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November 27, 2007

ERIC WESTON: Surgery sidelines AHS bowler

This week has been a slow week because of Thanksgiving break. I have come up with a sad story about a young man who will be out of action for quite a while with season-ending surgery. Kyle Leathers, a senior at Anderson High School who started bowling years ago at East Side Lanes and now is a four-year veteran of the high school team, is having surgery this next week and will be out for a long time. In fact, he will be bedridden for several weeks.

Leathers has had a great year so far. He has raised his average up to 205. Last week, he recorded 234 and 236 games and led the Indians to victory. My best goes out to Kyle and his parents, Rob and Patty Leathers, and let’s all hope for a fast and safe recovery.

This week with the not many scores being turned in and with me being with my family for the holidays, it’s a good time for me to give my opinion about a few things. First of all, I will give you a little background about myself. Then, I will let you be the judge if you think I know what I’m talking about.

First of all, I am in my 42nd season of bowling. I started out with my uncle, Cliff Weston (member of Anderson Bowling Hall of Fame) buying me my first bowling ball in the basement of Brown’s Bowling Alley off Hall of Famer Willie Greenlee. Next, I moved up to junior leagues at Olympia Lanes, where I met some great people, including Cindy Ormes (member of the Anderson Bowling Hall of Fame) and manager of Cooper’s Sport Bowl. Ormes has been a role model for all bowlers and is always willing to help in every way.

In 1976, I joined the ranks of adult league play, in which I have bowled since. I have been blessed — in 1980— to win Indiana’s Largest Singles Tournament at Muncie, as there were 1,504 entries at year. I had been lucky enough to bowl 10 300 games and a high series of 793. My highest average has been 217, and I was lucky enough to help Jerry Earlywine coach the Pendleton Heights boys team for two years, in which we finished second and fourth in the state.

OK, enough about me. You probably have heard enough by now. One more thing ... I did a few weeks back leave the sour apple as we know it (5-7-10 split). What I want to talk about today is bowling and the way the game should be played.

First of all, if you have kids growing up, and they want to start bowling. That’s great, but here are a couple of things they need to know. They need to be taught respect, not only for the other bowlers, but for other parents and for coaches. They also need to learn how to keep score, be alert and be ready to bowl when it is their turn. They need to learn not to get upset if they are having a bad game and affect someone else’s score.

Keep in mind this is a game. It is supposed to be fun. The reason I know this is I’ve been there and done that. To you parents, take your kids out to the bowling center and just have a good time. Don’t get upset if they’re having a bad game. It only hurts them. All three of the bowling centers have a great junior league program set up with qualified coaches who can help your kids with a game they can play for years.

Here’s a little tip for the parents who take their kids out to bowl who do not bowl themselves. Start out by getting with people who work at the bowling center to select the proper bowling ball and shoes. Then as a good rule of thumb, start your kid out by standing on the center dot and rolling the ball over the second arrow on the right for right-handed bowlers, or second arrow on left side for left-handed bowlers. Then you can adjust from there if the ball is missing to the right or left then you need to move your feet a little in the direction your ball is missing the target area. So if you are missing to the right of the head pin, move a little to the right with your feet. The last thing I see all the time is people throwing the ball as fast as they can. Speed has nothing to do with it if you cannot control it.

In next week’s article I would like to give you a little history about bowling in Anderson, so if anyone has any historical facts or old photos from any of the three centers or the old centers Welper’s, Olympia, Strike-more, etc., please get them to me by Sunday night so I can get it all together.

Eric Weston’s bowling column publishes every Tuesday during bowling season. To contact Weston, e-mail westons@insightbb.com.

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