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Bowling to Victory
West Orange High School’s Varsity bowlers roll to win
by Sharon Scalora
Article is from Matters Magazine
If the trophy case outside the gymnasium at West Orange High School reflects the stature of the school’s athletics, then bowling stands right up there with soccer, basketball, and track and field. With three Essex County Tournament triumphs and five consecutive years as Conference champions, the bowling team, ranked last year by The Star-Ledger as number one in the state, has put bowling on the map at a school where football rules.
According to an annual survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations, bowling showed the biggest gain last year in the number of schools offering the sport. "Bowling has been around for a while in our school," says Kevin Alvine, coach of the WOHS varsity bowling team. "But over the years, kids have started to look at it as more of a serious sport."
In the 10 years he has coached the bowling team, Alvine has seen the Mountaineers win the Northern Hills, Southern Division Conference eight times. Conference matches, played three times a week from December to February at Madison Lanes in Madison, showcase the team’s strength – it closed the 2003 and 2004 seasons undefeated – and prepare it for bigger competitions like the Essex County and Bishop Ahr tournaments, the sectionals – in which the Mountaineers finished in the top three two years ago – and state finals.
"One of our biggest goals as a team last year was to win the Essex County Tournament, and we did," explains Alvine, who credits his players’ dedication, skills and focus for the team’s prominence.
Kyle Murray, a 15-year-old junior, joined the bowling team last year and ended the season with a 194 average. When he was in the eighth grade, Murray, who has bowled since he was five years old, happened to be at Eagle Rock Lanes during a tournament. There, he studied the WOHS team and knew he wanted to be a part of it. This year, he will be the number three player on the team.
"Bowling is my life," says Murray, describing himself as a bowling geek. "If I’m sick, I ask my mom to take me to the bowling alley and then I’m always better."
Other players on the team share Murray’s fervor for the sport. Most, said Alvine, have been bowling seriously since they were kids on youth and recreation leagues, and come to him with well-developed talent.
Bowling requires balance, eye-hand coordination and timing, as well as a command of hand positions and rotations on the ball, expert reading of lane conditions, and, most importantly, consistency. "You can’t get thrown off," Murray explains. "You need to tune everything else out."
Jeremy Lippel, now a senior, has been on the team since his freshman year. He agrees that bowling is about mental preparation. "It takes a lot more skill than other sports; it takes a lot more concentration," he says.
Much of Alvine’s coaching strategy is geared toward teaching his players to stay centered and keep their cool under pressure. Along with spare shooting and strike-ball accuracy, he also stresses good sportsmanship and teamwork, always striving to unify the team in an arena that rewards individual achievement.
Last year, a senior on the team rolled a 299, breaking a WOHS record set a couple of weeks earlier by a teammate, Mike Serino, 17, who scored 298 in a conference match. These scores are especially impressive since the odds of bowling a perfect game of 300 are one in 11,500 games.
While the team has a few standout bowlers, its prowess as a whole is recognized throughout the conference. "The WOHS team has definitely been dominant over the years," says Tony Cerrato, general manager of Eagle Rock Lanes and one of the influences Alvine credits for his team’s success.
Most of the players know Cerrato from their Saturday morning league days and appreciate him for the support he now gives them off-season. Running the town bowling center gave Cerrato a yen for community service, which he gladly provides by allowing free practice time to the WOHS bowlers and any other high school interested in perpetuating bowling as a sport and practicing as a team.
"Bowling teaches a lot about life, excelling and being a good sport," explains Cerrato. "Not all kids can be 280-pound football players or seven-foot-tall basketball stars. Bowling is an outlet for kids where skill is the only thing that matters. The smallest kid is as big as the biggest kid. It opens up a whole new horizon."
Presently, 14 states including New Jersey offer bowling as a championship sport at the high school varsity level. According to Kris Zahn, national director of High School Bowling USA, high school bowling programs not only give teens a sport to compete in for a lifetime, they encourage higher grades and lower dropout rates.
Bowling with the Mountaineers keeps Murray on the straight and narrow and gives him incentive to do well in school because he doesn’t want to be struck from the team. He’s excited about upcoming tryouts, when many students vie for positions on a team only eight to 10 players strong. "Bowling may not be the most popular sport," says Murray. "But we have the titles, and I think we’re respected."
Sharon Scalora is a freelance writer who can barely break 100 bowling with the bumpers up.
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