I read the “Any Former Track and Field Runners” thread with interest and really wanted to contribute to it except… welll… I’m not actually a former track and Field runner. Nope, in high school I was a bowler (Canadian style - 5 pins)
Then in university I skipped a curling team to victory in our friday afternoon fun curling league in my second year of curling. (Entirely because my 2nd and third were a couple of women who were really good and so I wound up throwing guards all year.)
From there I progressed to couch where I stayed until my 45th year when a friend said “we should go triathlon training”.
With my background, what could go wrong?
So, any other former bowlers or curlers out there? Perhaps we are a rare breed.
Lets face it, former swimmers, cyclists and runners are a dime a dozen in this sport.
I was a bowler. I bowled in leagues for about 15 years. I carried close to a 200 average and the teams I was on won several league championships. It was always tough bowling in smoky alleys and I quit when I couldn’t take it any longer. Now they have smoke free bowling centers, but I don’t have a strong desire to bowl again. I still have 6 bowling balls though and when I last bowled about a year ago with my family I averaged 196 for three games. There is a notion that bowlers are beer guzzling fat guys with little education, but that’s far from the truth. Many of the guys I bowled with were business owners and the top bowler in the city was a bank president - none of them were beer gut guys.
10 Pin Bowler here. From about age 8 until about 35 (Ended with about a 215 avg). Had to stop cause I messed up my shoulder. Ya its an old bowling injury does not seem to get much sympathy.
Growing up in Detroit, I watch curling often, would love to try it but never got around to it.
Did go to Windsor and go 5 pin (duct pin I think) bowling. Yes my classmates went to Windsor to go the “Ballet” and my friends and I went bowling.
“In a sufficiently large group you will not be unique.” Feel free to quote me if you’d like, as I just made that up.
Reminds me of the quote from the first Muppet Movie.
Gonzo: I’m going to Bombay, India to be a movie star.
Fozzie: You don’t go to Bombay, India, you go to Hollywood.
Gonzo: Sure, if you want to take the easy way.
From there I progressed to couch where I stayed until my 45th year when a friend said “we should go triathlon training”.
I curled competitively off and on from the time I was in high school and junior curling until my early 40’s when I took up triathlon. Mostly I stopped because the combination of curling and running was too much for my knees. What university were you curling at? We won the western intercollegiate championship a couple of times many, many years ago. I’m sure its not even held anymore.
I always chuckle when someone with a very strong background in running, biking or swimming comes on to ST and asks if he could be successful at triathlon. Try starting it in your 40’s with no background in any of the 3 disciplines.
I worked in a bowling alley from age 12 to 16, and bowled about a 100 games a week. My friends mother was a waitress and we tagged along with her, 6pm to 2am 5 nites a week, and this was before automatic scoring machines. Little kids like me who could add quickly got to keep score, and make a few bucks. We got to bowl for 10 cents a game as a bonus. At 16 I was averaging 189, no 300 game, but a 289 in league, and a trophy that is in a box in storage somewhere, It was very respectable for then and I could have made a run at being pro if I kept with it … But some swim/water polo coach grabbed me my juinor year and threw me in the pool, and the rest is history…
I quit bowling and didn’t come back until I was forty for my big 40 B-day bash. I averaged 191 for my 40 games, and then shelved the ball and shoes until this year. I joined a league, got rid of my rubber ball and 35 year old shoes, and now I bowl about 20 games a week. After a slow start, I’m now averaging about 185 and climbing. No chance to go pro in the 50+ though, those guys average about 215 to 225 these days… I think I will keep it up to the grave now, it is a blast and a way to keep that competitive drive going in a sport that I can continue to improve in. All my other sports are in their natural decline with my decomposing body, so this is my way of giving the finger to mother nature…
Monty, you now have me contemplating learning how to bowl left handed. I have tried a few times since my injury to bowl but about 5 frames in my shoulder starts to get sore.
We won the western intercollegiate championship a couple of times many, many years ago.
Congratulations on that. My minor success at a Friday afternoon beer league does not deserve to be mentioned in the same thread with an achievement like that. But to answer your question it was the U of Saskatchewan.
Try starting it in your 40's with no background in any of the 3 disciplines.
I guess this is really my point. All three disciplines were new to me at the age of 45. It was a hoot learning about them and still is at age 53. So far I have gotten faster each year and I am hoping to continue that for a little while yet.
Having no background in S/B or R has the following advantages:
everything is new and exciting
still getting faster
no pr’s from an earlier age that I can’t match anymore (at least not so far)
Usually average about 186, high game of 279. Hell, I’ve spent 3 of the last 5 New Years Eve’s @ our local alley with family and friends bowling for $$$.
Monty, you now have me contemplating learning how to bowl left handed. I have tried a few times since my injury to bowl but about 5 frames in my shoulder starts to get sore. \
That wold be hard, but the improvement curve would be huge. But you would probably be comparing to your old scores all the time, and be depressed. 215 avg is not too far off the pros, what decade did you do that??? That is about as good a league bowlers get, even these days…My big days were in the 60’s, when Don Johnson, Dick Weber, and Don Carter were the gods of keggling…
This whole thread has got me thinking, we have the virtual training of everything here, why not bowling. How about an ST virtual league??? I’ll wait and see how many more respond here, and see if it is plausable…
