In the rules of bowling, you may not re-use the same player to fill in empty frames. Instead, the frame will be scored a zero. At the start of the school year, the girls bowling team was down two players, meaning they would lose every match.
This is no longer at play for the team as they now have a full set of players. Coach Britanny Ziobro, new to the school and new to the sport, believes the current distraction to be preventable, considering the school’s large population.
“Seeing as Hagerty has like 2,400 kids, it doesn’t make sense to me how we can’t find at least eight girls to try out,” Ziobro said.
The bowling program runs into this issue almost every year. Most of the time, it is a lack of confidence for joining the team or maybe because bowling is not that fascinating for many students.
“Girls that play other sports, maybe in the spring or winter, they’re trying other sports because they are fearful of not being good enough or what their peers might think if they have to wear the jersey at a pep rally,” Ziobro said. “I’m new to the bowling culture and like how mental the game really is, [but] it can really help someone build confidence.”
Ashton Zitzke, a returner for the team, has been playing for a year now and believes that bowling is a fun learning experience. “You make friends with the other teams and get the opportunity to play on your own and as a team. It’s very exciting and we create good vibes without too much pressure.”
Ziobro agrees that bowling is a great start to learning the participation of a sport. “Whether you know anything about bowling, what you could take away from participating in the sport is really helping with your mental side of everything,” Ziobro said. “I love bowling, so there’s nothing to be really scared about. I have been heavily involved in soccer and lacrosse at Lake Howell High School before I started working. Whenever I think about team bonding with my club teams we always go to the alleys to bowl.”
This season, the girls bowling team lost two games out of default, and has lost six games overall. However, with new members Ember Disorbo and Jordyn Patenaude, their losses have been by only a few pins compared to losing to over 1,000 before at the beginning of the season. But on Sept. 11, they won their first game against Seminole, 1612 – 1557. Currently, they are sitting at 1-9 but are hoping to continue improving and getting more wins.
Zitzke is happy with what the team’s morale is now that there is a full squad and what the future holds for the team.
“If we are able to have a full team for the whole season it would keep our spirits up and motivate each of us to do even better,” Zitzke said. “It may be individual scores, but having a team behind you to support you and help you win is always better.”
