Bowling team strikes out their 2018-19 season

The+Taylorsville+High+School+Bowling+Team%3B+top+left+to+right%3A+Coach+Susan+Evans%2C+Kai+Evans%2C+Jalen+Vigil%2C+Parker+Alder%2C+Jackson+Alder%3B+bottom+left+to+right%3A+Eva+Black%2C+Jasmin+Robles%2C+Vanessa+Robles%2C+Kyle+Wolf.+Missing%3A+Brandon+Evans

Vanessa Robles

The Taylorsville High School Bowling Team; top left to right: Coach Susan Evans, Kai Evans, Jalen Vigil, Parker Alder, Jackson Alder; bottom left to right: Eva Black, Jasmin Robles, Vanessa Robles, Kyle Wolf. Missing: Brandon Evans

Vanessa Robles, Guest Writer

Bowling is one of the fastest growing sports among high schools. According to the press room on Bowl.com, more than 5,000 schools offer bowling programs to boys and girls, reaching around 55,000 participants around the United States. 48 states offer high school bowling.

Taylorsville High School is one of the several schools that participates in high school bowling. The Taylorsville team consists of 8 players, who are mostly seniors.

The team practices out of West Jordan All-Star Bowling lanes on Mondays and this year their home alley for matches, held on Wednesday, is Bonwood Bowl.

Several schools in the valley are a part of the bowling program that bowls alongside, and against, Taylorsville. The bowling team goes up against high school students from Copper Hills, Riverton, Herriman, Judge Memorial, Park City, and a mixed high school team. The Taylorsville high school go up against teams with high handicaps (extra points for bowlers with lower averages), high average bowlers and friends from other schools.

Riverton and Herriman are the two schools that have two separate teams and both of them are fully loaded. The hardest part for the Taylorsville team when it comes to matches is being ready for whoever they get paired up against.

The Park City and Judge Memorial team have been tough teams for Taylorsville team to go up against. The Park City team has members who have an insanely high handicap and can bowl really high games. Whereas, the Judge Memorial school has bowlers who have both high averages and high handicaps. However, the Taylorsville team doesn’t let that get in their way of winning.

The league is looking for more people to join. Anyone is welcome to join, even if you think you struggle with bowling. The league offers a chance for you to try something new. Coaches and other players are ready to help motivate everyone and anyone.

“We have wonderful coaches that will help you with your bowling skills and technique,” said sophomore Eva Black, “The entire team will help you excel and be as great as you can be.”

Many people on the bowling team share many of the same bowling problems. Whether it’s missing easy spares or missing their mark, everyone has their faults. The coaches will work with you to fix these mistakes.

“These two years on the high school team have taught me more about bowling and it has helped me improve my bowling immensely. My average has shot up greatly since I’ve joined the team,” said Black.

Sophomore Jasmin Robles is on her first year on the team. She finds the team fun and challenging. “Being on the team for the first time is a big jump. It helped me make new friends and made me a better bowler from the help at practices,” said Robles, “During practice, everyone helps everyone. The coach takes the time to help me and my teammates.”

The Taylorsville team has two coaches. One is available for practices that are held Mondays after school and the other coach is available for the matches held on Wednesdays.

Matches consist of three people from two teams going head to head to gain their point to win. To get a point, a person has to bowl higher than the other person included the handicap, whoever has the highest overall scores gets their point.

There is a total of 30 points among 3 games and overall total. Each person mainly gets to bowl 2 out of the 3 games, depending on how many people are on the team.

Coach Susan Evans said, “All of the coaches on the league coach on their free time. They don’t want to have backtalk when a player disagrees. We mainly want students who are teachable and will listen.” They want the team to enjoy what they’re doing and they just want everyone to have fun. Come out and join bowling next year.