My Sport
The familiar smells of hamburgers and fries are missing as you walk through the plastic tarped entrance that will lead to the one place at which you will spend the next 8 hours. There are rugs scattered across the ground and signs that ask you to wipe your feet thoroughly. The snow was wreaking havoc on the building. People run around you like crazy, towels in hand, drying the wet floor. Everywhere you turn there are people in named shirts and colours of so many different shades. The normally smiling faces are filled with stressful glances as the phone rings to no end. The game is not cancelled. Time elapses and you are ready, shoes on your feet, ball on the rack. The time is nearing ever so quickly.
“Please, let us have everyone step to the foul line.”
You take your first step up on the lane. That beautiful wood beneath your feet as you approach that dark brown line that is the foul line. The slick lanes ahead of you are void of any pins as you turn your gaze to the large American flag hanging over head. As the Star Spangled Banner feels the air, the lanes begin to rack, one by one. Standing tall, singing to the wordless anthem, the air is like nothing else. Together, with the 5 other girls you’ve spent so much time with, working so hard with, and constantly trying to better than are at your side, honoring the same flag.
The nerves begin as the lane before you racks, setting up ten pins in that perfect formation you’ve come to dread and love all at once. The tears come to your eyes as you turn to face the people who have come to support you. Every game they are there, cheering you on. One by one, the names and schools are called out. It takes all you have not to jump and skip from the foul line as they boom out your school name with pride. Practice begins now, the game to continue.
That is how I feel every year as our team steps up to regional competition. The bowling house is packed and the nerves are always high. We always come to win. Bowling is like a part of my life. Without it, I don’t know how I would get along in the winter. Some people try to test my patience by saying it isn’t a sport, or making fun of me. Have you have been bowling? No matter how much you suck, or how much you rock, it’s always fun. My friends are by my side, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I am a bowler.
And I love it.
