So you think you have problems hitting the pins at the local tenpin alley, do you?
You should try it at the expert level. We're talking oily lanes, studded balls, lane graphs and a bag of balls that do all kinds of weird and funky things when they hit the lane.
Jeff Fewings (right), with high school coach Brett Watt, will play for Windsor Lancers next year.
With 115 of the top amateur bowlers in Canada here for the national championships, it's obvious the game has gone high-tech.
Saturday, following the first four games at Chateau Lanes (men) and Laverendrye (women), it was time to redress the lanes (change the oil pattern).
"The short pattern this morning was 34 feet long," said Joe Nunes, international committee chairman and first vice-president of the Canadian Tenpin Federation. "On the shorter pattern, you have a little skid and then more hook, to come into the pocket with more power. Now we go to a longer pattern, so the ball should go straighter and finish stronger further down the lane."
Earl Sobotkiewicz and Dan Tereck are a couple of grizzled veterans of the sport. "I have 30 different balls, but I can only use eight in this tournament," said Sobotkiewicz, who recently won the TSN Championship Series provincials and will compete at the nationals in September.
Just as golfers play practice rounds and curlers test on the ice to get the feel of the playing field, Sobotkiewicz reads lane graphs (pattern of the oil).
"Based off of that, I figure out where I need to play," he said. "Then I make a few shots and I adjust off of the ball reaction.
"For a longer pattern I will go to a more aggressive ball, which has particles in it, kind of like studs on a tire. It feels a little more friction early."
Tereck represented Canada on the senior (50-over) team at the Tournament of the Americas in Florida last year winning two gold and two silver medals. "I use a ball that hooks more, grabbing more lane, or I throw the ball slower, giving it time to grab."
In tight spots, Tereck might go to a non-aggressive ball. "For spares, when you are shooting at a single pin, I use what we call a plastic ball, which doesn't grab the lanes at all. It just slides no matter how much oil there is." Unfortunately, the ball doesn't exist that will convert the dreaded 7-10 split.
Sunday, after the 42 women and 73 men have rolled a total of 16 games, the field was cut to 36 men and 24 women, with all the action moving to Chateau. On Monday, the field will be cut to 18 men and 12 women. The top 36-game total pin-fall will decide the Canadian champions.
allan.besson@freepress.mb.ca
Schellenberg on TSN
BEN Schellenberg, the University of Winnipeg Wesmen men's volleyball team's 6-foot-6 opposite/middle, will be featured today on TSN at 10 a.m. as part of the 16th annual Borden Ladner Gervais Awards Show, which was taped at the end of April.
The fifth-year Schellenberg was the Canada West male nominee for the award, which goes to the top CIS male and female athletes of the year.
The former Westgate Collegiate star helped the Wesmen win a silver medal at the CIS championship in Laval earlier in March, where he was also named a member of the championship all-star team, the CIS Men's Player of the Year and a first team all-Canadian.
Soccer and friendship
IN 1977, Pelé, one of soccer's greatest superstars, named his autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game.
So what better way to make friends than getting everyone from all nations together to share in the game Pelé helped to make beautiful.
The St. James-Assiniboia School Division's International Student Program students and Canadian students are set for the third annual A Time to Make Friends co-ed soccer event. It will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Hedges Middle School (39 Fairlane Ave.) and John Taylor Collegiate (470 Hamilton Ave.). If it rains, they will go May 29 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The purpose of this event is to provide an environment where students from Canada, international students and students who have immigrated to Canada can get together for a friendly soccer match, hopefully generating new friendships in the process. For more information, call Derek Bramadat at 837-5886 (ext 242), cell 227-1557 or Grant Ganczar at 837-1331, cell 612-2611.
Dauphin's Horn has chance
DAUPHIN'S Ryan Horn is still in the hunt after the third round at the Canadian Tour's $125,000 La Loma San Luis Potosi Open at the Nicklaus La Loma Golf Club in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Horn shot a three-over-par 75 yesterday for a three-day total of one-under 215. He's the only Manitoban left, as St. Charles' Adam Speirs failed to make the cut Friday after two rounds of 75 for a six-over 150.
Horn, who is currently tied for 23rd place is seven shots back of the leader Daniel Im of the United States. Im had an even-round 72 Saturday for an eight-under total of 208.
Foubister Award winner Fewings heads to Windsor for university
JEFF Fewings, who won the 2007 Jim Foubister Award, presented annually to the Winnipeg High School Football League player who displays excellence on the field, sportsmanship and teamwork, has committed to play his university ball for the Windsor Lancers.
A starter and captain for the Sturgeon Heights Huskies as a defensive back, Fewings helped lead his team to the city semifinals and a second-place regular-season finish.
"Jeff led our team in tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries," said Huskies head coach Brett Watt.
"As a top-line player out of Winnipeg, Jeff will provide some much-needed depth in our defensive secondary," commented Windsor coach Mike Morencie. "We are excited to get him here and begin his development as a Lancer."
Fewings is the fifth player from Manitoba who has joined the Lancer football program in the last year.
He joins fullbacks Barett Dufour (Vincent Massey, Brandon) and Adam Kuzbyt (Maples), defensive back Mike Burtnick (North Winnipeg) and linebacker David Tiede (Tec Voc).
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