Entering its third year, the girls bowling team is on track for a successful season, showing promising progress.
Just three years ago, the program started when Niles West math teachers Kathie Kajmowicz and Karissa Villanueva stepped up as coaches for the team when the school required someone to lead the Wolves.
“They were looking for someone to help them out and it was last minute. They asked me If I would step up and I said I’d be happy to so I interviewed. My favorite thing about coaching is getting to know the girls and having fun at practices and games,” Kajmowicz said.
The team has seen considerable growth in both size and skills. Returning members are excited about the team’s progress, while new members also appreciate what the team now has to offer.
“I think the program is way better than the past seasons cause freshman year we had a dual bowling season with North and West. We have a full JV and a full varsity [team] and it’s improved so much. We have coaches, we have our own bowling balls, we have our own lanes that we can go into and we have many materials for our shoes and balls,” senior Effie Dounis said.
Previously, Niles West lacked enough members and had to practice with Niles North. However, this year, they’ve filled the entire roster with six varsity members, while the JV team fluctuates between 10 to 13 members depending on the day. The increased recruitment has attracted more underclassmen, inspiring them to join and bring friends along to play as well.
“I decided to join the bowling team this year because I thought it would be a fun way to spend time with one of my friends. And it would just be a fun opportunity during a time that I’m not that busy and during a season of some other sports that I do,” sophomore Orli Eisenberg said.
The team’s also welcoming and easy to join. There are no cuts, so they accept anyone willing and eager to learn bowling and have fun.
“You don’t have to be good or have any prior experience, it is free to participate. You come, you can have fun, bring your friends. We’re just asking you to come and commit to the team,” Kajmowicz said.
The coaches have also observed steady improvement in the team’s skills each year. With a current 4-0 record, they’re proud of victories against Deerfield High School, Niles North High School and Glenbrook North High School this season.
They aim to maintain this success in their conference. However, the team is yet to face their toughest opponents—Vernon Hills High School, Evanston High School and New Trier High School. Coaches anticipate these being challenging matches that might position them around fourth place in their conference. Apart from a higher conference placement, coaches have noticed significant growth in individual player performances.
“We keep track of their scores and their averages and all of their averages are going up every single practice time so they are always improving,” Kajmowicz said.
Although the team is focused on being the best and improving their personal bests, they also try to keep the atmosphere very encouraging and fun during games and practices. As captains, senior Xenia Gonzales and senior Marian Jamison try to keep the games a bonding experience and motivate the girls with different chants and encouraging words.
“My role as a captain: I want them to reach their goal as a team if we go against tough opponents, we are still able to have fun and enjoy the season,” Gonzales said.
Many new members feel warmly welcomed by the coaches and captains, who consistently encourage them to give their best.
“Everyone is really welcoming and kind, there’s people from all different skill sets and abilities but it’s overall just a really welcoming environment that encourages people to just come out and have fun. There’s always team spirit whether its in practice or during games, we have different cheers and chants for if you get spares or strikes and that’s really fun and always makes what we’re doing interesting. Overall it’s just a really fun experience and I’m glad I joined this year,” Eisenberg said.
The team has also been putting in significant effort to get ready for upcoming matches. They usually practice twice a week and play matches on the other two days, taking Fridays off. They often face the same schools twice due to divisional requirements. Apart from their regular competitions, they’re preparing for a major event—the conference tournament hosted by Niles West at Classic Bowl. Following that, they have sectionals coming up soon.
The team aims to get even better to reach the regional and state levels together. Normally, a group of five or six can qualify for regionals or sections, or an individual can qualify on their own. If someone performs exceptionally well throughout the season, they can make it to the state competition individually, not just as part of the team. Junior Josie Wyack and Gonzales were close to making it to sectionals last year. The coaches are optimistic that some of the girls can qualify this year.
“It’s hard to say as of now if they will qualify because you go against every single girl individually and I haven’t seen the new set of girls this year and we’ll see if they’re in the top 20 or 10,” Kajmowicz said.
