By Abbie Schmidt, Staff Writer
Posted November 2nd, 2015
Slinger High School’s bowling teams are supported by their head coach, Mr. Keith Scott, and two assistant coaches, Mrs. Jennifer Rozek and Mrs. Linda Ritger. I spoke with Mrs. Rozek who was very helpful in expanding my knowledge of High School bowling. I asked her what she was most looking forward to as a coach and she disclosed that she is excited to help the kids improve on their skills, pass along the enjoyment of bowling, and help promote the sport. She informed me that bowling is the fastest growing High School sport right now. “To be able to represent Slinger with a Boys Varsity team and a Girls Varsity team is very exciting.”
When asked how many people were on a team, she told me, “Right now we have 6 Boys and 5 girls. We may be adding another boy and we are really trying to get more girls involved. We would like to add 1 or 2 more girls. At meets a team consists of 5 people.” Mrs. Rozek told me that they practice at Kettle Moraine Bowl in Slinger on Wednesdays from 3pm to 5pm. “We started practice October 7 and will continue until the end of January. We start practice with warm ups, do some drills, practice spare shots, and finish with bowling against each other.” Mrs. Rozek revealed.
All their hard work is preparing them for upcoming meets. They will have meets in November, December and January against other area schools. Tournaments will take place at the end of January and early February, with State the first weekend in March. Anyone is able and welcome to come and watch at these meets, but Mrs. Rozek made sure to mention that “the bowling lanes and area where the bowlers sit is ONLY for teams and coaches."
I asked about the highest score achieved so far and she surprised me by saying a boy has gotten a 225 already! (Bowling is out of 300 points.) Mrs. Rozek explained that High School bowling is a little different than traditional bowling. “High Schools and colleges use the Baker Format for bowling. Instead of one person bowling 10 frames, which is the typical format, the entire 5 person team will combine to bowl 10 frames. It works that the first bowler only bowls frame 1 & 6, the second bowler 2 & 7, third bowler 3 & 8, fourth bowler 4 & 9, and the fifth bowler (which is usually your anchor bowler - or best bowler) 5 & 10. This style encourages teamwork and camaraderie because you need to trust that your teammates will do well in their frames while also knowing everyone is relying on you to do well in yours.” She gave me the example that “if you would come and watch a meet Slinger would be on lane 1 and Hartford on lane 2 with 5 per team. 10 frames would be bowled. The teams would then switch lanes. Slinger goes to lane 2 Hartford to lane 1. They would then bowl another 10 frames. Then they would switch again and bowl another 10 frames. After this Slinger would move to lane 3 and bowl against Kewaskum on lane 4. The games would go the same as above. At each meet you will bowl against 2 different schools.”
The amount of points you get in High School bowling matters even if you don’t win. The bigger score at the end ultimately wins, but they also keep track of how many strikes, spares, and opens the team and individuals get. Mrs. Rozek explained that this is called a fill percentage. “When it comes time for invitational/tournaments at the end of the year the fill percentage will be considered. The higher your fill percentage = you are getting more marks (strikes/spares).”
Overall, it sounds as though the bowlers are excited for a season of improving their game and being part a team. Hopefully they’ll have a strike-ingly good time!
