Club Bowling a Strike in Third Season

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett

A nine-hour drive to Indianapolis could not prepare a bowling team for what they were about to encounter.

For Shawn Logan, who has bowled for 12 years and is the current captain and president of the George Mason club bowling team, it was a sense of accomplishment that the team had finally made it.

“You walk into a place where there’s 80 lanes filled with colleges from across the nation, from Florida to California. It’s just an amazing feeling; you really can’t compare it to anything. It makes you really feel like a top-notch player, like you are really a part of something.”

The team had made it to the Hoosier Classic, a tier one bowling event that allows the top college programs across the country to showcase their talents. It is a huge statement for a program in its infant stages to be in this position.

“It’s grown exponentially,” said coach Bill Grover, who has seen the bowling club come from literally nothing three years ago to now competing with the best teams in the country.

“The first year, on paper, we had 10 people and I could never get them together to practice once. The second year, we had probably 10 people on paper and we went to one tournament in Louisville, Ky.,” said Grover, a 1977 graduate of Mason with an MA in American colonial history. “This year, we went to five tournaments and hosted our own tournament. And we picked up a corporate sponsor, Bowl America, which has been a life saver.”

The sponsorship, which has provided much-needed funds to the club and lanes for the team to practice on Sundays at the Bull Run Manassas location, has also allowed Grover to bring in coaches that have helped these young bowlers become better.

“It’s definitely taken everyone’s game to the next level. We have coaches to help from the very beginning level to the very top level,” said Logan, who is a senior in Information Technologies. “We’ve had people that their first year ever bowling is on the team and they are doing phenomenal. Couldn’t have asked for more.”

“It’s been a work in progress, but they’ve been making large leaps from what they started out as to now,” said R.C. Drake, who acts as the advanced lane play coach. “It’s rewarding to see bowlers who were good, but not top-level, turn into those top-level bowlers and compete with the better bowlers in the collegiate system.”

Drake and his fellow assistant coaches Bryant Mehio and Larry Wallace bring together a wealth of experience and knowledge that transcends what is taught to the bowlers.

“We have probably three of the best coaches on the east coast” stated Grover. “Our assistant coaches are phenomenal; they are widely regarded as the best around. All the kids are in good hands, they’ve all progressed.”

It has certainly been a progression for all the bowlers, including Logan and co-captain Steve Pongrace. Both have been bowling for the club team since its inception and have seen the difference from day one, not only in the team but in their games.

“It’s been a great learning experience, going out and seeing what the events are like and stuff like that has been a lot of fun, especially with these guys,” said Pongrace, who is a junior economics major. “[The coaches] have taken me to the next level where I can compete with all the other guys on the collegiate level.”

That improvement can also have an effect on fellow members of the team. During practices, two lanes are open for bowlers to work on form, technique and anything that they feel is important to improving their games. Outside of what the coaches preach, that is the time where the bowler gets better.

“First off, when you play as a team versus recreation, you learn a lot of things,” said Eric Cheung, a sophomore marketing major. “First day I was with them, I learned so many different techniques and information that I never knew existed. It’s more than just bowling by yourself, you bowl as a team.”

That team concept is what drives them to become better. And, it is also what helps them become better.

“That’s what we try to tell people when they join the club is that you don’t have to be good at all, you don’t have to have a high average,” said Logan. “We can help you get there, we can help you become a better bowler if you want to be one.”