For the second time ever, and for the second consecutive year, the Girls Bowling Team advanced to sectionals Saturday, Feb. 13 in Rolling Meadows.

To play at sectionals, the team had to place within the top four schools at the regional competition a week prior. They landed in third, 1,152 pins behind Resurrection High School, who took first.

Despite their optimistic beginning, the team scored 1,000 pins below what it took to qualify for state. Sophomore Michelle Ellis was only 70 pins behind individual qualification.

According to Head Coach David Hjelmgren, the recent progress is, in part, due to bowling becoming “more of a competitive sport, as opposed to something which played out like a club eight or ten years ago.”

Assistant Coach Jackie Gnant said that team members are “beginning to identify themselves as bowlers, not just people who bowl once in awhile.”

Hjelmgren also has seen an increase in members’ drive to bowl outside of the team, and encourages them to take private lessons and practice over the summer, “just like a tennis player would or a golfer would, just like any other sport.”

The coaches all agree that practicing over the summer is vital to improving scores.
“We don’t want them to simply fall out of conditioning and have to start from scratch at the start of the next season in November,” Assistant Coach Bob Amoruso said.

Most of the team’s players, however, are starting from scratch when they first try out.

Senior captain Grace Fessler said, “I don’t think there’s been a girl who hasn’t just walked on. No one knows about leagues, and no one just goes out and bowls, other than what we call ‘birthday bowlers.’”

Sophomore Dina Kacila said being on the team has been “definitely a lot more competitive than I thought it would be, but also a lot more fun.”

Hjelmgren said, “If you have a group of friends who all share a common interest, it’s easy to say, ‘Hey let’s go out to the lanes.’ And it’s one of those things that most people can join in on.”

Prior to the meet, the eight girls selected for the regional team practiced hitting two historically harder pins to hit, the seven and ten. They also watched technique videos and worked on their form.

But essentially, according to sophomore Ellen Noeh, “The more balls you throw, the better you get. Practice is everything.”

“Our goal for next year is obviously to get to state, and to advance to sectionals again would be great as well. I don’t think state is too far off, but it’s going to take some work,” Hjelmgren said.

Hjelmgren also mentioned that “this year’s team had only two seniors on the sectionals team, so it’s a young team, but a team with a lot of promise. So the next year and the year after, the sky’s the limit.”