Beyond Bowling: Senior boys bowling captains have created an environment that has given the team a chance to place at state

Senior and bowling co-captain Wally Workman had just bowled another strike at Mission Bowl Olathe. Since the start of the meet, the teams from other schools had sat silent and blank-faced. Their stone-cold expressions didn’t falter as the East bowling team erupted into cheers. After all, teams barely talk to each other, let alone cheer during meets — there’s only the sound of pins ricocheting off each other. But not this team.

Workman walked back from the lane, earning a fist bump from his fellow senior captain, Brady Aebersold. Both Workman and Aebersold joined the bowling team as an afterthought — they just wanted to have an activity after school and figured bowling with their friends was their best option. They never thought they would find themselves organizing bowling practices after school or teaching their junior friends about how different amounts of oil on a bowling lane can affect the speed, direction and spin of a bowling ball. But here they are — leading a team that they look forward to being around.

“I wouldn’t say every other team aren’t friends, but we have the closest bond and a lot of chemistry,” Aebersold said. “We just like hanging out with each other.”

Fist-bumps and hang-outs led to intense practices when the boys realized they had a chance to secure East’s first boys bowling state championship as a team. The group is well on their way, recently beating Olathe West — a team that took 7th at state last year — by 98 pins. 

Workman, along with junior varsity bowler Zach Sederquist and a few others on the team, first decided to try bowling two years ago, when they were sitting in junior Matt Martucci’s basement. They had spent that summer playing rocket league on Xbox and Martucci’s mom needed a change, so she suggested they go bowling. The boys piled into a car and headed to Ward Parkway Lanes, where they were informed about the “kids bowl two free games everyday” promo offered during the summer.

The 16 and 17 year-old “kids” went back every day that summer.

When talk about winter sports began, the boys decided to go for it and try out for the East bowling team. After Workman, Sederquist, and Aebersold made the team that year, they recruited more of their friends who spent time at the lanes that summer as well. As seniors, Workman and Aebersold stepped up and led the team, inspiring a light-hearted but urgent attitude.

“This year, it’s all serious,” Aebersold said. “We all want to do our best and we all want to go to Wichita [in] February.”

This season, Workman and Aebersold hope to accomplish something that has never been done at East before — winning state, not just individually, but as a team. 

“It’s definitely changed a lot over the years in terms of how serious we’re taking the sport,” Aebersold said.

Over the summer, the co-captains attended a bowling camp in Wichita State, one of the best bowling colleges in the U.S. There, the boys followed an intense practice schedule — bowling for an hour and a half, then discussing the specifics of the game like oil patterns and types of bowling balls in a classroom on campus, and finishing by bowling individually for another hour and a half each day.

In their free time, Workman and Aebersold visited North Rock Lanes, the location of this year’s state tournament. They practiced on the lanes they hope to revisit later this year. Workman also brought back a souvenir — his famous book.

“Wally has this book that tells you different things about bowling to help make you better at the sport,” Sederquist said.

The book, “an encyclopedia of bowling,” according to Aebersold, explains the scientific side of the game, like how lane oil patterns affect the curve of a throw, practice techniques like positioning, and the mental game — not letting one bad throw affect a series of bowls. Workman uses the book to teach the younger boys on the team how to perfect their technique. 

At practice, Aebersold and Workman monitor the rest of the team as they bowl, giving them tips on aiming and positioning after every few throws. According to Workman, the two are “player coaches,” mentoring the team while perfecting their own scores. Workman and Aebersold got jobs at Ward Parkway Lanes so that they could bowl for free in their spare time and stay sharp for state.

Despite taking practices seriously and planning for a state run, the boys still hold team dinners, hangout outside of practice and poke fun at each other. To them, the work wouldn’t be worth it without the friendly atmosphere.

“If we sat there in silence and bowled every practice then I know I wouldn’t want to go,” Sederquist said.

At meets, the team can be seen watching their teammates attentively and discussing ways to improve each other’s form. They are the loudest team on the lanes, with smiles and laughs galore. And the team’s comradery has not gone unnoticed by Coach Fred Elliott.

“Everybody gets along,” Elliot said. “There’s no feuding among each other. It’s like they’re brothers.”

Though the team is practicing hard, they retain the fun aspects of bowling that everyday people go to the bowling alley for. 

“Our greatest attribute as a team is that we’re all friends and that we can all give each other advice without saying, ‘who are you to say that to me,’” Aebersold said. “We respect each other.”