Not your average bowling league: These YAIAA athletes strike it big on the lanes

There were plenty of cars in the parking lot at Lion Bowling Center, just blocks away from Red Lion Area High School.

Probably more than you would expect to see on a Wednesday afternoon a week before Christmas. But those cars didn’t tell the story of what was going on inside.

There was no bus or van to give the indication that a high school athletic event was happening. It was, after all, a bowling alley.

But step inside, and it was clear that this was no ordinary league getting ready to start.

There were people all over the place, but it was fairly quiet. There was none of the bass-heavy music often heard in bowling alleys. Music played, but it was barely loud enough to be heard. Instead there was the buzz of two dozen teens preparing for athletic battle.

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It was Red Lion vs. Kennard-Dale in a YAIAA bowling match.

Each bowler had a school-issued shirt, the extent of their uniforms. Red Lion bowlers wore simple black shirts with a small Lions logo on the front. KD’s textured blue shirts were more elaborate, with a large mascot on the back, KDHS Bowling on the back collar and the high school listed on the front.

That is all the school supplies. Bowlers supply their own pants, shoes and ball.

“It has to be the most inexpensive sport to have,” Kennard-Dale coach Joel Logan said. “The school gets the shirt, there’s a flat fee for the bowling lanes, transportation and coach’s salary. There isn’t much of a budget.”

And even though the amount is small, Red Lion coach Rebecca Elliehausen is just happy the kids have the opportunity.

“I would love to see it grow,” she said. “But I’m just glad the school lets them do this.”

Exactly 10 minutes before the start of the match, electronic scoreboards located over each lane begin to count down the warm-up period. The lanes that were quiet minutes before, suddenly filled with balls as bowlers loosened up and adjusted to the lanes.

It’s not like the lanes were unfamiliar to the teams. Lion Bowling Center is home to three of the YAIAA’s seven teams, including Red Lion and Kennard-Dale. Dallastown is the third school playing out of the bowling center.

Central York and Spring Grove play out of Colony Park, York County Tech plays at Suburban Bowlerama and New Oxford plays out of Hanover Bowling Centre.

Just a week into the season, Spring Grove is off to a hot start with wins over Central and Kennard-Dale.

How a YAIAA bowling match is scored

Each team sends out five bowlers, who play all or parts of three games. Scores are combined at the end of each game, with the winning team awarded one point. The team with the most pins after three games is awarded two points.

“Substitution rules are a lot like softball,” Logan said. “I can switch someone in at any point in the game, but that person has to finish the game. The starter can return in the next game.”

Red Lion and Kennard-Dale used six lanes to play their match … two lanes for varsity, two lanes for J.V. and two lanes for alternates. Coaches can pull from J.V. or alternates to make substitutions on varsity.

The Rams came out on top Wednesday, 5-0, with pin totals of 2619-2275. KD’s Josh O’Leary rolled the best series overall, finishing with 563, just 10 pins ahead of teammate Casey Jones. Kailynn Jones led Red Lion with 551 pins for third place overall.

O’Leary and Jones were the only bowlers to break 200. O’Leary did it twice with games of 202 and 203, and Jones rolled a 200 in her final game.

Playing the games

This wasn’t your leisurely Saturday night Rock-n-Bowl. These teens moved. There were no conversations with the group three lanes away, and no strolling to the snack bar to refuel.

And there were no mobile devices to keep track of social media or play a video game.

“It’s really the only rule we have,” Logan said. “We don’t have time for the kids to lose their concentration on a video game and wait for them to realize it’s their turn to bowl. We have to be out of here by 6 p.m.”

That means balls have to roll as soon as the bar is clear of the freshly set pins. Because it’s courtesy to not bowl at the same time as a person next to you, there was action on at least one of the six lanes at any given time.

“It takes about two-and-a-half hours for a match, so there isn’t much time to waste,” Elliehausen said of their 6 p.m. hard stop. “We have to get out of here because they have leagues that start at 6:30.”

Employees need those 30 minutes to wipe down the lanes and reapply oil in time for the leagues to warm up.

Boon for York bowling alleys

Mike Zelger, who with his brother, Dave, have owned Lion Bowling Center for 42 years, said having the high schools use the center has been good for business.

“Afternoons are usually a pretty dead time for us, so this brings people in,” Mike Zelger said. “The schools have worked out a schedule so they practice from about 3-6 each day. Dallastown is a big group, so they come in on their own. Red Lion and Kennard-Dale can come in together.”

The Lions and Rams have about a dozen bowlers on their coed teams. It’s the second year for the league after two years of organizing as club teams.

“York County Tech and Kennard-Dale were the first schools to have teams,” said Zelger, who has been there since the beginning. “They competed against Lancaster teams until we got the league here.”

Those two teams quickly became four and is up to seven. Zelger thinks it’s possible for more teams to join in the near future.

He agrees with Logan about it being a fairly inexpensive sport for teens to pick up. If they are just starting out, the students can use the center’s shoes and balls at no cost. Although Zelger said most kids get their own equipment.

“There is a huge difference between a house ball and your own bowling ball,” he said. “There is so much technology that goes into the new balls.”

It makes such a difference that Zelger has worked out a deal with some of his vendors for students to get barely used equipment at a reduced rate.

One hand or two hands?

Red Lion sophomore Dalton Ludwig has been bowling since he was 6 years old. He’s tried bowling with one hand, but doesn’t feel as comfortable.

So he bowls with two hands. Just like teammate Alex Newby and at least several other bowlers on the lanes Wednesday.

It’s one area Elliehausen struggles to help her bowlers.

“I’ve never tried it, and there aren’t many people in my league who use two hands,” she said. “Where I can help someone straighten things out if they bowl with one hand, they kind of have to help each other with that.”

She pairs her two-handed bowlers together during practice, so they can work with each other.

Two-handed bowling used to only be seen by kids who didn’t have the strength to just use one hand. But that has changed over the years, as some of the top professional bowlers use two hands to help with ball rotation and power.

Elliehausen said the one thing she has noticed it doesn’t help with is consistency. She said her one-handed bowlers have more consistent scores than her two-handed bowlers.

Growing the game

Both coaches agree with Zelger that it would be great to see the game grow, both in number of school teams and in number of bowlers on established teams.

Logan especially would like to see more girls become involved in bowling.

“I don’t think the girls realize there are college bowling scholarships out there, especially for girls,” he said. “I asked a college coach what scoring average he was looking for, and he said he doesn’t really look at that.”

The coach said he looks at how the bowler interacts with their parents while they bowl, and their overall personality.

“He told me, ‘I’m going to teach them my way to throw a ball, anyway,’” Logan said.

Central York coach Julie Carson knows all about having bowlers move into college programs.

Of the five bowlers who graduated from last year’s state championship team, four are bowling in college.

Growing the game also means getting the word out about the bowling teams.

“We put out announcements and put things on social media about matches whenever we can,” Logan said.

But the bowlers admit many of their friends and classmates didn’t realize their schools had bowling teams.

“They were surprised when I told them, but everyone has been really positive about it,” Dalton said.

Red Lion and Kennard-Dale each have a few bowlers who also play other sports. There are a few football players, some baseball players and a lacrosse player.

They agree preseason and practices are a lot different in the winter. Coaches encourage stretching, but there’s little in the way of conditioning programs at either school.

Red Lion freshman Palmer Stafford, who played football in the fall, kind of laughed when asked about the physical side to bowling.

“I do some wrist curls, but that’s about it,” he said.

Shelly Stallsmith covers high school sports for GameTimePA through the York Daily Record. Connect with her at mstallsmith@ydr.com and on Twitter @ShelStallsmith.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: YAIAA bowling: Athletes growing the sport in York, Adams counties