When Did You Start

[trev]

i know the juniors have this topic in their forum...........

so why not all the fossils out there let us know when they first started........just dont give a year, but tell us how it all happened, first tourny, best scores, who did you look up to....etc

my first league night....9th sept 1979.
first game score of 84
first season league ave 138
first major............1983 melb cup.
first cut..............1984 u/21 aust cup at the old st leonards bowl.
first 700/3 20th july 1989
first 800/3 30th june 2000
first 300 game 30th june 2000
bowling hero when i first bowled tourny's "mr magic" john sullivan
best personal achievements......gotta be the first 300 game.
was a bit of a marathon bowler in the 80's.
and have bowled in 103 different centres ( 3o/seas)

come on people lets here your story

 

[K-C]

Hi Trevor, how's things? Dad says hi.

Well I don’t think Jess and I count as fossils… Androo, you might! lol j/k. I will answer anyways… not that I am renowned for my great memory!

Started bowling: I think I was about 6 or 7 when dad first got me on the lanes, surprising because I spent most of my days growing up at the bowl, typical bowling baby.
First league: I bowled with my brother and we were called “the Fechettes” or something ridiculous like that, courtesy once again of my dad.
First proper tournament: Shield roll offs in 1995 and I finished 8th… no idea of average or anything but missed the team by 30 pins. My first win was Devonport Masters in 98.
Best scores: Um high game of 299, bowled that at AIYC in 2000 at Manhattan.
The one question the other two didn’t answer, who did I look up to. Well I remember sitting behind Ashley Riley as a young’un in absolute awe of him. And of course there were also the mainland bowlers that I would sit behind and watch every year at Emu Shield like Ian Bradford and Trevor himself

 

[Dj bruv on da mix]

Ok cant remember much!, but here we go.
1985 started......avg 97
1987 first 600 (631)
1990 first 700 (729), made shield team
1991 771......289 game
1996 1st 300 (19 in a row)
1998 299
1999 2nd 300
1999 299....1073 for 4
2001 844 for 3... back to back 289's

bowled in every state and territory....never been over seas.....

that will do!

Mark foster

 

[jimcross]

This is a bit hard to remember,but it was either December 1960 or December 1961,whenever Enfield Bowl opened.The first game I bowled I was unbelievable awful...by far the worst of the others I bowled with,so I decided to find out about the game and learn to do it better...I bowled in my first league about 6 weeks later,and averaged somewhere in the 170's.Can't remember many details that long ago,but I was averaging in the high 180's--low 190's within a year,bowling in several leagues.Bowled over 200 in various tournaments and on a couple of T.V. shows [Yes , Bowling was on T.V.way back then]....Best score back then..1528 for 6 games...not very good to-day , but pretty good then,with what was essentially a black rubber "house" ball with a conventional,not fingertip,drilling right over the label.

 

[jimcross]

I forgot to mention....can't remember first cut,but last cut Canberra Open 2001.Did'nt bowl for 32 years until 1995.

 

[trev]

hi kase

yep the old burnie cup, i always found a way of bowling 1 or 2 bad games to miss those cuts,...and i hope you werent watching me for my bowling skills......lol
hi fetch, still bowling or did you come to your senses..............

jim
Best score back then..1528 for 6 games...not very good to-day , but pretty good then

correct if i,m wrong jim, but if that was over 6 games, it would,ve been an australian record that stood for a few decades......could be wrong, but a whopping 254 ave would,ve been big news back then.
and beleive me its still a pretty good now days.
jessy,
i remember all that cos i,ve got it all written down........i love the stats.

 

[Jessy_2_Messy]

Hello
How the HELL do you remember all that!! Lol!!

Ok I started in October or November 1986 in the Pee Wee League at Maitland Bowl and our team name was "The Cheetahs" which we got teased about so we went on to be "The Pinks" and eventually "The Minogues".... hmm.. not much of an improvement there hey lol.
Umm.. NO IDEA of my first game or average, probably around the 50 mark lol
First State team I know that - NNSW Pres Shield 1995 also won First Open Masters that Year in TAMWORTH lol how proud am I!

And as for how many centres I've bowled in - NO CLUE but I've bowled in every state except NT and 3 centres o/s as well..

That what you wanna hear? Its all I can think of for now

But I like this topic trevor

Jessika

 

[androooo]

Hmmm.....lets see how good the brain cells are working.

Born 1977
Started bowling in 1980 (before bumpers!!)
First league game in 1983 with a game of 78 I think
First end of season Average 98
First 200 game 1985
Highest Average as a jr 140 when I was 12

Quit bowling for 11 years to concentrate on golf (and should have stayed there)

First night of comeback in July 1999
First 250 Game August 1999 (264)
First 275 Game Sept 1999 (278)
First 600 series july 1999
First 700 series nov 1999
First Tournament Hobart Masters 2000
First Tournament Win Hobart Masters 2000

That's all I can remember at the moment.

 

[jimcross]

Trevor,don't know about the record,but you could be right.The centre I bowled it in was Bondi Junction [long gone] I won a couple of Centre Championships too,and those Bowls have also disappeared ----maybe someone was trying to give me some sort of message?

 

[K-C]

Trevor, Dad is still bowling, over in Rockingham in WA these days.

 

[GeorgeF]

Jim

With a score like that you'd only be sitting 2nd at the current Asian Schools Championships in Melbourne. The leader to date

Jonathan Lim Malaysia 261.67 avg 276 289 263 269 248 225 1570 6 289

Perhaps a sign of the times..........

 

[nay_lea]

Well I started bowling when I was five years old (1985) and I am now 22.....so that makes it 17 years.

My mum got us started at Ashmore Bowl on the Gold Coast, it is quite funny actually as when we first started we didn't have bumpers like kids these days, we had plastic mats that stretched beyond the arrows and we got to bowl from that point...............

I have bowled in many centres, was a junior at Hervey Bay for sometime before moving back the coast and am now bowling a Legends Tenpin.

Sorry can't really remember all my stats..

 

[jimcross]

George,that's why I said "not very good to-day,but pretty good then"-----How true!!!!

 

[Tiger]

I've had a lifelong association with Tenpin Bowling stemming from 1977 at the age of 2.
My Mum and two Aunties bowled in Sponsors League at Moonah in those days and I used tag along and watch.
I recall at the age of about 5, being given a set of skittles by an elderly Scottish woman in her 90's and I used to use an old soft-ball to bowl at them.
I played hundreds of games and won many imaginery tournaments and bowled heaps of 300's in the corridors of old Strahan St.
After everyone got a bit grumpy with me chipping the paint and breaking the plaster off the walls I can remember one of the workers in one of the many old warehouses surrounding my home building me kickbacks and a masking unit out of old pallets - I was stoked.
____________________________________________
1983: Bowled first game at Moonah - 44
1984: Bowled first game at Mornington - 77
1986: Started bowling Wednesday nights
along-side Sponsors League - I always
wanted to beat Geoff Vince and Tony
Bracken.
1989: Started League - First game was 176
1990: First Nationals - at Moonah
1991: Won the HJTBA BOY with a 172 average
1992: Made Shield for the first time.
Made the cut to the Masters.
1993: Averaged 195 to make Shield for the
last time.
1994: Won Hobart Masters, State Masters and
BOY and City Championships.
Made the Masters again in Brisbane.
1997: Get 24-month probation for bringing
the game into disrepute
2000: Retire and make a comeback 3-months
later
2001: Bowl Two 700's in a week and finish
with my personal best league averages
of 204 and 206.
2002: Still plodding along.

 

[Greig]

First introduced to the sport in the early 60's when I was about 12, at the Bayside Bowl Glenelg SA, (the birthplace of tenpin bowling in Australia - sadly now closed) when they still had pinboys.
First league was at Cross Road Bowl saturday morning junior league mid-60's.
Bowled one league per week 'till the late 70's.
Then spent next 10 years away from the game whilst working in the country areas.
Returned to the sport in 1980 and had to basically start from scratch.
Competed in the International Law Enforcement Olympics in Sydney in 1988.
Great experience with a lot of very good players from the USA.
1993 - first 700 series....771 Cross Rd.
1995 - competed in World Police & Fire Games in Melbourne. 2 gold, 2 bronze, 1 silver medal.
1997 - competed in ATBSO nationals in Perth, and being on the winner team was a big thrill.
2000 - first 300 - Village Bowl.
Second appearance in ATBSO nationals 2nd place to Victoria.
2001 - high series.. 781 Norwood Bowl.
Nov. 2001 - second 300 again at Village.
HIGHLIGHTS..obviously the 2 300's.
The 2 World games appearances and winner in Perth in 1997.
DISAPPOINTMENTS. Would liked to have done better at ATBA level.
MIssing last years ATBSO team by 3 pins was devastating.
YET TO COME. An 800 would be nice.
Other than that I think I've made as much as I could with the limited ability I possess.

 

[spotty34_mac]

I started bowling as a junior in the Pinbashers League of '82 (Leichhardt Bowl) averaging 180 in my first season age 15, (high series 704). There was a also a young chap aged 9 years bowling with me at the time, averaging about 120. I whipped his butt back then, but Billy G has gone on to bigger and better things, whereas I gave the game away. Anyway, I'm back now, so watch out.