So there I was, standing in the parking lot of a bowling alley, when suddenly it started raining. I felt myself melting in the rain. I thought of running back inside the bowling alley, so I would not melt away.

After I ran back inside, I realized that I had left my bowling bag outside, but I didn’t want to run back out and melt. So I grabbed an umbrella and ran out to get my bag. My two bowling balls were a Gator ball and a red lightning ball, both of which are fourteen pounds.

When I returned with my bowling ball, Coach Tom Phillips, one of the best professional bowlers I had ever seen, gave me some “bowling tips” on trying to hit more strikes and spares. He told me after I rolled the bowling ball, I needed to bring my hand beside my right ear. It was all part of my technique. I did that for the first and third games but on the second game in the tenth frame, I missed my spare by a hair.

Coach Phillips was so amazed when I hit seven strikes in a row, three spares and two final strikes in the tenth frame. He pulled me aside and asked me why I couldn’t do that during League Bowling. I told him that I was not as focused as I was on this day. Both of us laughed.

We made an agreement that if I broke two hundred, he and my father agreed to buy me a bowling ball, one that I got to choose. I became so psyched even before I started bowling, so all of us agreed. So during practice, I hit my first 205 game, but that was just practice. When the bowling actually starts, then that’s when it gets serious.

The following Saturday, my college bowling team the second ranked, went up against the first ranked team, The Butter Beaters. My team consisted of me, Evan, Charlie and Ian. The four of us have been together since we first started bowling as a team in 2008, and it is the year 2018.

By the eighth frame of the championship match, I had already rolled eight strikes in a row! After I rolled my ninth strike, I injured my bowling shoulder. Coach Phillips came running down and he said that I should not continue. I told him that I must go on because it was for the championship. I was so determined because I had just gotten my last strike by the skin of my teeth.

As I sat down, my father said to me, “Are you sure you can go on? I replied, “I must continue because without me, we will surely lose this bowling match.” My father told me that I should not go on, because he was already as proud of me as he possibly could be.

I was on my way to my first three hundred series. It was the tenth frame when I threw my final ball, knocked down ten pins, threw another ball, knocked down another ten, it was my final ball and after I threw that ball everyone was on their feet, the ball knocked down nine pins, the last pin started wiggling, and it finally fell. I was so excited that I was so excited that I was screaming my head off. I had annihilated all ten pins and scored my first three hundred series.

Everyone that was behind me were on their feet, screaming in excitement, my father came running down the stairs and he embraced me and he said in my ear saying to me that he was extremely proud of me. Coach Phillip who my bowler partner had coached me announced my new high score.

All I thought about was how I could duplicate that score with two more 300 games like the first one. On my second game, I rolled a 299 and on my third and final game I came out another 300 game. My total pins that day was 899 pins that was also my new high series.

Ever since that day, I’ve been telling myself that I would have never gotten to the point where I am now without my coach. So after I was finished bowling, I embraced Coach Phillip, told him thank you and he asked me where I was going because I completely forgot about my new bowling ball. I told him that I wanted the Green Mamba bowling ball. He drilled the holes into the ball and told me to wait until I’m ready to for my coaching lessons.