Three strikes and you’re…awesome
There are few things in sports more perfect than a 300 game in bowling. It takes 12 consecutive strikes and more concentration than acing an engineering final.
Austin Catlin, of the Utah State bowling club, accomplished this feat last year at a tournament at the University of Utah. He also did it twice at a nine-pin, no-tap tournament where only nine pins, not 10, need to be knocked down to get a strike.
“I bowled 35 of 36 possible strikes in that tournament,” he said. “Only five or six of them were nine-pin strikes.”
Catlin has been in the bowling club for three years and seems to have the strike down to a science.
First, he finds a specific spot on the ground to start his approach and starts from that same spot every time.
“Where it is for somebody depends on how they throw,” he said. “For a right-handed person with a big hook, you start to the left. If you throw it straight, then you start to the right. At first, I started way to the right, but now I’m way to the left.”
After he finds his spot, Catlin starts his approach. He said there are three common ways: the four-step, the five-step and the seven-step approaches.
“I started at seven steps, then went to five and now I’m at four,” he said. “I start with my right foot first, then left, then right, then my slide step.”
As he takes his approach, he locks his wrists to the side because he hooks his ball.
“If you want to throw it straight, then you lock your wrist straight,” he said. “You lock it to the side if you want to hook it. It’s not necessary, but it helps. It spins better and puts more revs on the ball. The more in you lock your wrist, the more revs you can get. I lock my wrist as far in as it will go.”
When Catlin releases the ball, his left foot slides, his arm comes down and he puts his right foot behind him to balance.
“It makes that classic bowler’s pose,” he said.
Catlin aims for a spot on the lane and not at the pins themselves.
“It’s like golf,” he said. “You putt six inches in front of you and not at the hole.”
Catlin and the bowling club were supposed to travel to a tournament at Central Washington, but they were not sure if enough teams would show up.
“We didn’t think it would be worth the trip with the weather,” Catlin said. “They were going to try to reschedule it for January.”
Catlin said the club was going to try to go to a tournament in Las Vegas toward the end of the month, but the field filled up before USU could enter.
“We’re kind of out of luck until January,” he said.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)
(James Schultz)