Most people, when they think of bowling, they think of renting shoes, throwing a plastic ball down the lane, bouncing it off the bumpers, or if they’re brave enough, bowling without bumpers and hoping not get a gutter ball. Most people think of bowling as a way to have fun with family and friends, and that’s exactly what I thought before I joined Terrace Bowling.
It was my freshman year, and I was looking through the student handbook. I came across the “Clubs and Activities” section. The fourth “club” on the list was “Bowling Club”. If you want to see the guidebook for yourself and you’re not a student that already has one, you likely can find it on the MTHS website somewhere.
“Bowling Club ~ If you love to love to bowl and enjoy excellent competition, then this club is for you! Our club competes with schools in local districts. Our “home” lane is Lynnwood Lanes.” MTHS Student Guidebook said.
I decided that I would try it. I always liked bowling. When I was a kid, I had most of my birthday parties at bowling alley and had fun bowling. When I showed up to the alley that day, I didn’t realize what I was getting into. This wasn’t a club, it was a team.
The team was and is currently coached by Bob Davidson; one of the best bowlers in the State of Washington and most likely in the country as well.
Adding on to the outstanding coaching, the bowlers were outstanding as well. The team had gone to the state competition the past four years before I got there. If they didn’t win our league, they were in the top three to be able to go to the state competition.
At the time, I was the 12th bowler on the team. You can only have five for the varsity team, and we had a boys varsity and a girls varsity, and junior varsity for the extra bowlers. My freshman year, I was on the junior varsity team. My teammate and I went on to finish the season wining our last 11 games, enough to receive first place in the JV league. The boys varsity team went on to state, and took fourth place.
The next year (my sophomore year), I made the second varsity team. No longer was there a boys varsity and a girls varsity, it was a mixed or coed team. The first varsity team took first place in our league, moving on to the state competition, and the second varsity team placed fourth, just missing the chance for state. I went to state to watch the first team, taking third place.
My junior year, we only had enough bowlers for one team. This was my first year on the main varsity team, and I was excited. I wanted to get the chance to go to state. We started the season great, not even losing a game.
With just under two months until state, one of our bowlers decided that he was quitting. We then only had four bowlers, needing five to compete at state. My dreams of going to state and keeping the streak of Terrace competing at state alive were on the verge of coming to an end. Then we found another bowler named Raiden Silva.
Silva was a sophomore at Terrace and had known the Davidson family for years from bowling and at one time being neighbors. Silva joined the team and got in enough league games to be eligible for state. We ended up taking fourth place that year after starting day two in what I believe was seventh place.
Going into my senior year, I knew it was my last year of high school bowling. We only had four bowlers on the team so going to state was a slim possibility. In our league, you are able to have a combined school team, meaning you can have bowlers from up to 2 schools on the same team. Terrace found a senior bowler from Roosevelt High School, Dustin Bowker. Bowker had been in our league in the previous years on other teams. We asked him if he was up for joining our team and he said accepted.
The Terrace Bowling team finished this season with a record of 34-2, wining our league and advancing to the state competition for the eighth straight year.
Terrace was moved into the first division, which is the toughest division in the tournament. After finishing the first day of state in fourth place, the team finished strong in the tournament. Terrace would end up in second place behind an Oak Harbor team that had won the previous three years. With the team placing second, that beat the previous highest place in the teams history, which was third.
Overall, my four years of Terrace Bowling were amazing, and something I will never forget. I would like to thank my teammates (Dustin Bowker, Cameron Downing, Raiden Silva and Becky Davidson) for an outstanding season. I would like to also thank my two coaches (Bob Davidson and Robby Davidson), for making me a better bowler than I ever was before.
Statistically, I was the worst bowler on the team, but that is because I was on a team with people that have been bowling for their whole lives and I’m fine with being the worst on the team, because it got me second place in the state.
I’m am proud to have been on such an outstanding team and program. I say team because Terrace Bowling isn’t a club, it is a team. I don’t care anyone says; it is a team and always will be.
