Apr 16, 2002 By Gary George For The 4 min read

Ladies, it’s time to ante up. For the last two years, it seemed that everywhere I went, one lady or another would come up to me and ask me how come I never had a Ladies Championship Bowling Show on television. My answers were always numerous and varied, but never correct-at least to the person who asked the question.

The response from the inquiring person was always that there would be a lot of women come and bowl if there was an opportunity.

Now, thanks to Jim Matis, there will be a Ladies Show.

The question is, will there be the ladies?

There are a few exceptional women bowlers in this area, and there are many, many more really good ones. Now it is time for all of them to go to the Fairbank Bowling Center and have some fun with that ability that they have.

Eight women will make the Show, and with the opportunity to attempt to qualify over and over again until you roll your best series, everyone of our ladies in the area has a chance to make the televised group.

The TV show will be taped on Sunday, April 28, at 10 a.m..

The format for qualifying will be the same as for the men. The ladies will bowl scratch, and they can enter as many times as they want (maximum of two times per squad) to try to bowl the best series possible.

Jimmy’s squad schedule is: Tuesday, April16, Wednesday, April 17, and Thursday, April 18 squad at 10 p.m.; Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21 squad at 9 a.m.; and then to finish out the next week, Tuesday, April 23, at 10 p.m., Wednesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., and finally, Thursday, April 25, at 10 p.m.

There will be no guaranteed spots. The best eight scores will make the show.

Remember, regardless of how good you think you are, you will never know for sure unless you take a shot.

A quote

Tex Schramm, the former owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and also the man who hired Tom Landry and created a dynasty in the NFL, was quoted in the Dallas Morning News as to why he felt that bowling was a sport.

“It requires great ability in the form of extraordinary skill. That coupled with the fact that not everyone can do it.”

I believe he has hit the nail right on the head.

If you go out to your favorite bowling house on the weekends to do some open bowling with friends or family, I’m sure you have had an opportunity to watch the folks on the other lanes. Most of them are not league bowlers, and therefore, most of them are not really very good. I mean, we are talking about scores that are typically under 100. And that would be for men as well as women.

If the game was that easy, everyone would bowl great.

So, I would have to add another criteria that makes bowling a sport.

You have to practice regularly in order to be good, and the more practice you have-the better you get.

Bowling camp

I understand that there will be a Bowling Camp offered in the area in the next month or so and then again at the end of the summer. There will be the possibility of both a youth and an adult camp, and also there will be a beginners and an advance camp.

The beginners camp will show new bowlers the correct approach, number of steps, and proper arm swing.

The advanced camp will deal with targets, arrows, boards, oil patterns, ball drillings, and other more intricate subjects that can help a good bowler tweak his or her game.

All the camps will have individualized training and plenty of practice time.

Some of the areas great bowlers will be on hand to help out.

If you are interested or know of someone who might want to attend, call 724-439-3359 and leave the name and a message.

One of the camp coaches will get back to you with more information.

I’ll see you on the lanes.