The New Trier boys bowling team finished fourth in the conference and finished fifth in the regional competition. Despite needing a top-four finish at regionals to qualify as a team for sectionals, they were proud of a season in which they outperformed expectations. Junior Andy Fallon, the top bowler on the team, was especially excited, having bowled a good enough round to qualify for sectionals.

Head coach Andrew Juedes often works with New Trier bowlers with little prior practice, but was excited when introduced to him as a promising freshman. 

“Since he joined, Andy has been one of our best bowlers,” says head coach Andrew Juedes. “We were happy with the progress of the team as a whole and have a lot of hope for next year’s team!”

Despite loads of accomplishments, Fallon puts this as one of his best bowling moments. He has bowled a 300 as a sophomore and has won impressive individual awards as a freshman, sophomore, and junior. Nonetheless, celebrating with his teammates trumped all his other accomplishments

“It was some of the best bowling we’ve done all season long,” says Fallon. “We’ve gotten better during the whole season, and we showed it there.”

Many don’t imagine themselves playing competitive bowling when they are kids, but Fallon got into it when he was thirteen and loved it. His sister played during high school and introduced Fallon to it.

“I got into bowling because of her because I used to go watch her matches all the time, and I loved it,” says Fallon. “Then I wanted to do it for myself, and I fell in love with it.”

Most notably, Fallon continues to improve incredibly. Starting his freshman year, he won rookie of the year, followed by most improved player his sophomore year, and finally most valuable player as a junior. This was made possible by his year-round practicing and lessons, lots of which was done with junior teammate Charlie Hayden.

“He definitely makes the most of his offseason by improving a lot,” says Hayden. “He practices his spares and practices his strikes and makes the most of his time.”

All this work culminated in his 191.8 pin average on the season, highest on the team by over ten pins. To boost this score, he bowled his highest of the season 289, in his opening round at sectionals, but unfortunately, he couldn’t keep his success going to qualify for the state level.

“I think it was a good compliment for Andy to qualify for sectionals, and he started really well,” says Hayden. “As a team, we did alright. We missed some spares, but it would’ve been a challenge to win.”

To most, bowling seems like a very individual sport, since only one player can roll at a time. But good chemistry and teammates cheering from the seats of Morton Grove’s Classic Bowl, New Trier’s homecourt, are huge for confidence and success each time. 

“Andy is well-liked by all of his teammates, coaches and competitors as well,” says Juedes. “Andy helps the team out a lot by cheering on his teammates and supporting them throughout the match.”

What really kicked off Fallon’s career with New Trier was when he began bowing with the school before his freshman year. Assistant coach Bob Amoruso was very excited when he first saw Fallon bowl, prompting his call to the other coaches letting them know about the potential he had.

“A lot of bowlers joined us with little to no experience before,” says Juedes. “Andy was already a powerful two-handed bowler before he even joined our program and had been bowling in junior leagues for a couple years.”

The bowling team was fairly happy with their performance this season, but they certainly feel they could’ve done better. For the six games at regionals, they hoped to put up 5700 points, yet fell short with 5500. With some extra work, and simply knocking down a few more spares, they hope to make a deeper playoff run next year.

“I think a reasonable goal is to try to make state next year,” says Fallon. “Coaches goal is to try to win conference, and I think we can do it.”