As the leaves fell and Halloween rolled around, another season of New Trier bowling rolled into action.

Although bowling is often considered a recreational past time, Head Boys Varsity Coach Scott Durkin wants to turn those causal experiences into future success.  “We get new players every year, but the objective is always this same.  That is to win.”
“The team is open to newcomers every year, and there are only a few individuals who have bowled [competively] before. The coaches teach the basics the first year and then encourage the players to do a league on the off season,” said Senior and Varsity Bowling Co-captain, Andrew Texter. Turning the familiar past time of bowling into a competitive sport is no easy task, and the best method to perfect one’s skills is through practice.
“Like any other sport, we set aside time for practicing throughout the week, and we do our best to use the time as efficiently as possible,” said Durkin.  The practice regiment for bowling takes place every week, from Monday through Thursday, between 4:00-5:30.

“Most days we just bowl games, but we have a few days of trying to build teamwork through a few exercises. A lot of the practice is working on our individual game and what we can do to improve,” said Senior and Co-captain, Sam Shepard.

Until recently, the Boys Varsity Bowling Team had a record of 2-2, but in a game against Deerfield on November 27, New Trier took a crushing 0-3 loss, making the season record 2-3.  “I am confident in our team this year, and in the games to come.  The two losses we had were to two strong teams, and they still ended up being close games,” said Durkin.  Deerfield has been a notable rival to New Trier in the past.

Thus far, the two wins New Trier has taken were not small ones.  After a November 18 victory over Evanston and Niles North, there was confidence for the season; however, Stevenson continues to have New Trier’s number; they lost to Stevenson on November 14.  “In years past we would have been lucky to win a game against [Stevenson],” said Texter.

At the Lake Park tournament, the Trevians finished 10 out of 23, and at a tournament in Rockford they finished 13 out of 26.  Although not the best track record, New Trier expects to perform well in their next fifteen events, and they hope to improve by tournament matches at Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills.
“This season, we have a team that is much stronger than previous years.  We have a varsity team that is full of seniors and a couple of juniors, and we all know what we need to do to improve.  So we try to improve in our practice so that we can bowl well in our matches,” said Texter.

New Trier’s bowling team is hungry and the confidence and momentum they carry will hopefully persist through the end of January.