Last month, the boys varsity bowling team completed its fall season, competing in ten games over six weeks, and coming away with a 4-6 record.

The team faced a challenge in being made up of many underclassmen and fairly new players. Despite this, Coach Kevin Lau said that the players on the team showed improvement over the course of the season and encouraged them to work harder and longer outside of the season in order to improve further. “As long as everyone kind of buys into that mentality of practice in the off-season, that will be one way for them to improve drastically for the next season,” he said. 

Some of the season’s toughest competition came from Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences High School, on September 18, where Jamaica earned a 2-1 victory over the Townsend Harris Hawks. Junior captains Brendan Ling and Wilson Lin led the Hawks with 271 and 287 total points, respectively, while their co-captain Albert Khyan added 261 points. Coach Lau praised the team for “starting to train privately” in order to compete with players from Jamaica, who are “always bowling on the weekends and in leagues.” 

“Even though we lost the match, they [Jamaica] gave us the hope and…the drive to do better,” said Coach Lau.

“[Jamaica] was one of the best teams we played against. Every frame, they would consistently knock down all the pins…Our momentum—we were getting strikes and spares—was good, but they still managed to beat us,” said Wilson.

On October 9, the Hawks faced off against Forest Hills School, finishing with a 2-1 victory. Despite the close final score, junior player Vahe Kasarjian stood out by achieving his season-best score of 150 points, while Brendan bowled a total of 264 points in Games A and C. “It was pretty heated. After Brendan went, it was Forest Hills, and they were so close to beating us. The turning point pretty much was [in] the suspense and the anticipation,” said Albert.

In Game B, the team scored 523 points, one of its highest point totals in any game throughout the season, with Albert leading the team with 151 points. By winning Games A and B, the Hawks secured their second victory over Forest Hills. The game also marked the team’s final match and win of the season.

Earlier in October, the Hawks faced off Queens High School of Teaching (QHST) and ultimately lost the match 1-2. While the game was close initially, the team later “realized we needed to lock in and start focusing,” said Brendan. Although the Hawks ultimately weren’t able to win the game, sophomore Yuan Gu reflected on the team’s mentality throughout the match and the support it received from Coach Lau. He said, “The important moment I think [was] at the end…Our coach wants to treat each individual frame as its own game. So, if you got your mentality messed up because [of] the last frame, then this frame you want to do good.”

Yuan said that at the end of the season, the team was “getting generally high scores compared to the start of the season when we were barely getting 100’s.” Wilson shared that he plans to help the team continue growing and improving: “We hope to come back stronger and better next year.”

Coach Lau praised the team for staying motivated over the short season: “Regardless of our win/loss record, I will say I’m even prouder than the previous seasons because all our bowlers leveled up…that’s something that’s super rewarding both as a coach and as an educator.”