The clatter of pins being knocked down, the slide of a new ball coming down the chute, and the air filled with anticipation as the bowling ball glides down the glossy aisle. Bowling is perfect for those who wish to be involved in a competitive and low-contact sport. This year Niles West’s boys bowling team began their season on Oct.28 and end mid way through Feb., while the girls bowling team begins on Nov.18 and also ends a few weeks into Feb.
This year girls bowling has new coaches Jaron Baker and Colleen Gogerty, they already met with returning members of the team awaiting the begging of the season. Though this is her first year coaching a bowling team, Gogertry has always been interested in coaching due to her children’s involvement within sports, and with Baker’s meticulous attention to detail they are hoping to lead the team to victory. One of the teams goals this season it to boost team spirit.
“This year a team goal we have is to establish a really good sense of morale in the team. I think it’s just as important as practice because that’s what really brings us together. Team spirit is really important because having fun is a big part of being in a team and that drives us to do better, because of that endless support from our team,” Gogerty said.
Some players have even taken it upon themselves to make newer members feel welcome.
“My goal for this year is to make sure that everyone feels like they are a contributing part of our team. It’s so easy to get caught up in how you personally are bowling, that we forget that it’s a team sport as much as it is an individual one. Last year I would get so caught up in my head if I didn’t have a good game, that I would fail to help cheer on my teammates who were succeeding. This season I would love to get closer to everyone and make sure that we are all doing our best to keep spirits high because that’s what bowling should be about,” junior and member of the girls bowling team Talia Spector said.
For boys bowling their objective is to have a record of 500, and to get at least one athlete to state, and develop new talent. With five new freshmen, the team is very excited for this season.
They also intend to focus more on particular skills during practice.
“We’ll do different things most of the time it’s just them bowling and practicing and getting repetition, sometimes we’ll pull a bowler off to the side and really just focus on one lane just them focusing on one technique, other things we’ll do is we’ll have practices where they are just trying to hit a very specific spot,” boys bowling coach Jamie Krzeminski said.
The teams don’t often interact due to the boys team practicing at River Rand Bowl and the girls team at Bowlero. In the past, they used to have practices competing against each other, which Gogerty hopes to bring back this year.
For anyone hoping to join bowling Krzeminski says that patience is the key.
“For new bowlers, I think patience is a big one because when they start changing their techniques from however they learned from when they were a kid or just going to birthday parties. Sometimes they’ll see their score go down a little bit cause they’re starting to get that physical motion consistent so there’s a lot of patience. There’s a lot of concentration and discipline that goes into bowling, so frustration is inevitable, but you just have to keep at it,” Krezeminski said.
