Utah State’s clubs take to the lanes
The new Utah State University Bowling Club that started this year began not at the alley but in club President Cooper Jackson’s house.
“I love this story,” said Tucker Farris, club vice president. “We were sitting, and [Jackson] loved bowling, and I’ve always loved bowling too,” Farris said. “He was like, ‘Did you know there’s no bowling club?’ and I [said], ‘No,’ and he’s like, ‘I want to start one.’ I [said], ‘Let’s do it.’”
Since then, the club has met every Monday from 8:30–10:30 p.m. at Logan Lanes. It has been going for five weeks with up to dozens coming to participate.
“We’ve been getting an average of 50 people per time. They typically show up late, but we get around 50 every week,” Farris said.
There are regulars, but each week, the numbers fluctuate. Most people come in after the first 30 minutes of the club’s reserved lane time.
“It’s casual because we want everybody to come and everyone to feel welcome,” said Brooklyn Davis, club secretary. “If you’re not good, that’s fine, just come and have fun. Bring your friends, hang out and meet new people. I’ve met so many people just this semester from it.”
According to Jackson, his passion for bowling is what gave him the idea to start the club.
“I work here at the bowling alley — it’s really fun. I just started the USU class, and then I was like, ‘This is really fun,’” Jackson said.
In order to prevent conflict with other activities, Jackson chose Monday nights for more participation.
“I was worried about SK80’s [Night at the Fun Park]. I didn’t want to do anything on that event. And then also there’s league nights here, so we had to move around that,” Jackson said. “Monday seemed to be the best day that could work for everybody.”
The main form of communication for the club is a GroupMe chat for the regular participants. For advertising, there is an Instagram account @usu_bowling run by the vice president and secretary.
“I do social media marketing. Every night, we make an Instagram reel, and it’s an edit of everybody having a good time. We [use] trending sounds, but for the most part, it is showing how much fun it is,” Farris said. “And then we do have a GroupMe for the people that do want to be getting updates.”
Davis walks around throughout the night taking pictures and videos to promote the club visually. It started when she got a camera over a year ago and has been bringing it around taking pictures for the club and for SK80’s at the Cache Valley Fun Park on Tuesday nights.
“I like taking pictures and videos,” Davis said. “I’m really good friends with Cooper and Tucker, and they asked me, ‘Do you want to do videos for the bowling club?’, and I said, ‘Yeah.’”
So far, the club has gone to Day on the Quad but have plans to keep reaching out and advertising their club.
“We’re making flyers and going [to] be in the homecoming parade with a float. It’ll be fun,” Davis said.