2/19 USBC 200-Club, Baby!

After getting so very close for so many times before in the past two years, I finally did it tonight.  I bowled my first 200 game (exactly 200!) at my USBC sanctioned league, the Downingtown Womens Wednesday Night League.  I finally am a USBC 200-clubber!!!  It feels good to finally accomplish this milestone, especially since I have been able to play 200 games in my unsanctioned leagues.  It is a good feeling to be playing well overall.  That pivotal game opened up with a turkey (looking good!).  I had one open frame (5-pin, oh the humanity!), but with one other strike and five spares, it came down to the last ball in the 10th frame.  I needed 8 pins to get the magical 200 score.  My ball looked good and hit the pocket but left an ugly 8,10-split, but it did give an even 200 score = SUCCESS!


 

Graph of my scores per month (high in pink, average in white, low in blue) playing on my USBC sanctioned Downingtown Womens Wednesday Night League, starting from May 2012, from my Best Bowling app

The night was made even more special (icing on the cake) with my beloved Scatterpins sweeping our opponents, the Gutter Girls (Mary and Gail), allowing our team to hold on to the top spot in our league.  With my Bowlinators also currently on top of the leaderboard for the Filipino Winter League, I am unbowlieavably a part of two bowling teams that are both ranked number one in their respective leagues.  It feels good to be on top of the world, playing well on two winning teams!  Winning can be addictive....

Now it would have also been good to have a great series tonight at USBC league after my 200 game.  While it was not dismal, I could not hit my 149 USBC average for the 2nd and 3rd games (got 142 and 128, exhibiting an exponential decrease in bowling ability...).  Oh well, I still did have a 470 series, which moves me closer towards increasing my average to my target of 150 or more.  This is really shaping up to be a year of many milestones for me on the lanes!

I continue to be a "trouble maker" on the lanes, bowling for everybody's entertainment.  This gal has to have her fun on the lanes so she can bowl happy!  Here are a few "blog-worthy" snippets:

• We were getting way too many splits one league night: too much "red" on the board.  I said, ouch, my groin is hurting from all the splits!  To which Ruth said, well then, keep your legs together!  As we all continued to get more splits, it became apparent that none of us could keep our legs together....
• While I kept missing my right hand spares on games 2 and 3 last night, Ruth said that I needed to slow down, I was rushing.  To which Mary said, I thought you were Filipino (not "Russian")!  I have had Russian poetry on this blog before: the Russian strikes again!
• I was sharing information on the tournament my coach Donna Roberts is having next month at Limerick Bowl.  I let the girls know that Donna is my pro shop professional: "she keeps my balls happy".  That got some interesting reactions: Angela's reaction was priceless.
• I have a habit of wiping off the oil from my ball just before I throw my first ball.  I tell the girls that "I like my balls clean".  When they announced someone having an 800 series and another person bowling a perfect 300 game, Mary commented that "they had clean balls"!  Yes, we like bowling with clean balls, clean balls are good.

Friday is coming up, I have a 167 average to maintain in my Filipino League and a 1st place team ranking to defend.  May I continue to play well.  May my progress continue.

For all who have inspired, helped and supported me on this journey = my heartfelt THANK YOU, you know who y'all are and I love y'all to pieces.

See y'all on the lanes: bowl, baby, bowl! 

2/7 Freaky Friday at the FWL

Played freakishly well on this freezing Friday at the Philly Pinoy (unsanctioned) Fall Winter League (FWL), where I play as the lone gal in the (formerly) all-male Bowlinators team with Paul (who had his own freaky Friday = fantastic play!), Blue and Romy.

Team Bowlinators, playing at the Philly Pinoy Fall Winter League (L-R): Romy, Jing, Blue and Paul

With scores of 166, 201 and 225, it was the first time I ever had two 200+ games in a single series.  My scores gave me an unbowlievable 197 average and 592 series for the night.  Since my average going in was 157, my performance for the night was 40 pins above my average.  It was a strong team effort for us.  Our team's incredibowl play led to a sweep of our opponents, the Bowleros, who are dear practice buddies on the lanes.

I was throwing the ball consistently well.  Dancing on the sidelines to the DJ's dance music kept me loose and relaxed (thanks, Blue!).  I was remembering all of my coach Donna Roberts' tips on lining up, taking my time, and focusing on my target.  Some fortuitous spares, really meticulous note taking and smart analyses (no paralysis!) of the "data" in my trusty notebook led to good adjustment decisions (true "aha!" moments) on the lanes.  Practice really pays off.  I was stringing strikes like a true BowlStar, what a fantastic ride!

And I did it all with one ball: my dear Spinderella 11-lb Ebonite Cyclone.  This makes me very hopeful about continuing my bowling odyssey with the 12-lb Ebonite Cyclone I am expecting to "bond" with in a couple of weeks. 

Exciting times: the Super Bowls I was expecting to experience this year are starting to come around.  Now I need to continue to work hard to maintain my new 167 average in the Fall Winter League.  Hopefully some of this freaky fantastic mojo can translate over to my USBC league on Wednesday nights, so I can move towards increasing my current 148 USBC average to the 150 range.

Bowl, baby, bowl!  See y'all at the lanes!

 Monthly Averages and High/Low Games from my Best Bowling App

2/2 Super Bowl 2014

Super Bowl Sunday, February 2, and this is my first Jing Gal Bowls blog post for 2014, and my first blog post since October 2013.  I hope this has been a good new year so far for y'all out there.  The blog has been idle but I have been busy bowling, and you know I would rather bowl than blog!  It has been a bit of a roller coaster for me on the lanes, good days and very bad days, but as always I am ever hopeful coz I am still growing, still learning and still getting better!

I have to admit that 2013 was a good year for me.  From a May 2013 USBC league average of 137, I ended the year with a USBC average of 148.  I started seeing Donna Roberts for coaching in June, and the difference has been significant (THANK YOU!).  I ended up being the top female bowler in our Philly Pinoy Mixed Fall League (MFL), where I had an average of 156.  My GoPapa Joel and I organized and managed the MFL with ample support from the Philly Pinoy Bowling Committee, and boy, was I busy blogging (up to two times each week!) posting about the happenings within that league on my BowlStar Blog.  

This year I am continuing to play with my beloved Scatterpins team (with Sadie, Ann Marie and Ruth) in the Downingtown Womens Wednesday Night USBC sanctioned league.  I am now the lone gal playing on the formerly all-male Bowlinators team (with Romy, Blue and Paul), one of eight teams competing on the annual Philly Pinoy Filipino Winter League (FWL), where we are currently #1 after three weeks of regulation play.  

I am looking forward to playing at my first tournament in March at Limerick Bowl, an event held yearly by my coach Donna Roberts.  At Donna's prompting, I am also looking forward to switching from my current 11-lb bowling ball arsenal, to a 12-lb new Ebonite Cyclone (Spinderella's red hot Fireball sister, yet unnamed), and hoping that this new "relationship" would translate to me having a "ball" at the Palace each time I play.  I am ever hopeful that this 2014, having more "Super Bowls" of my own can be possible... BowlStar!

So let me close my hopeful prose with some hope filled poetry:

I sometimes play good

Sometimes real bad

Most of the time just OK

I just wish I would

Not get too too sad

Thinking bad times are here to stay =(

There are angels around

And somehow I found

They let more good times come my way

They bring lessons to take

Good habits to make

Tips for keeping my demons at bay ;)

So I must stay hopeful

Banish my doubt, pull

Together and positively

Bowl with joy in my soul

As I inch towards my goal

Of being the best bowler that I can be!

I wish y'all the best year bowling ever!  See yah at the lanes!