The boys bowling season kicked off on Oct. 22 with tryouts. The team welcomed some new arrivals, including freshman, sophomores and upperclassman, to create a junior varsity and varsity team of 15 total athletes.

“The boys bowling team, I know, has a lot of talent. I’ve been really watching some of my teammates, and they are really good,” junior Dorian Manney said.

Head Coach Nicholas Cress said this year’s team is promising, and the upperclassmen have a lot of potential to go far this season.

Practices are held at Bowlero’s in Romeoville Monday through Friday when the team incorporates competitive practices between the divisions to mock real tournament conditions.

Varsity bowler and junior Jacob Volling said, the time involves “practicing our spare shots and throwing games and the occasional just teamwide casual game. … We don’t try to keep too much of a track on scores in practice.”

“Practices consist of stretching and warm ups to begin,” Cress said.

“There is usually a bit of time that we devote to practicing spares because spares are very important. If they don’t strike a lot of times, it is important to pick up the spares,” Cress said.

Every player has his own preference on how they choose to practice and bowl, alone or with the team.

In addition of this, players differ when deciding the weight of the balls that they use.

Volling said, “I use 15-pound bowling balls. … People generally would use lighter or heavier balls … if it’s lighter [to] throw it faster or heavier to have it impact the pins better. However, I like it consistent, just so I know every ball throws the same way. And it will feel the same way when I’m throwing it.”

Some team members did not have much bowling experience prior to tryouts.

New to the team, Manney said he did happen to play in a league outside of school, which lead him to want to try out before he graduates.

Since sports often clash with each other, a lot of players must choose between bowling or another sport. Manney played basketball his first two years of high school, but this year decided to give bowling a try.

Balancing schoolwork and the sport could get difficult for some.

Manney said, “It’s pretty easy since bowling is right after school. You get done around 5:30 p.m., and then the rest of the time is mine.”

Senior and varsity player Jerome Gilmore balances a job with schoolwork and bowling. He has been on the team since his freshman year and plans to continue playing once he graduates.

“I just want to be a good leader for the team, set a good example on how we should be acting during practices, during matches, set the example for the younger kids and show them that it is a fun game. It can be competitive, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be fun,” Gilmore said.

“I think it is cool, from one perspective being a senior and seeing all the new freshman coming. And I think that is pretty cool seeing that there is actually people that [are] interested in doing this,” Gilmore said.
Still early in the season, Cress said he has high hopes for the team.

“I’m pretty confident about how they are going to do,” Cress said.

“They are showing improvement from last year and the year before. The goal is to win as many matches as possible. We play all of our conference opponents once. We play three-game series. I’m not certain what the record would be, but I just know that we will be able to compete in all of those matches and play at a high level against all of the other teams,” Cress said.