Federal Way schools embrace growth of girls bowling

Published 10:12 am Monday, January 18, 2016

Thomas Jefferson head coach Joseph Townsend addresses the Thomas Jefferson girls bowling team after their 4-1 win over Decatur on Jan. 12.

Girls bowling hasn’t existed as a sanctioned sport in the Federal Way School District for very long. Three of the schools are finishing their third season, while Decatur finishes its second and the growth has been tremendous.

All four Federal Way teams call Secoma Lanes home. On Tuesday, they played their penultimate regular-season matches; Thomas Jefferson and Decatur faced off while Federal Way played Rogers of Puyallup and Todd Beamer went up against Curtis.

High fives were commonplace and the team chants before and after games were boisterous throughout the afternoon.

The four Federal Way schools have grown from pushovers to legitimate teams in their short existence. In the case of Jefferson, they’ve grown into league title contenders.

“From last year to this year you can see so much improvement from all of the young ladies across the board in the Federal Way schools,” Jefferson coach Joseph Townsend said. “Last year when you went out and bowled against Bethel, Spanaway Lake or Graham-Kapowsin, they didn’t take us seriously. It was just like a practice day for them. This year we’ve opened some eyes. It’s not an easy, comfortable bus ride over to this side of town.”

The Raiders currently sit in a second-place tie with Bethel and Curtis in the South Puget Sound League. At 7-2, they are one game behind the league’s leader, Graham-Kapowsin.

The only blemish to Graham-Kapowsin’s record in league play came at the hands of Jefferson, who beat them 4-1 on Dec. 1.

The improvement to the other Federal Way schools may not yet have translated to the numbers in the win column, but when you take a deeper look at the numbers, you can see other signs of improvement.

Instead of constant 5-0 losses to the non-Federal Way schools, they are starting to get some points against top programs like Bethel and Graham-Kapowsin.

Decatur head coach Kristyn Graham said that her team recently had their best game against Bethel. While their scores would have put a scare into most teams in the league that day, Bethel just happened to bowl around a 900 as a team.

While Federal Way, Decatur and Todd Beamer have slim chances of sending their entire team to the district tournament, they will have an opportunity to send some of their top bowlers there.

“I’m hoping at the SPSL tournament next week we can send somebody to districts,” Federal Way head coach Joe Haworth said. “We did that last year with Caroline Vadino, so we’re hoping her or one of my other varsity girls can have a great day and can move on to districts to keep bowling.”

Both Federal Way and Beamer are senior-laden squads.

“We’re going to lose six seniors and I’m coaching my last few matches here,” said Beamer head coach Stacy Stewart. “Next year they’re going to be doing a little rebuilding, but there is talent there.”

Between the players, coaches and numerous family members in attendance, it’s hard to find someone without a smile on their face at the games.

Secoma Lanes owner, Mike Martin has also noticed of the growth of the programs in their short time there.

“I think the first year they might have had about 25 girls between the three schools,” Martin said. “You can see it today, there’s around 80 girls involved now. No matter what their ability is, they can participate. It’s a really great program.”

Bowling is not a sport that garners many headlines, but that does not slow down just how competitive the girls who participate are. The teams quickly moved on from having the sport as just something to do to something they were ready to win at.

“I tell the girls that from the beginning that it’s a sport that people go out and have fun playing with their friends on the weekends,” Townsend said. “But there’s more to this game. There’s scholarships to be had that people don’t even know about. It’s a game where if you put the time in and practice, you never know what can happen. It’s a great opportunity to further your education through a sport.”

Sports like bowling and wrestling have given girls in the district more opportunities during the winter. Until a few years ago, basketball and gymnastics were all the district offered.

“All of these girls are enjoying the moment,” Townsend said. “You see all of the laughing and smiling and enjoying it with their teammates. Because of the excitement, they’re going to want to get better. My girls are eyeing the chance to go to districts as a team, which would be huge for them.”