When Joyce Vaillancourt took up bowling again this year she never expected to qualify for Bowl BC’s 55-plus provincials.
Yet that’s just what she and three other longtime senior bowlers at Big Country Lanes did last month. The four are now preparing to compete for the Club 55+ Cup in the provincials at Big Country Lanes on April 12. Vaillancourt’s teammate Lorraine Jerema said she can’t wait to compete.
“I think it’s exciting. At my age, it’s something to accomplish and it’s fun. We will see what happens, one game at a time,” she said. “We’re just going to have fun, bowl as best we can and see how it goes.”
Jerema and Vaillancourt are joined by Carol Cannon and Darlene Dionne. All four of them have been bowling since they were young adults, though all took a break from bowling when they first moved to the South Cariboo. Since taking up the sport again over the last few years, they’ve come to re-appreciate it for the opportunity it provides to socialize with one another.
Dionne, who lives at Fawn Creek, said that bowling is a welcome change of pace each week. Getting the chance to improve your score while making new friends is what it’s all about.
“You get to meet lots of new people and they’re all friendly, it’s nice,” Dionne said. “Just to get out and socialize with other people, it’s fun that way because then you can all have a good time and everybody is happy.”
When she competes in provincials, Dionne said she would love to bowl all 200s and get a strike each time she throws a ball. More realistically, she said so long as she can beat her average of 128 she will be happy. Making provincials is just a nice bonus.
Cannon said while she has been improving steadily with practice, she’s not the best bowler in the league by any means. Making provincials was a complete shock, but one she is rolling with.
“This year I haven’t bowled very well, and of course the one day they’re doing the provincial thing I get good scores,” Cannon laughed. “It’s kind of fun competing.”
Over the course of the four games, Jerema said she intends to use the time-tested technique she developed while living in New Westminster: using the arrows on the lanes as a reference. She said that the goal is to compete against yourself: if you can beat your best score, you’ll do well. Making it past provincials to nationals in Niagara Falls would be awesome, she added.
Vaillancourt agrees with Jerema. While she considers herself a middle-tier bowler, she intends to do her best during provincials. She is particularly excited to meet the other bowlers who will be traveling to 100 Mile House and hopes the community comes out to watch.
“I enjoy the game and trying to get strikes, which you don’t always do. We try different ways to get strikes and some work and some don’t. It can be frustrating, but it’s fun,” Vaillancourt said.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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