The Spring Grove Area High School Bowling Team’s season has kicked into gear alongside the rest of the winter sports. While bowling might not be the first sport that comes to mind for many, it is the winter sport of choice for 13 girls and 35 boys.
The way a bowling match works is a little different from other competitions. Three games are bowled and the overall winner is determined by the summative team scores from the games as well as number of games won. A team is comprised of five players, and while every score is individual, they’re all added to get the team score at the end.
A bowling team is made of five players at a time, so only 10 of the 35 boys get to compete against other schools (five for varsity, five for JV). The other 25 are shuffled around on ‘open bowl’, where they still bowl, just not officially against anyone. It works the same for the girls, just on a much smaller scale.
Some members of the team were asked three questions: What is your favorite part of being on the bowling team? What is the biggest misconception around bowling or bowlers? And how is bowling different from other sports you might play?
Oliver Wirfel, a junior who has been bowling since freshman year, says “My actual favorite part is when I’m bowling good on open then get bumped to JV and bowl a 107.” He said that “A big misconception about bowling is boring because you sit around and do nothing. While there is some sitting, you are continuously playing, and who doesn’t like sitting around hanging with their friends.” He also said that “Bowling is different from others because I am able to interact with my friends and have fun while practicing or competing”
Brady Myers, a junior who has been bowling for three years, states his favorite part of bowling is “wasting $200 on a new ball.” According to him the biggest misconception is that “two hand bowlers are weird.” He says, “My other sport, baseball, expects you to fail. But really good bowlers at the high school level should average 95% make rate of spares of one pin.”
Keira German, a sophomore who has been bowling for two years, says her favorite part of being on the team is “the people” the biggest misconception is “that we are weird” and it’s different from her other sports because “it involves math kind of.”
Kirsten Smith, a senior who has been bowling for five years all together, says “My favorite part of bowling is my teammates. We’re all so supportive of each other and sometimes that’s what makes a difference in your attitude and your game and it’s really what you need. They’re all so great and we’re all pretty close.” The biggest misconception is that “Most people don’t consider bowling a sport, simply because there is no running, it isn’t a physical sport, and you aren’t doing a whole lot but it is still a sport. Would you say golf isn’t a sport because of those things? No, you wouldn’t so why would you say bowling isn’t?” She says, “I also play tennis so obviously there is more running and physical activity in tennis than bowling but also the tennis team wasn’t as close, partly because there was more of us on the team and also I think because we weren’t able to be as supportive since we were all in different spots.”
Rowan Cooper, a senior who has been bowling for eight years all together, says “My favorite part about bowling is the community! It is a great way to make friends and relieve some stress in the meantime.” The biggest misconception according to them “is really just how the game works? no one knows how it works, all of the strategies that go into it, all of the memorization, fine movements you have to have to be wary of… it’s a lot that people just never think about.” It differs from their other sport marching band because “i walk a lot less and talk a lot more! but i have to use my brain a lot more for bowling and my knee now hurts constantly.”
The Spring Grove team is a Co-op team, so there are also bowlers from York Suburban and West York. Their match schedule can be found in the athletics section of the school website.