Bowling seeks winning tradition
Iliana Deanda
The MCC Bowling team has been striking since 1999 when they placed eighth in the country. Bowling coach Karl Simonis has been a part of it since the beginning.
“The bowling team started back in 1999. It was put together by a lady named Caroline Polter, who was the CEO of the junior program in the state of Arizona,” Simonis said.
Coach Simonis’ main goal besides doing well is to build a better team environment.
“We’ve got a lot of different personalities and different levels of bowlers. We have some people who bowl all the time and some that just started bowling,” Simonis said.
“Our biggest concern is to be able to get to tournaments and once we are at the tournaments we need to bowl as a team at those levels. So our goal is to do the best we can, but also to teach them more in a team atmosphere.”
Due to the lack of fundraising, Simonis believes that the team needs a chance to show off how good they really are.
“I think the team will do well if they fall into their group. We have a bunch of kids that are real good bowlers they just need a chance. Unfortunately, fundraising has a lot to do with it,” Simonis said.
Bowling practice occurs two nights a week.
During practice, members work on technique, mental preparation, as well as team communication.
“We meet Mondays at 9:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. We practice on skill, attitude and mental preparation. It’s pretty much the only sport that doesn’t have defense so it’s up to the individual to perform, so we try to put pressure on them,” Simonis said.
“This is my first year on the team. I have been bowling for about six years and kind of picked up bowling on my own,” said MCC bowler Kyle Smith.
“I eventually took some classes to help me out. I think the team is fun because there is a lot of competition and that’s what makes it fun,” he said.
Ironically, Jacque Samerpong was spotted by Coach Simonis at the bowling alley and was recruited onto the team.
“Well, Karl works at the pro shop so I came on Saturdays with my family and he actually spotted me out. He said that I should go for the team and I was already at MCC for school anyways so that was pretty cool,” Samerpong said.
“Actually there were techniques that I had to learn. I started off with a three step and he changed it to a four step because there wasn’t enough speed for the ball.”
For Samerpong, the transition from everyday bowling to rolling with technique was a little hard to adjust to.
“It was really hard to try not to think because you tend to mess things up. You just have to bowl and have fun and try not to think so much,” Samerpong said.
