Hello again everyone!

Over the last couple of years, I have been asked by several high school recruits about what it takes to be successful at the college level and if there’s any advice I can give them.

The first thing I always say is to start working on their spare games. At almost every tournament, the championship is won because of the team’s spare shooting, not because how much they strike.

I was told by my one of my coaches when I was a teenager that people “strike for show and spare for dough,” meaning that striking may be fun to watch, but in the end, it comes down to how well a person or team can fill frames.

Before I began bowling at the college level, I had no idea how important spares are. Of course, despite what my coaches told me, I was a hard-headed, stubborn child and thought if I missed a spare, I could throw a double and make up for it. Unfortunately, I was wrong, but luckily, I’ve learned a lot since coming to the University of Pikeville.

In the world of collegiate bowling, where almost every tournament is contested on a challenging Sport condition, it definitely isn’t the ability to strike that sets teams apart from the rest of the field. The flatter conditions make it much harder to strike than on a typical house shot, so teams that can spare rise to the top.

This weekend, I started my third year as a collegiate bowler as my Pikeville team kicked off the 2011-12 season at the Orange and Black Classic in Dayton, Ohio. We relied on the lessons I mentioned and found success through teamwork and solid spare shooting.

I am honored to say I had the privilege of bowling with some amazing people all weekend. We bowled well together, struggled together, fought together and had a lot of fun together, too.

There were about 30 teams at the 2011 Orange and Black Classic. One of our junior varsity teams won the JV championship, and our other JV team placed as well (way to go girls)! In the varsity division, my team finished second after losing a very exciting final match to Lindenwood. We also had two bowlers in each division qualify for the all-tournament team. Overall, it was a very successful weekend for Pikeville.

The pattern we bowled on was called Winding Road. It is 39 feet in length and a huge headache at the end of the day. We had to communicate to determine how we should attack the lane, and I am very proud of the way we worked together.

For those looking to find success at the collegiate level in the near or distant future, or bowlers just looking to improve, now would be a perfect time to start running a few spare drills during every practice session. I also advise leaving those high-performance strike balls in the bag for a day and practicing only corner pins for a few games. Or, instead of hitting the reset button after a bad shot in warm ups, I advise trying to pick up the spare.

I’ve also always had fun practicing with my little sister, who is 10 years younger than I am. She would throw the first ball, and I would try to pick up whatever she left. Another good thing to do is ask around for some spare drills that make the monotonous activity a little more tolerable. I know it isn’t fun trying to pick off corner pins while everyone else is striking, but it will pay off when it counts.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and this week goes well for you. Make sure you come back next week when I address the lovely topic of dealing with homesickness.

Good luck and high scores!