HOBAN HIGHLIGHT REEL
BOWLING GIRLS BOWLING Big dreams and life lessons, combined with a close-knit atmosphere, are what propelled the varsity girls bowling team to a conference win and onto the district competition this year. Coach James Bowling, who is entering his third year as the varsity girl’s coach and fifth year coaching at Hoban, has grown the program from just four returning bowlers to a full and thriving team of 17. Although the team dominates in their conference, the year was not without challenges for both the coaches and bowlers. “In bowling, it’s a game where knowledge is more important than physical skills at times,” Bowling said. “When we leave our conference to compete in tournaments across Northeast Ohio, we have so many near misses. We would come close to winning many times, but just not make it in the end. That becomes a challenge for managing emotions and energy, but the girls always picked themselves up and pressed on.” Bowling honed in on three life lessons that he believes are integral to the team’s success – dealing with adversity and disappointment, communication with teammates and coaches and realizing that it is more important to be a good person than to win. 22 \
SPRING-SUMMER 2022
“In the end, what makes you who you are is not what you do on the lanes, but who you are as a person,” Bowling said. “This is a very close team and they are all very supportive of each other. I couldn’t ask for a better group of young ladies and families.” Those lessons in character and support were put on full display at the district championship in March. Bowling recounts the emotional moments when the team found out that they had missed qualifying for states by just 35 pins – a 1 percentage point margin. “At districts there was an area where they projected the scores and after all of our games it wasn’t quite clear where we were going to end up,” Bowling said. “The team went into the waiting area and locked arms and I joined them. Then, we found out we had come up short. The whole area emptied out except for our team. For about 20 minutes, the emotions of the moment came out and the girls took turns saying how they felt, sharing their grief and also building each other back up because they had truly bowled very well. It was a hard time and rough moment, but they are a great team and I made sure they knew this is the best the girls bowling team has ever done at Hoban and they had a lot to be proud of.”
