By Joslyn Ho (18S06P), Girls’ Captain, Matthew Gwee (18S06I), Boys’ Captain and Matilda Yeong (18S03H), Treasurer
When someone finds out you’re a bowler, the conversation usually goes like this.
“Wow, how heavy is your ball?”
“That’s heavy!”
“You must be really strong!”
Contrary to popular belief, throwing the perfect shot that results in a strike requires more focus, technique, and technical knowledge of your equipment and the lane conditions than strength.
It is also commonly believed that bowling is an individual sport as there really aren’t any displays of teamwork you would see in a game of rugby or football. The teamwork you find in bowling, however, is a little different. One of the key aspects of the teamwork that bowling requires is to maintain high team synergy, giving each bowler the zeal to push through even the most stressful and wearing tournaments.
During competition season, which we start training for from November the previous year to April, trainings are three times a week. Held on Mondays and Fridays from 6 to 8pm and Wednesdays from 3 to 5pm (subject to change according to our timetables), trainings are usually held at Orchid Country Club and Temasek Club closer to the competition date.
Off-season, trainings are reduced to once or twice a week. However, physical training sessions will be held during this period so as to ensure that we work on our physical fitness even if we are focusing less on our bowling skills. Physical training includes playing various games like Ultimate Frisbee or badminton, on top of the usual exercises like running laps and circuit training.
After doing warmups specific to bowling, Coach Eugene usually has us do some eccentric exercises and drills apart from bowling our usual games. From placing our shoes (NMDs or not) on the lanes and avoiding ramming our balls into them to throwing our balls to our teammates instead of the pins, these exercises will help us to hone various skills vital for bowling such as improving our aim and relaxing our swing. These are only a few of the many different exercises we do during training.
While these trainings become demanding and strenuous during competition season, the hard work and effort seems to have paid off at the National Inter-Schools where in 2017, our Boys Team came in 5th and the Girls Team came in 1st, successfully defending their title.
Apart from our trainings on the lane, we also carry out camps and other activities that allow us to come together. A few highlights would be March Holiday Camp, Post A-Division party and Y6 Farewell. To forge stronger inter- and intra-batch bonds, the March Holiday Camp, which includes various games and sports such as amazing race and soccer, allows the team to become a close-knit family before our national interschools come around. Regardless of the results at A-Div, the post A-Div party will still proceed to celebrate all of our hard work and spend some time together with the seniors before they officially step down. As the year goes by and prelims and promos come closer, we take a day’s break to bid the seniors farewell and thank them for the guidance and support they have given us over the past year.
If you’re up for some constant mental stimulation, test your tenacity when faced with ten pins 60 feet away, and want to be part of a fun and loving family of bowlers, we look forward to seeing you at the trials next year!