So, seeing as it has been about 5
hours on the road to Reno, I figured I might as well type out a blog post. What
a great weekend to write about as well. As some of you may know, I was part of
the winning team at Junior World Team Challenge this last weekend in Las Vegas.
Even though entries were down, the talent level was still there and we faced
all of them. I bowled with Tanner Spacey, Tyler Cruz from Washington and AJ
Johnson and Mike Preston from Illinois. Everyone bowled fantastic, which was
great because I felt I didn’t bowl very well.
The
tournament was over two days and consisted of a combination of regular team
games and baker style games. After the 5 team games, the rest was all baker.
Baker truly shows how to work and bowl as a team. Because each player only has
two shots per game, there has to be communication amongst the group to be able
to adjust. Thankfully my team communicated well as we almost didn’t make
stepladder until we discussed a group move.
What
happened was that we started Sunday very sluggish barely shooting 300 for two.
We looked around and saw some teams shooting better. A lot better. We then
bowled Jazzy Ape, who were making their run at the top seed. Once again we
struggled, so we stepped aside and watched Jazzy Ape to see where they were
playing because they were striking. We decided to shift everything right and
play a little firmer and less angle. It seemed to work as we got back on track
and were able to jump into 2nd place for the stepladder.
The
final matches were on the leftover from the morning bowling. This meant dry. I
had to get in front of the ball return, and so did Tanner. We cruised through
our first match thanks to a 70 pin lead the first game. In the final match,
Jazzy Ape put up the fight, in fact winning game 1 by about 10. In the second
game, everything was tight up to about the 8th frame. One of the
bowlers for Jazzy Ape made a mistake, putting up a 5-1 for the frame. So I had
a chance to lock up the title with a strike in the ninth. What do I do? I go
Brooklyn for the win.
This
was the second JWTC victory of my bowling career. I look forward to this
tournament every year and certainly can’t wait to bowl again next year. Next
year being my last chance to bowl it, I plan on going out with a bang.
One of the things I noticed is that
this tournament can give someone a taste of what a college tournament would be
like. The intensity level is there as each person wants to win and of course
the team aspect is there as well. It shows which teams can communicate and keep
emotions in check which is very important on the college circuit.
I’ll leave it there for now. As
always thanks for reading. Keep tuning in as exciting things are on the way.
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