Youth Bowlers Get A Shot at State Championships

The bowling alley Sunday was packed as tight as cloves in a bulb of garlic due to the United States Bowling Congress Pepsi Youth Championships District Finals.

The Gilroy Youth Bowling League was one of many teams from District 3, which covers the greater Bay Area and southern cities as far as the Monterey peninsula, in attendance for the annual competition at Cloverleaf Family Bowl in Fremont.

For the 2010-11 season, 19 members of the youth league participated in the district finals, which was split into two age divisions – 11-under and 12-up.

In the younger division, representing for the Gilroy league were Andres Farias, Chase Garibaldi, Justin Harrison, Kristal Hernandez and first-timers Adam and Eric Aguilar, McKenna Baldwin and Diego Jara.

In the older division, all of the bowlers had tournament experience: Bianka Carranza, Elizabeth Connolly, Kenny Dominick, Marissa Hernandez, Briana and Jessica Juhl, Tyler Keen, Alexandra Osborne, Brandon Porria, Anthony Rovella and Julio Villalobos.

Rich Zurlo, youth coordinator and silver certified coach, said he was a bit nervous yesterday morning, but saw that the players looked ready. To lessen the anxiety of competition, he spoke words of encouragement to the team beforehand.

The official results will be available online at the end of the month. For the 110under division, winners will receive scholarship money. For the 12-up contestants, winners will receive both prize money and a chance to compete in the state championships.

Results will be posted at http://www.calusbc.com.

After all players finished the game, Coach Rich had positive feedback.

“They all did well,” he said. “They matched their performance.”

All but one player in the youth league played with a handicap, which is based on past season games and is standard practice in bowling. 

Kenny Dominick, 19, was the only bowler to play in the scratch division – no handicap. He wanted to try something different for his last season in the youth league. Considering he played scratch, he believed he did good, totaling a score of 560.

“It was different,” he said. “It was harder finding a line.”

Brandon Porria, 16, president of the youth league, thought that yesterday was his best tournament to date, with a total score of 668.

“I could’ve done better,” he said humbly.

Although they traveled together, the league was divided and placed on different lanes based on division. Throughout the competition, everyone had the same goal: knock down the most pins. Porria stated it best:

“I don’t know about everyone else,” said Porria. “I just focus on my own game.”

According to Coach Rich, Tyler Keen, 14, scored the highest among the 19 players, 772, making him a likely candidate for the state finals.

“He exceed expectations,” said Coach Rich.

Jessica Juhl, 17, has the best chance among the females in the youth league to advance to the state finals, with a total score of 731. Her ritual of consuming a Rockstar energy drink and playing really loud music before each tournament were not the only things that contributed to her high score.

“I was feeling nervous at first, but started feeling really confident,” said Juhl.

She is no stranger to winning, receiving about $3,000 in prize money from various bowling tournaments over the past years.

Elizabeth Connolly, 17, has also won prize money from past tournaments, but her favorite aspect about tournaments, a similar sentiment shared by her teammates, is to “meet new people and make new friends.”

Coach Rich acknowledges that the players in his youth league carry themselves with poise and have a strong team presence at tournaments compared to a few others who have been known to throw tantrums.

Lisa Porria, who has been helping with the league’s fundraising, logistics and public relations for several years and mother of Brandon, has noticed certain qualities among the team, such as leadership, respect and true sportsmanship.

“It’s nice to see them grow maturely,” she said.

Not only has the youth league been recognized for their characteristics, but also for their bowling skills.

During Saturday practices, random people would express their amazement of the young bowlers’ game, explained Coach Rich.

“If anyone is willing to learn, I can teach them,” said Coach Rich. “As long as they are willing to change, that’s when they can become better.”

Anthony Rovella, 18, had a high average giving him a lower handicap, scoring a total of 629. He, like his teammates, looks to the coaches to improve his game.

“[Coach Rich] tells me what I need to do,” he said.

Juhl and her twin sister Briana travel with their grandma every Saturday from Santa Cruz to Gilroy, which is about an hour drive, to be in the youth league.

“Moving to Gilroy Bowl and coaching from Rich was the best thing to happen to my game,” she said.

The Gilroy Youth Bowling League meets every Saturday. For more information, visit its Facebook page or call 408.842.5100.