual one having three matches, but we accomplished everything we wanted to so far, and our 4 - 0 (3 - 0 in the city) record proves it. Congratulations to friends Alex Seiwert and Hunter Bennett for both shooting 300 in a match already! Teammate Brandon Welch just missed his first 300, shooting a 299/776 in the triangular match, so congrats to him also! Hopefully our hard work and practice continues to pay off as we only have one match this week against Wichita Southeast where we hope to do more of the same.

Huge crowd turns out for archrival matchup
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Jan. 19, 2008

What a week for Kenton Ridge bowling! The bowling week started on Tuesday, with practice. Because there was a match going on at our home lanes, we didn’t get a lot of lanes to practice on, so the bowling let us practice later than normal. Just about everyone left practice at 5:00, when practice is normally over. I decided to practice an extra three hours. It was a good practice session, and I got the opportunity to work on some things. By time we were done, the lanes were really dry. I shot about 14 games.

Wednesday was an off day, and Thursday was a match. It was an away match at Shawnee. They always have a good team, but we were hoping to get our second win of the season against them. And that’s what we did. Everyone shot descent, averaging over 200, but nothing spectacular. We knew we had to shoot a whole lot better the next day, because we bowled our archrival, Stebbins.

So Friday came, and it was time for Stebbins. At school, we made an announcement over the intercom for everyone to come out and support us. And sure enough, by game time we had the largest crowd we have ever had for a regular season match. Going into the match, we were (0-3) against Stebbins. Now we only had one obstacle. Our fifth man we sick, and unable to bowl.

So what do we do with a man down? We call up a junior varsity bowler, and watch him lead the team with scores of 255 and 257. (Nice shootin’ Zach!) He wasn’t the only one that shot good. We all did. I think the lowest series we had was a 418. After the first game, we were up somewhere around 100. We kept our composure and knew that a talented team like Stebbins wouldn’t stop fighting. After a very good second game, we were up 212 pins.

Once again, we knew we had to keep up the high scoring going into the four baker games. Our goal was to win every baker game. That would ensure a victory. We won the first baker by about 40 pins, as we shot around 230. The next game we shot a 259, and pretty much put the match away. By the end of the fourth, we had won the match by a comfortable 338 pins, 3127-2789.

That gave Stebbins their first conference loss, and put us right back in the race for our school’s first conference championship in bowling. If we run the table and win the rest of our matches, and win the Conference tournament on February 8, we’ll have the championship locked up.

We have six games left this season, and a couple tough ones. We will just have to take the remainder of the season one game at a time, starting Tuesday against Tipp City, who nearly defeated Stebbins earlier this season. Our season wraps up on the road against Northwestern. This is arguably one of the best teams in the conference. And to top it off, my uncle is the head coach, so I’m sure they’ll be pretty pumped up to beat us. But I’d like to have the bragging rights in the family. That match is on February 7, at Victory Lanes.

Tough road losses may turn around in next match
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Jan. 21, 2008

Once again it's been a while, I've been so busy filling out applications, and tournament information for everything I am going to be doing here in the next couple months. 

Everything has been so crazy around here, I just never seem to get a lot of time to write about how we've been doing.  Lately the team hasn't been bowling very well. We've lost our past three matches against Mendota, Dixon, and Streator.  Those meets I didn't bowl anywhere near to what I have been the whole season, so that didn't help much at all. Our practices have been going well, we work together well there, but it seems when we get on the lanes for a meet, we just fall apart lately. Our next match is against Ottawa Marquette, we beat them last time, so I'm hoping we can walk away with our last win for the season for meets. Then we are off to Dixon on Saturday for an Invitational. A lot of good schools are going to be there, and almost all the teams from our sectional, so we will get a little bit of a heads up on how we should do at sectionals.

Then after our invite, I'm off to Alabama A&M to visit the school, and to see if that is where I want to go to school. Then we have a week of practice, and Saturday, February 2nd is our sectional in Dixon.

This previous weekend was our boys team's sectional. They where in a pretty easy sectional this year compared to the past. Overall they finished forth following Streator, Sycamore, and Freeport. One of our boys is a potential at-large bowler for state year two in a row. Hopefully things will go over well for him, and he will be picked to bowl at state this year. Freeport won the sectional, and Sycamore took second giving them spots in the State Tournament this coming Friday-Saturday. Caleb from Rochelle, and Matt from Streator secured their spots by finishing in the top two spots not on a team. So hopefully things will go well for everyone from our sectional so they can make it to the second day of the IHSA state tournament.

Season high and lows, plus archrival match-up this week
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2008

I’ve been really busy lately with school work and bowling, and I am just now getting time to write. I don’t have any particular subject to write about, so I’ll just give you a review on my high school bowling season. We are currently 9-2. We are 5-0 at home, and 4-2 on the road.

The season started with the Ohio High School “Kick-off” Tournament in Columbus. We placed 11th in that. If you’d like to read more about the tournament, I wrote an article about it in one of my previous entries. After opening the season 4-0, we ran into our archrival (as I like to refer to them), Stebbins. We were unable to keep pace with them, and lost the match (3,115-2,833). Just three days later, we lost to Urbana, on the difficult oil pattern. We never really got comfortable on the shot, and dug a deep hole from the start.

Those two losses were a wakeup call for us. We practiced on multiple Sport shots to try to pin down on our accuracy, and get back into a winning mindset. Since those two losses, we have bowled exceptionally well. Against Ben Logan, I fired back to back 279 games. I left a 4-pin in the sixth frame of my first game, and a 10-pin in the eighth frame of my second game. I shot a 458 for my 2-game set. I believe that is currently tops in Ohio’s Southwest District.

After bowling the back to back 279 games, I only could have guessed what I would have shot if we bowled a three game set in high school. I was dialed in during the match, striking in 22 of 24 shots. I am confident I would have shot an 800 series. That’s why I wish Ohio’s High School bowling format was a 3-game series, and not 2. (So if anyone in the Ohio High School Bowling Committee sees this, please take into consideration! Other states have a 3-game format, we should too!)

I was not the only one on the team bowling exceptionally well. Against Graham, we shot a remarkable final score of 3,248. Not only did we win the match by 866 pins, but I believe we set an Ohio High School record score. In our two team games and four baker games, a 3,248 comes out as a 232 average. In our 2 team games, we shot over 1,100, and four our four game baker total, we shot 1,008. That is a 252 average. Our high game was a 279.

Since the two losses, we are 5-0. This week we have a tough schedule. We bowl Shawnee HS at their house, and then archrival Stebbins at our house. (I know there are a lot of people from my town reading this, and if you are, I’d like to ask you to please come support us in our match against Stebbins.) We bowl Stebbins at 4 o’clock at Northridge Lanes on Friday, January 18th. It’ll be a good match. Stebbins is really talented, but I think we can give them a run! I wouldn’t be surprised if this match turns out to be the highest scoring match in the history of Ohio HS bowling. Later this week I will write about the results of the match.

A victory for last home meet, but more wins need to come on the road
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Jan. 7, 2008

Well, it came, and it's gone for good. My last ever High School home meet is over.  Today was the last day for a meet for the Cavs on our own turf. The rest of the season we are on the road. We've never had a season like this where we are done at home so early in January. 

Today was our last meet against St. Bede. We bowled very well as a team today, and I am so proud of how we did. The first game we beat them by almost 300 pins. For a team of 6 we almost shot 1,000 for our highest that I can ever remember for a match. The second game wasn't as high, but we still beat them by almost 200. The final match of the day the coach decided to switch it up a little bit, he pulled the whole varsity except the two seniors, and put some freshman in to get some experience, well that turned out good as well. We finished the last game beating them by about 170.  

Overall I'd say it had to be our best performance match all year.  As long as we keep up the good work I know things are going to be good. I know sectional-wise its going to be a challenge, for we have some new teams in our area this year. And, we have seen them bowl, and we know how good they are. Individually myself today, I shot a dutch 200, 218, and a 213. I can't complain, I will admit, I had adjustment problems, but everything overall turned out well. Our next match is this Thursday against Mendota, and Friday against Dixon. I know if we bowl how we did today, we shouldn't have any problems.  Now that we have started to work more as a team, and are picking up more spares, I know the season will finish off great. We will just have to wait and see for the end of the season to see how well all of our hard work pays off.

Junior Bowlers Tour's Main Event
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Jan. 5, 2008

For the fourth consecutive year, my family and I spent the Christmas and the last few days of the year in Las Vegas, Nevada. During this time of year, Vegas is host to a few youth tournaments that bowlers from around the country come out to compete in. The pinnacle of these events is the Junior Bowlers Tour's Main Event held at the Texas Station Hotel and Casino. The Main Event consists of three different divisions: open scratch, girls scratch, and handicap and is open to just about anyone of all different skill levels. All games are bowled on a modified house pattern, which provides a medium pace scoring and is pretty fair for all the divisions.

The open scratch division bowled eight games of qualifying, allowing only one re-entry (if you wanted to), where your highest total will be used for standings. The field consisted of around 225 bowlers, and after qualifying was cut to the top 78. This year 1,674 made it to the semifinals, and I just slipped in there at 1,682. After six more games of matchplay, the field of 78 semifinalists were cut to the top 16 for a modified stepladder finals. I managed to win a few matches and move up to 59th place, my final standing.

Overall I felt I bowled decent. I never found a great ball reaction and struggled through transitions, so I was happy to have at least made the cut. My partner, Jake Peters, and I took 5th in the side doubles event so we made a little scholarship money on that. A big congrats goes out to BJ Baker who ended up winning the whole Main Event, he definitely bowled well!

It's about gaining experience on Sport patterns
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2008

Earlier this season, we had an away match against a team we were hoping to defeat. We had not lost a match all season, and we may have been going into the match a little too comfortable. We walked in the bowling alley, and started practice. When practice was over, none of us were happy with our practice balls. After starting the match and seeing the low scores, we realized that we were bowling on a pretty difficult shot. It played really tight and we didn’t have much lane to work with. I saw a lot of washouts and splits. It was an altered house shot, or maybe even a Sport pattern that we were bowling on.

By time I found a good line to the pocket, I had rolled something around 165. I came back my second game with a 209. In Ohio high school matches, we only bowl a two game series. (Then we bowl 4 baker games.) I shot a 374 (2 game series). That was second best on my team. I’ve had a lot of experience on Sport/PBA patterns, although it didn’t really show in my results. We had some inexperienced bowlers struggling on the shot. We ended up losing the match, giving us our first loss of the season.

That next week, we were on winter break and I talked to the manager at our home bowling alley. I asked if they could lay down a couple difficult shots that we could practice on to give us more experience on difficult patterns. They agreed to it, and our top 8 bowlers practiced all day on two very different shots. We bowled on two modified PBA shots: the Shark and Cheetah patterns. The Shark was the long pattern. It was evenly oiled, gutter to gutter, and it was 44 feet long. The “Cheetah” was 31 feet. (That’s 4 feet less than the PBA’s Cheetah pattern.) I did well on the shark, averaging nearly 200. I used a ball with a lot of surface. I am also a 2-handed bowler, so I tend to get a lot of revolutions on my ball. As a team, we did descent on this pattern, considering some guys had not ever bowled on a Sport shot.

On the shorter pattern, I struggled a bit. I tried to play it like I would normally play the Cheetah. Normally I use a weak bowl that gets far down the lane, and throw it right up the channel (boards 1-4). That didn’t work because the ball would go “Brooklyn.” I moved left with a more aggressive ball and did a little better. There wasn’t much room to work with, but I averaged a 180 or 185. As a team, we all did terrible on this shot, but it was very good practice.

Today, me and three others went to the bowling alley and found out the lanes hadn’t been oiled for 5 days. They had open bowling for 5 days straight, and hadn’t oiled the lanes. We decided to bowl, thinking it would be a good practice, just like the day when we bowled on the Shark and Cheetah. We were right! There was absolutely NO oil on the lane. We jokingly named the shot “The Wombat Pattern,” after an Australian animal. (Don’t ask me why.) Hopefully if we ever want to bowl on a bone-dry shot, we’ll ask the manager for the “Wombat” shot, and they’ll strip the lanes.

As for the practice on the “Wombat” pattern, I did pretty good. I threw my Hammer Vibe. My line started right by the left gutter, crossing the arrows on the left side of the lane, and keeping the ball deep inside. I even experimented lofting the ball over the gutter cap. I actually did really good. It was a great practice. We all learned how to approach lane conditions with absolutely no oil. Practicing on these shots will give us great experience and will make a house shot seem like a piece of cake!

Met my perfect goal and surpassed it
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Dec. 30, 2007

Well I finally did it. Everyone sets a goal for themselves every year, and I finally accomplished mine. My goal was to get my first 300, league/tournament/or practice.  Well not only did I get my first 300, I got my first 800 in three consecutive games. I shot 300, 228, 277 = 805.  I didn't really think it was going to come for 2008 is a day away.  But I did it yesterday, Saturday December 29. I didn't even realize that I was so close, and then I looked at the score I'm like Oh man haha, but I finished the game, and I ran to tell my mom, it had to be the best day ever. And to tell you the truth, I didn't realize I had an 800 until about 45 minutes after I finished the set. haha. I'm just glad that I know that I can do it.

Ramping up for sectionals with a personal high series score
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Dec. 28, 2007

Well, it's been a while. The holiday season approached so fast, things have been going crazy around here, bowling, school, and family life. Well, I never got to tell you about our first meet ever against Mendota. It was Dec. 17th, the last day of school before break. We finished up 2537-2362 after three games. I was the top finisher of the day with a 616, and one of our top freshman girls finished with a 574. Us as a team, had a very strong day. Mendota is on their first year with an organized team, and for a first year sport they are doing very well for themselves.  No one from their team graduates in the next two years I believe, so they definitely have some time to build up.  Overall it was a good match.  

Since our match against them, we've been practicing like crazy. The team doesn't realize it, but sectionals is coming up very fast. And it's not a joke. We didn't really practice much that week following our match, because of finals, but we've had some people going up practicing on their own. This week was Christmas but we did get some time in to get a team practice. It's been going great, scores are getting higher and higher, for everyone.  And yesterday, Dec. 27th, I bowled my first 700 on the high school team. I was very excited about it, because I don't think anyone has bowled a 700 for girls on the team.  So its definitely something I wanted to accomplish for myself.  There really hasn't been much more, besides working hard on our game, and picking up our spares. Our next practice is Monday, so we will see how that goes. :)

Learning from mistakes and hoping to make big showing at state tourney
Posted by Ryan Dobie, Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, Dec. 27, 2007

This season my high school team competed in the Ohio High School “Kick-Off” Tournament. It’s a tournament reserved for the elite high school bowling programs in Ohio. In order to compete, your team must have finished at the top of your sectional or district meet in the previous season. My team finished second in the sectional meet last year, so we were eligible.

It was held in Columbus on November 24th. When we got there, we saw all the “power house” teams of Ohio. Some of the top teams in Ohio are Coldwater, Centerville, Troy, and Stebbins. Right before the tournament started, the tournament director, Greg Coulles, informed us that this was the biggest High School Tournament in the history of high school bowling. We knew we had our work cut out. We have a fairly young team. Our varsity starters include three sophomores and two juniors.

The tournament format was three regular team games for qualifying. They would then take the top 16 teams to a match play baker system. The baker match play would be a best of five format. They used that format to get the winner. The shot was an altered house shot.

For the three games of qualifying, we shot a total of 2997, which was pretty good on the difficult shot. I finished with a 685 series, receiving “All-Tournament Honors.” That was good for fifth place individually. As for the team, we did really well. We finished 8th, meaning we made the match play and would bowl the 9th ranked team, Westerville-South.

In the match play, they won the first game. Then we came back with a big win in the second game, shooting a 258. They beat us in the third game, and then we came back to win the fourth. In the fifth game, we left two splits late in the game, and ended up tying. So we bowled a sudden death game, and lost by one pin. It was a heartbreaking lost, but overall, we did well. Officially, we ended up 11th. It was a good experience. I’m looking forward to bowling in it next year.

Even though we lost, it was a really good experience. Losing will give us more motivation in the coming tournaments. I’m sure we’ll learn from our mistakes and make some good runs this year. After all, we beat two of the top five teams in Ohio in the tournament. Maybe we can give all five of them a run for the State Championship on March 1st.

Struggles with injury, attitudes balanced by wins
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Dec. 11, 2007

Well, I've been really busy with school, college applications, job, and bowling lately. I haven't had the time to blog much, but here's a little update on what's going down with our team. December 1st we had our first invitational. I wish we would of done better, but we got along great. We finally worked well as a team. Our team finished last, and I finished 2nd individually. Our boys team did pretty well I'd say. They finished 1st in the consolation brackets, so they got an award. Winnebago finished first for the boys and girls divisions, and Jordan from Winnebago got first for the boys and Mike from Streator, one of my friends, finished 2nd for the boys. On the girls side Chelsea from Winnebago got first; she had I believe 1,298, or something like that (she beat me by close to 100 pins). Once we finished we had to stay around for a little bit because we got freezing rain while we were bowling and everything was frozen over. It took us almost 2 hours to get home - it was a mess - but we had a fun time.

December 3 we came right back home to another home meet against Rochelle. It was a good match, but we lost. One of their girls got hurt while bowling the first game so we had to use a dummy score for games 2 and 3. We ended up losing by 70 pins, which for the team we have this year is excellent. We have our struggles on our single pin spares, and it's something we are starting to improve on, and our girls are starting to realize they mean a lot. I finished with the high for the day with a 656.

December 5 was our next meet. We bowled Ottawa Marquette. It was a good match. We won by I believe almost 500 pins. Our girls bowled amazing, and everything went well.  During practice we had some problems with the lanes, and some of the girls' bowling balls. Some of them got ruined from the machine, but everything worked out. They are getting fixed, and/or replaced. 

Next was our practice. December 6 was a full day; St. Bede had a match against Mendota, and we share the bowling alley with St. Bede for we don't really have another bowling alley in our town. So only the girls got to practice on Thursday. For every single pin spare we missed we had to do 10 pushups, which I think is a good idea. It pushes you not to miss them, and for every first frame gutter someone gets they also have to do 10 pushups. It's a great incentive to try harder. For some of our girls just don't care, and are doing the sport to get out of PE. So the coach decided to push us to work harder this year. I ended up having to do 20, where some girls were up to almost 100 by the end of practice.

December 8 was the next invitational: Strikefest, which is one of the biggest tournaments in the state of Illinois for the girls. We had teams that finished in top 10 at state there from last year. Some people who I bowl tournaments were there so I was very excited.  Our team once again didn't bowl too well, for some of the girls were just not in the mood to bowl or didn't care, but I will say the lanes were a challenge. I finished off the day with a 1,166. Not my greatest but I had a hard time with the lanes, but figured it out towards the end of the day and shot a 265 at the end of the day. Hannah Wrenn, who was on my lanes at state last year, finished first - she shot 1,391. Amazing … she is a junior this year at Prospect and she shot 789 the first set to blow us all away. While we were at the tournament I did see the coach from Robert Morris and talked to him a little bit, because he wanted to know how I bowled. We were going to stay for the awards ceremony but it was way too long for them to start. I finished 34th, which missed getting an award by 9 spots. I'm not worried; I know I hadn't bowled my best, and I know I can do better than that, so hopefully I can fix what I'm doing wrong, and get back up to average again.

December 10 was our next meet against our rival Streator. Since my freshman year on the team I don't believe we have ever beat them. They have always had a strong team. Last year thye lost a bulk of their girls, and they had to build up a team this season. I believe they did a great job at it. Overall our girls did well; we only missed 5 single pin spares in 3 games. We have improved a lot since our 15 misses on Saturday at our invitational.  We had a little bit of problems with the JV team and drama, but it was all figured out, and everything is fine now. We as a team ended up losing to Streator by about 20 pins. Their coach came up to me - he's like, if you would have had 2 more frames, your team would of beaten us. This coach has a lot of knowledge and knows what he's doing, he is also the Coach for "Team Illinois" which is something I had tried out for last year and missed by 22 pins. He congratulated me on my 612 series and wished me the best of luck for college. I hope the season continues to go well for me singally, and the team as well.  We have some room to work with, but not a lot. 

Now we are waiting to see what is going to happen, because we may lose one of our Varsity girls. Hopefully everything will blow away and there will be no problems. Hope you go out there and bowl as much as you can to improve your game, and push yourself harder and harder, and never quit. Keep yourself going. Our next match is Monday December 17th, against Mendota, a brand new team to our conference this year. So le'ts see how that goes. Then we don't start up again until January 3rd, were we host one of our last home meets of the season, to Sterling. It's almost halfway done, and I can't believe it - but keep going out there strong.

Players selected and season's outlook is good
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Dec. 7, 2007

Good day for bowling and college news
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 28, 2007

I knew when I started my day, and how well it was going, it was going to be a good day.  The school bell rang, and my sister picked me up. Well I found out I was accepted to Robert Morris College for this coming school year. It is one of my choices that I've been looking at for college, so I was very excited. So that just added to my day. 

Well then we got to the bowling alley. We bowled three on a lane, six on a pair. The girls got along so well today, and we bonded as a team. Everyone bowled their best, and we pulled off to another win. It was overall a great meet, and I cannot wait until our invite on Saturday. 

Once I was done bowling, I was pulled aside by the local news Tribune, and had my first interview for this season. I was pretty excited for I bowled well today. They are doing an article on the meet, and also a preseason article on our boys captain Brian Koplin and I.  So I am very excited to see how it turns out :-)

Chris Barnes Thanksgiving Youth Classic Tournament
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Nov. 26, 2007

Motivation and attitude can carry you through losses
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 25, 2007

Well here's what's up, my team lost on Wednesday to Sterling. It was a tough meet, the girls struggled, and the team as a whole didn't work very well together. Overall I finished with a 606 series, next high was a 520. We are starting the season off well, we just have a lot to learn as a team if we want to continue on with success. I will always remember from a prior high school coach, spares are the key to the game, it doesn't matter if you can't strike, if you can cover yourself you will be fine. 

As we continued through our meet I kept on saying it in my head to keep myself going, and I tried to get the girls to be motivated but they wouldn't pay an ounce of attention to me, but they seemed to have fun, and that's what counts. It's not all about the competition, you can loose with a good attitude, or you can loose with a bad attitude, I would rather walk away happy, and knowing that the team had a good time, then to walk away and think we are the best. Our team is starting to realize that we have a lot to work on, and I am glad they are noticing it early on in the season, and not too late. We may have our struggles, but I know we can get through this. 

We had a long weekend off because of the holidays, and tomorrow we are back on the lanes for one day of practice, then we are off to bowl St. Bede which happens to be the other high school in our town. They seem to have been someone we can walk away with a win, but this year, it's a little different for we have different situations on both teams.  So hopefully things will go well, and we can work our way up there. Now that I am feeling more up to the weather with my eye infection and my foot, hopefully things will look good for me this week, and I can start bowling up to average again.

But, as some people know, I am currently a youth leader for the state of Illinois. Today we had a tournament, but because I am in high school season I ca'nt bowl. So I decided to go down and help out with the tournament instead of just staying home and doing nothing all day. Well, I'm very happy I attended today's tournament.  While being there I saw two very talented friends of mine that I have recently met in bowling all the tournaments around the state bowl absolutely amazing. Mike Preston, who is 13 years old started the day off strong, and finished strong. He had games with the first 10 first 9 first 7.  To be 13 years old, I'm very proud of him, and I just wanted to get that out there, that its not just the older kids that are pulling these numbers out, the younger kids are too. Also today I saw a boy bowl his first 300. Every time I do scores for this group I've seen a 300 bowled. Well he wasn't done after the 300, he had 17 strikes in a row, and I'm not going to lie that is a very big accomplishment, that a lot of people can not do. But I just wanted to say this because I am very proud of how those boys had done today, and I think that it should be announced on how these kids are doing in tournaments like these.

Happy Holidays, Stay Safe :-)

Battling through injury for first win
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 21, 2007

Well, the season has officially started. Our first meet has come, and it is gone. We went on our way on Monday to Kewanee. Our first conference match. Well varsity pulled it out to win. We may have struggled a little but we pulled it through.  A lot of the girls for both teams had never bowled before so it was a whole new experience. The first game, we ended up wining, the second we lost, and the third/forth games we won.  It was a fun time, and the girls are pumped and ready for the rest of the season.  Now that the season has truly started, I think they are getting a little more into the sport. Also they are enjoying it, which is a very good start off to a good season :)  Hopefully we can pull off the same thing when we are on the road to Sterling. It shall be a good match, and I can't wait to get there :)  I'll keep you updated. Also ... I've been suffering with a bruised toe, and an infection in my eye ... so it's been a rough week, but I'm going to stay strong and confident, and hope things go well :)

Practices ramp up going into first meet of season
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 17, 2007

Well its official, our first meet is Monday. Unfortunately, this week we got a phone call that our uniforms won't be in on time, so we have to just wear red polos for the first meet. I am kind of upset about it, but I'm just glad that we are getting good uniforms this year. 

Well it looks as if our first meet might become a challenge.  I expected it to be an alright year, but things for our girls haven't been looking too great. I'm hoping it gets better, but I'm glad that they are trying as hard as they are. We are bowling in Kewanee on Monday which is about an hour drive, so I'm excited.  The girls seem to be very close this year compared to previous years, and I love it. There has been no drama and the team aspect is going well. 

This week we bowled Monday and Wednesday for average for the upcoming meets, Thursday we practiced our spares.  I believe that this year is going to be a challenge, but a fun year while at it. You can never not have fun, it's the key. That's how we see it at least. So hopefully this year will be fun, and challenging.  We just have to go out there and do our best, which is how it has been for the past 2 weeks, so we will just have to see how it goes from here. Tomorrow the girls decided to pick up another practice before our first meet, so we are going up to the bowling alley as a team to practice, so hopefully that will go well. And Monday, we will find out how good the team is in a whole.

Season starts in January, but bowling never stops
Posted by Kevin Tatrow, Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., Nov. 12, 2007

Hello readers! I just wanted to say I am ecstatic about blogging for bowl.com this season, and hopefully I can contribute some interesting stories and experiences.

The High School bowling season doesn’t start here in Wichita until January 1. That’s when practice will begin and the teams should have already been decided. Our five-day tryout process will begin on December 3, where all team hopefuls will bowl three games each day, and 15-game pinfall deciding who makes which team. Until tryouts, it's practice as much as possible and get out there and go bowl whenever you can. Many of our players haven’t touched a ball since last season, so now is the time to start!

For me, bowling is a year-long sport. Participating in leagues, traveling to tournaments and constantly practicing takes up a lot of my free time, but I’m okay with that! Bowling is something I obviously love and strive to do well in, so all the time spent is well worth it. Before high school season, I will be bowling in two fairly large tournaments during the holiday season. After Thanksgiving, my family and a few friends will be making the six-hour drive to Texas to bowl in the Chris Barnes Tournament for the first time. During Christmas we head out to Las Vegas where hundreds of youth bowlers of all skill levels come to bowl the JBT Main Event, one of the best tournaments around. I’m looking forward to both of these events, to bowl well and to see some out of state friends. It should be a great time.

Well I think that’s all for now. I will be sure to keep you all updated!

P.S. Happy Belated Veterans Day. Thanks to all the veterans out there and those currently serving; your efforts and duties are beyond what any words can possibly describe.

High average for the week starts off the season right
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 12, 2007

The season is finally off to a start. We ended up with fifteen girls for the team this year. It's a lot better than what I expected. The first week of practice was a struggle, but the girls are trying hard. I've averaged 221 for the week, and I'm very proud of how I did. Our first meet is the 19th, so I'm pretty excited for it. Monday's practice was an introduction day, we introduced everyone to each other that way they could know the team, and then we practiced three games. Tuesday, we don't practice for our bowling alley has another conflict, and they don't have enough lanes for everyone to practice on. Wednesday we had a meeting to learn the basics, such as lane courtesy, for most of the girls have never bowled before. Thursday, was another bowling day, we practiced three games, and then had a little meeting. So far I believe the team is going well, just a little bit of work and we will keep it going.

New season, new team, better coaching at practices
Posted by Melanie DeCarlo, LaSalle-Peru Township High School in Illinois, Nov. 1, 2007

So bowling season is right around the corner, and I'm so pumped. It's finally my senior year, and I was voted senior captain at the end of last season. The school year has been good, but a big struggle for the girls team this year. There was not a lot of interest in the team this year, and it also didn't help with losing 12 seniors last year. So the whole beginning of the year, I went around trying to get girls to join. Luckily, my hard work helped form a team. We start practice this Monday, so I'm very pumped to see how everything fits together. 

We just got a new coach for this year, because previously we only had one coach for BOTH boys and girls varsity/JV teams. We never got the good practices because he could never help everyone, so hopefully this season will be a little easier with coaching. 

We start our season off with about 2 weeks of practice, and then we are on the road to our first meet. It's going to be hard, but I think we can do it. I know it is going to be a struggle, for I am one of the only members on the team that has ever really bowled before, and I'm one of the only returning players from last season. We have a huge average drop from last year's team, but if the girls put their heads in the game, they can do whatever they want. Anyone can do anything they want, as long as they keep their heads in the game. Keep that in mind, and strive for whatever you want in life. Don't stop, keep on pursuing in your dreams.