Bowlers practice, fine-tune their games

By Emily Muskin

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

On the first two lanes at the Jaybowl, a team of nine men and one woman is bowling. The atmosphere is similar to that of a night out with friends, but these bowlers are paying more attention to detail, trying to hone their skills for the semester’s tournaments.

Monday through Friday, for two hours each day, the KU club bowling team can be found practicing. The team is keeping alive a tradition that began more than 40 years ago and peaked in 2004 with an intercollegiate bowling national title.

Photo by Andrew Wacker

Team members bowl side by side during Monday's bowling practice. Members of the KU Bowling team can be found practicing at the Jaybowl five days a week.

KU bowling provides an opportunity for the inexperienced and advanced bowlers alike, but even though anyone can be a member of the team, it only travels with nine athletes.

Coach Trent Overbey said that he appreciated the sport because a wide range of people were able to enjoy it and compete.

Competition is a main ingredient in the life of a KU bowler because the team attends eight tournaments each school year. In the past they have traveled to Las Vegas, New Jersey, Omaha, Neb., and many locations in Kansas.

Overbey said bowling required a lot of practice and skill to achieve success, but he said most of bowling was mental. Every bowling alley has varied levels of oil on the lanes. Overbey said a good bowler could read how much oil there was, where it was and how it changed from the previous shot by watching the ball’s movement down the lane. Depending on what the bowler sees, he or she plays a specific game for the conditions. Team members usually spend practices working on adapting to the many conditions that a lane may provide so that the members can prepare well for tournaments and not be caught off-guard, Overbey said.

Returning team member Kenny Goodell, Wichita senior, said trips seemed to be a favorite activity for the team.

“I like the people,” Goodell said. “The team is like a community.”

The national tournament will be held in Wichita this year, and the team is hoping to qualify and get the opportunity to compete against one of its in-state rivals.

The team is holding tryouts in September and hopes to add a few more members to its community.

— edited by Matt Erickson

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