The crash of bowling balls on the oil-coated synthetic lanes. The loud and excited shouts of players and their fans rings inside the eardrums of the competitors. The rough and cold feeling of the holes of the bowling ball creates a slight grip. The strong aroma of chicken fingers and french fries fills the nostrils of every bowler, the stale air creates tension. This is it. That of the environment in which the NHS Bowling Team is constantly surrounded.

In the previous years; the bowling team has acquired a lot of good fortune with their past seasons. The bowlers are awarded medals for their accomplishments, with practice after school on Mondays and Wednesdays for an hour at Bowl 32 formally known as Stardust. In the 2014 season, the girls team attained sixth in state, as the season went on the boys didn’t make it out of sectionals, the girls improved and went on through sectionals, regionals, semi-state, and state.

“Just getting to state the last two years was a big huge challenge, but [they] know how to win, they’ve seen a winning team, and have come together as a team during the matches,” girls varsity coach Jamie Elliott said.

NHS fields three different teams: a girl’s varsity team, a boys varsity team, and a JV team. Most of the members start out in eighth grade on the JV team before they make their way up to the varsity teams.

“I’ve been on the school’s team since I was a freshman, but bowling since I was ten,” senior Travis Holpuch said.

In a case much different than Holpuch, junior Kierra Harber has been bowling for the high school since she was in middle school, but she had to be apart of the boys JV team before she was allowed to bowl for a varsity or even a girls team.

“I played on the boys team, the JV, when I was an eighth grader,” junior Kierra Harber said. “ Then I got to be on the girls team when I was in high school.”

Being a club sport, students don’t qualify for a gym credit or receive much credit for their achievements at competition. Unfortunately, there is not much recognition by the school regarding their competitions, but could be one of the most successful club sports in the school.

“Bowling should be considered more than a club sport because we work hard and get achievements and awards just like [other sports], they get trophies and we get medals,” Harber said. “I think we should be recognized for it.”

As their season pushes forward, bowler hope to receive some recognition by the community as a whole for their achievements. They also hope to have as much success or more than the previous years results. With competitions every Friday, they have a lot of chances to make this season great; with coaches feeling really good about how the season might progress on and thinking the teams can go really far again this year as said by Elliott.