Rolling right into the season.

After being unsure whether they would have a season or not, the bowling team is looking to start off strong this year after last year’s record breaking season. 

After the success of last season, this season is looking good. Coach Lenny Raley is looking forward to the season. Senior Adam Young has the highest averages, so far, this year.

Last year, the bowling team made history six times. The bowling team scored a perfect score (300 pins), won the North Bullitt tournament, won the Unified regionals tournament, went to Unified state, won the regionals tournament, and went to state. 

According to Raley, we do not currently have any new bowlers on the team; they are all returning. Considering they are all returning, they were all on the team last year; therefore, this season should be looking good. 

Out of the five bowlers that scored a 300, last year, three of them are returning. Those bowlers, that are key players, are: senior Adam Young, junior Austin Hale, and sophomore David Scholtz. Scholtz practices over five games a week, and at one point, scored a 299, by himself. Each athlete can go out on their own, and get to a bowling alley, as long as they’re following those guidelines, and they should be able to stay on top of their game,” said Raley.

Raley is looking forward to seeing the returning bowlers stepping up. “The two seniors we lost were vital to our success, but we have several returning bowlers, so that should go well for us. I mean, it’s now their turn, right? We depended on Dylan and Logan, a lot, to lead us, and now it’s Adam Young and others,” Raley said.

As of right now, there is only one female bowler, on the bowling team. “We have experience, and then, we have youth again. And so, last year it was quite a few guys. We talk about guys, it was a co-ed team; Katie was new,” Raley said, “She can be as much of a part of this team, as any of the guys. So, we hope that she wants to do that even though it’s probably a little uncomfortable, I guess, but she did a really nice job. I was really happy, and pleased with her progress last year.” Raley is wanting to have more female bowlers, so they can have “five to be a team, but we take what we can get.”

Even with the season being affected by COVID-19, Young still looks forward to his last bowling season. Having bowled for about eight years, with the last four involving Young’s high school experience, the feelings of this being his last year, as well as having the Coronavirus affecting all sports, can be upsetting. “I actually wanted to have a season this year, because it is my senior year, and now that we might get a season halfway into the school year, that sucks,” Young said. 

Adapting to the changes made through the virus, Young explains how he and his teammates will be changing their usual bowling routines in order to follow the new restrictions. “We’ll have to wear masks everywhere; probably can’t have as many people on the lanes. If the season was to continue this year, it’s going to be different. There’s not going to be as many people on the lanes, and when we go back, there might not even be spectators. I heard stuff about that. That’s the worst part about it,” Young said. Due to the limit of people allowed in certain areas, the team could be affected with no spectators. 

However, this does not mean that this is it for this year’s bowling season. With many of Young’s teammates showing a good amount of improvement over the summer, there is still encouragement and hope for this year being another good season for the team. “All you’ve got to do is just step it up, practice a lot, improve, get your average up, and then you can be really good,” Young said. 

Considering there is still an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, precautions will be taken by the team as best as possible. “With bowling, you’re on a set of lanes, and then, you can’t spread apart as easily, and we’ll probably have to wear masks while we’re bowling, too,” Young said. Depending on the changes, Young discusses that this year will be different and, “we’re just going to have to wait, and see.”