Aberdeen hits the boards to debut girls bowling

Pins good. Gutters bad.

It may sound like a very beginner way to break down bowling, but that is where the Aberdeen High School girls bowling program is right now — Just beginning.

The program was formed a few weeks ago and is in its first week of competition. On Monday, the Bobcats laced up their bowling shoes for their first-ever match to take on Shelton at Westside Lanes in Olympia. Aberdeen lost 5-0 to the Highclimbers, but it was the start of an athletic offering head coach Dave Bruncke and assistant coach Andy Duffy have been working on since the fall of 2015.

On Friday, the Bobcats will host their first home match when they host Tumwater and Black Hills at 3:15 p.m. at Rainier Lanes in Aberdeen.

Bruncke, who is the AHS assistant boys tennis coach while Duffy is the AHS head boys tennis coach, began asking girls at Aberdeen if they had any interest in bowling. He came up with a list of 40 girls who liked the idea of a bowling team. From there, it was all hustle to get the sport approved by the school board.

“When school started (this year), we had a new athletic director and we got on it and said, ‘We want bowling to happen now,’” Bruncke said. “We started being his favorite pests every day. We went and did all of our homework and said, ‘We should make it happen.’”

Bruncke and Duffy worked with Aberdeen Athletic Director Aaron Roiko to make a presentation to the school board, which approved the sport at a cost of around $10,000. The trio then created a schedule for the new team. With the league schedules already set around southwest Washington, Roiko has worked to get the Bobcats a smattering of non-league matches throughout the season. On Wednesday, the Bobcats learned they will be given six spots in the subdistrict postseason tournament.

With only a few of the 18 players who turned out for the bowling team having any kind of significant experience, the Bobcats have been learning a lot this season.

“We watched YouTube videos like crazy,” Bruncke said. “The girls have been out buying their own shoes, because they have found their own shoes are more consistent. They are also buying their own ball now, especially because at Westside Lanes (in Olympia), they didn’t have the same ball. They are getting into it. Our first match on Monday was a super learning curve for the girls. All bowling alleys aren’t the same. The oils are different. The approach is different.”

Practice has a unique feel as players work through trial and error. Sometimes an error leads to a teammate saying the team motto of ‘Pins good. Gutters bad.’ Other times it leads to Duffy giving a tip, but no matter what smiles glowed through the dimly lit Rainier Lanes on strikes and gutter balls.

The majority of the 18 Bobcat bowlers are sophomores and Bruncke said he is excited to see them improve through the next three seasons. However, most of the bowlers have already showed improvement through the first weeks of practice and the first match.

“In our first match, six girls improved their best scores ever,” Bruncke said. “We have competitions. I make them pick teams and have a bowl off and I buy the winners fries. We have stickers if you get a turkey. If anybody gets two strikes in a row, you will hear them yell turkey alert. They are having fun.”

No matter what this first season turns out to be like on the scoreboard, Bruncke’s vision for the program includes growth in numbers and plenty of victories in the future. Another victory for Bruncke would be to see a few bowlers back at the lanes even after their careers as Bobcats are over.

“What I would really like to see is this place packed during practice and in the future, five years from now, these girls still bowling,” Bruncke said.

Brendan Carl: (360) 537-3954; bcarl@thedailyworld.com; Twitter: @DW_Brendan