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Bowling team creates a “family atmosphere”
The bowling team grows their relationships and finds success throughout the season
5,000 students throughout the nation bowl in high school. The state of Michigan has the most of those students as the whole state has 735 high school bowling teams as of 2016.
The Holt boys bowling team earned the number one spot in their region this year. As for the girls, they placed fourth.
The girls bowling team had three athletes in the top 15 of the region. Out of these three, senior Gabby VanHorn placed first in the region. She also but they also had the best girls bowler in their region, senior Gabby VanHorn. placed 15th in the state for division one.
VanHorn has been bowling since she was six years old. Her father inspired her to bowl, which has led to her success in the sport with a high score of 279.. This year, VanHorn made it to states and she faced the third best girls bowler in Division 1. Although her opponent was tough, she still fought hard.
“She was tough because I knew she was doing great all day. I tried to stay positive and when I beat her it was a good feeling,” said VanHorn.
Someone that VanHorn liked to hangout with throughout her final season was sophomore Angelita Mireles.
Mireles’ favorite memory of the year was when the team went to regionals. She started bowling at the age of 10 because her dad bowled also. Mireles can now bowl with a score as high as 275. To Mireles, bowling is not just a fun game, as some may see it, but something she takes seriously and can win in.
“I see it as achieving something, I like to win. I see it as a sport - not just for fun,” said Mireles.
Another person who joined VanHorn and Mireles on the team was senior Erica Finney.
Finney has not been bowling for as long as the others, but she has proven herself on the team. Finney began bowling her sophomore year when her and her friends decided to try something new. Finney enjoyed the team atmosphere, which was a positive of this season.
“[My favorite part was] meeting a good group of girls and we all connected as a family,” said Finney.
The Holt girls bowling team had great success this year, but the boys’ team had a great season as well.
Junior Zach Gietzel is a member of the boys team and has been bowling since he was in eighth grade. Gietzel’s father was the reason he decided to take up bowling, as he watched and learned how to play from him. Using the skills he learned from his dad, Gietzel can now bowl a score of 298. He hopes that he can play professionally in the future.
This year, the boys’ team qualified for states for the first time in nine years. Gietzel saw a change in this years season, which helped them to finally reach their goal.
“We haven’t qualified in nine years... We got rid of the jokesters and we took practice seriously everyday,” said Gietzel.
Another member of the team is sophomore Drake Buckner. Buckner started bowling on the team his freshman year,, but he has been bowling ever since he was a kid. Buckner was excited when he heard the school had a bowling team and decided to join. Buckner’s father and grandfather also bowled in the past. People see bowling as just a fun game but Buckner sees it as a mental and physical challenge.
“As a sport, it requires more mental and physical game than people may realize,” said Buckner.
Someone who Buckner liked to hangout with this season was Heath Camerer. Camerer plans on bowling in leagues and his goal is to make it to the Professional Bowling Association, or PBA. Camerer has been bowling since he was five and his family also has a background in bowling.
Camerer sees the bowling team as a family atmosphere, and believes that is the reason they made it to states this year. Both boys and girls teams connected making everyone feel like a family.
“We were more talkative, we were more encouraging, we had more school spirit...We are like family now, we are close and we know each other,” said Camerer.