A trio of Okotoks bowlers marked its return to the sport with provincial hardware.
Okotoks youth bowlers Elizabeth Honish, Elyssa de Boer and Amelia Delehay all earned medals at the Alberta Youth Bowling Provincial Singles competition held at several sites in the Edmonton region on Nov. 14.
“Post-COVID, for these two (Honish and de Boer) this is their first tournament of this calibre because you’re not eligible until you’re eight-years-old,” said bowling coach Kyle Honish.
Elizabeth and Elyssa, both 8, came away with the gold and silver in provincial over average in the Bantam category, featuring athletes up to the age of 11.
Amelia, a junior-aged competitor, earned the bronze in provincial over average and was fourth overall.
“In this situation, anybody within the division in the province is eligible to enter,” coach Honish added. “So typically, it’s only your top-bowlers that have entered and each centre can send up to four and they had 18 in their division in total.
“There’s two sides to it, one is over-average and the other one is total points.”
Over-average is akin to a handicap in golf where the bowlers register an average score before the event and then mark it up against what they’re able to put up at the one-day competition.
Elizabeth, motivated by adding a banner to the growing collection of the Millennium Lanes in Okotoks, said the pins were falling down easy for her on the day.
Elyssa said her confidence on the day led to her success adding she’s enjoyed bowling being back in the picture again.
The competitive side of the sport was largely shuttered last season from December onwards due to pandemic shutdowns on youth sports in the province.
Coach Honish said the Okotoks youth bowling program was up in registration from the year prior, but with four families opting out after the Restriction Exemption Program was put in place, they’re flush with the 2020-21 season with 34 youngsters.
The club’s numbers are the third best in the Calgary area with the majority in its younger age groups, coach Honish added.
The youth bowlers meet weekly on Saturdays.
Next up for the young athletes is the doubles provincial meet which is held in the spring.
For more information go to milleniumlanes.com/youth_bowling_ybc.
