Despite the fact that the JC bowling team was missing three team members, they still paced 26th out of 40 schools.
Originally, the team consisted of one woman and four men from JC. But three weeks into the season, the men quit, leaving junior Tori Quinn as the sole remember. However, the next week, junior Sam Donald joined.
Donald joined the team because “it’s a lot of fun and it lets you procrastinate on doing homework on Monday nights.”
Quinn joined because of her love for the game, but also said, “I’m not really into any other sports, so it’s something.”
Quinn has eight years of bowling experience and her season high score was 226.
Donald has bowled with friends and family, but this was her first year on a team. Donald explained, “I’ve done a lot better throughout the season. I used to bowl in the sixties, but now I’m in the nineties.” Her highest score was 139, which she received during the last day of bowling.
Coach Tori Piergrossi likewise enjoyed the experience. She said, “I love the interaction with the kids. There is a competitive atmosphere, but we can just have fun. There’s no pressure.”
Gym and health teacher Adolphe Ponds coaches, but was unable to attend games. Piergrossi took over as coach four weeks into the season.
Because Piergrossi played in a bowling league during her high school years, she was able to contribute advice on technique to the two team members. However, her coaching style focuses on “just being encouraging, even if they’ve just thrown three gutter balls.”
The team meets at Forest Hill Bowling Lanes during the winter season for fifteen weeks. They only meet on Mondays, where they play three games from 3:30-5:30. During the game, the players compete against one member of the other team as an individual, but they also compete as a team. Because a normal team has five players. If the team is missing a player, the vacant spot immediately gets 125 points. Therefore, other teams who have all five players have a number to compete against. Each player in the beginning of the season plays a game, and whatever they score becomes their average. For the rest of the season, they try to get higher than that first number. They receive points for scoring above their average.
Piergrossi has some definite goals for next year. She said, “I would like to finish in the top ten.”
However, she is first focusing on having enough people to play. She said, “I would love to have two teams, but would be happy to have one full one.”
Piergrossi added, “Everybody is welcome. It doesn’t matter if your average is a 60 or 160.”
Haley Lynch can be reached for comment at [email protected].