A-Bowling We Did Go!

At the first Inter-club bowling tournament, there were some REALLY interesting styles of bowling seen!

The whole idea began, as most ideas begin, with a conversation over a pint.

At our joint Club ride on Vashon Island last November, someone mentioned that it would be fun to get scooter clubs together for a fun bowling tournament.  It would be something neat to do while the weather was poor.  Needless to say, great ideas don’t need a lot of prompting to be turned into action, and so last Sunday, the Westenders hosted the F-Yeah SC and the Firkin SC from Tacoma for what will be the first of many quarterly interclub bowling tournaments.

We met at West Seattle Bowl, and were immediately impressed by the large turnout.  The Firkins fielded a team, the F-Yeahs brought two, and the Westenders had no less than three teams hitting the lanes to roll the balls.  The play was for fun and to build camaraderie between the Clubs in the Puget Sound area, and a great time was had by all.  There was a wide range of bowling skill levels, from folks who do this sort of thing on a regular basis, to those who only play occasionally.  With the emphasis on fun, there was a lot of interesting styles and stunts seen, including Darcy & Francesca’s tandem throw, Corey donning his helmet to play (perhaps he felt safer that way, or didn’t want anyone to recognize him?), to F-Yeah Lino’s dramatic high-speed throws.

Westender Darcy shows off the F-Yeah SC colors she won after being challenged by the F-Yeahs to throw a strike on demand. Memo to the F-Yeahs: be careful what you ask for!

One of the high points of the afternoon came from the ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’ Dept.: Westender Darcy was challenged by one of the F-Yeahs to throw a strike on her next frame.  If she succeeded, he would give her his personal ‘colors’ as a prize.  He figured his colors were safe, since Darcy had yet to throw a strike.  Gamely taking up the challenge, Darcy selected her ball, strode up to the lane, and throwing with her left hand just for the hell of it (she’s right handed), promptly threw a strike!  The F-Yeah was as good as his word, and happily awarded Darcy his colors!

Each team bowled two games, and there was no limit to the mischief to be had:

After all, a girl HAS to accessorize! A couple of friendly Firkins help Boots choose just the right ball to enhance her game!

At the end of the day, the team totals were collated, and the top three were:

Gold: F-Yeah SC team 1 (Kevin, Brad, Paul, Reylan

Silver: Firkins SC (Tom, Shaun, Frank, Robert)

Bronze: F-Yeah SC team 2 (Francesca, Lino, Jay Kyle)

Unfortunately, none of our teams got a look in this time, but we’ll get some practice in, and watch out for us next time, guys!

Once the balls were shelved and the shoes put away, all the teams adjourned to Pegasus Pizza on Alki Beach to enjoy pizza, pints, and conversation, and to get pumped up about the upcoming riding season.

All in all, the first interclub bowling challenge was a great success, and we’ll certainly look forward to the next one in the Spring!

•