Bragging About Bowling

This week was a good week for my kids at the bowling alley. Although Max no longer bowls in the youth league on Saturday morning, he usually gets in a couple of games after his shift. The other night he came home from work saying he just bowled his personal best--a 191--terrific!
Well today Leo was in the Nor Cal youth tournament which was being held at our local Monterey Lanes. I was a little concerned that he would be disappointed in his scores since due to poison oak he had not bowled in 3 weeks and was out of practice. I emphasized to him that he should not be so concerned about his scores, just to relax and enjoy his first tournament experience. So we get there and the place is jam packed with young bowlers and lots of parents and family. Kids were bowling from all over Northern California, and we were beginning to understand that this was a pretty big event. So Leo starts bowling and the kids from out of town that are bowling with him are pretty good. Their averages were in the mid 100's and Leo's average is 105. They seem like nice kids and everyone is having a good time. One of the kids bowled a 200, the other a 180, and Leo a 102 for the first game.
The second game starts and in the first frame Leo gets a 9. Then he proceeds to bowl SIX STRIKES IN A ROW. He has never bowled more than 3 strikes in a row before that. With every strike people are getting more and more excited, other parents are starting to cheer for him now. After the strike streak he bowled mostly spares and ended the game with a 211--a 211! That's 106 pins over his average, 110 pins over his previous game, and about 50 pins over his previous personal best. His high game got announced over the PA system and the whole packed bowling alley cheered for him. Leo was so excited and happy, and even Max, who was there working, went over and congratulated him, saying to everyone "that's my little brother!" It was a really great moment. Buoyed by his bowling glory, he went on to bowl a whopping 101 in the third game. Apparently he lost his mojo. But that's ok, a 211! So now Leo holds the high score in the house, bumping Max and his 191 in just 3 days.


This picture was actually taken last summer at Lilac Lanes in Spokane, but it is the only picture I have of Leo in a bowling alley. I called Max today and asked him to bring the camera to the tournament when he came but he said no, fearing I might put the pictues on my blog. He was right!