The bowling team started its 2018-2019 season on Tuesday, Nov. 6 by letting go of strong players who graduated last year. This caused the team to push themselves to win at matches and improve on their bowling skills this season. On Saturday, Nov. 10, the teams went up against Irving Nimitz; the boys won [14-1] and the girls tied [0-0].

The bowling team has had trouble recruiting new female bowlers, which set the team back, causing them to lose a few of their matches.

“The worst part is I don’t have enough girls to make a whole girls team so I’ve been talking about the boys’ team a lot,” bowling coach Ronald Baxter said. “I lost three good bowlers in the last year, but I’ve had two that became a lot better. I’ve got three girls and we need at least five to have a whole team, six to have a little insurance.”

Since the new season has started, the bowling team has been able to make progress on their own skills. Senior Kadin Conner has been working weekly to improve on his skills from last season so he can score a higher record.

“[This season], I’ve learned more about patterns [in bowling],” Conner said.

This season, Baxter hopes to help out his bowlers by focusing on each player’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

“[Our strategy includes] strikes and spares,” Baxter said. “Each kid has a goal of what average increase they want. I like to give them a goal too, and 200 is the magic number for bowling.”

Teamwork is important to the bowling team because they are able to win more matches when the players support each other. Working hard and improving their bowling skills is also vital because it helps them out with the current season.

“[Bowling is like] a mind game honestly more than it being a really taxing sport, it’s a mind game, getting constant strikes, a consistent flow,” senior team captain Javaughn Martinez said.