Rebekah Varin Signs NLI With Monmouth University

Rebekah Varin to Bowl for Monmouth University. Photo courtesy of KLM Photography.

In her second season since Monmouth University gave her the nod as the school’s first Head Coach, Karen Grygiel has coached the Hawks to two straight NEC division championship appearances.

Coach Grygiel knows first hand what it takes to build a quality program from the ground up. As a member of the first recruited team for Vanderbilt University, she lived it on a daily basis. Reaching the pinnacle of success in 2007 by capturing the NCAA National Championship, in just a few short years, provided Coach Grygiel with the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a successful NCAA Collegiate Bowling program. It is this same experience and wisdom she now applies to Monmouth University’s young program.

That is why when Rebekah Varin got the word from both the school and Coach Grygiel she was thrilled by the opportunity. “I have never been more ready than I am now to move on to the next step in my bowling career. Bowling for Monmouth University is going to be an amazing experience and I am ecstatic to be able to be a part of a team that is going to do great things. The coach has a heart of gold and wants to win and many of the girls who will be on my team are ready to put up some numbers and earn a national championship. I am so excited to continue to develop as a bowler, a teammate, and a student and I believe that Monmouth is the perfect place for me to do so.” Varin remarked.

Rebekah’s story is one of hard work and dedication with an equal measure of success and frustration. In 2009, Varin decided to pursue the sport’s competitive side. She was a member of the RI Flyers travel team who won the state title in dramatic fashion and was among the first Junior Bowlers from Rhode Island to participate in the USBC Jr. Open in Indianapolis. Varin was the recipient of the Ron Giguere Memorial scholarship offered annually by the RI USBC Youth board. The scholarship provides a paid tuition to the Dick Ritger Bowling camp. There she met Kelly Kulick and Don White and forged a lasting friendship which is sustained to this day. Both Kulick and White would continued working with Rebekah in the years following assisting in advancing her game. To augment her rigorous practice regimen, she also competed exclusively in the RI Flyers Sport Scratch Division which offers a challenging competitive environment.

The 2010-2011 season was a breakout year where all of the hard work came to fruition. Varin earned her first bid to the USBC Jr. Gold tournament. She also ran the table by winning RI Singles (217 avg.), Doubles, Team and All-Events (205 avg.). In addition, she also was crowned the 2011 RI State Pepsi Scratch champion (222 avg. qualifying, 218 avg. in match play). According to Rebekah, “Winning Pepsi was the spark I needed to believe in myself as a bowler. That tournament is what really made me a competitor. I have never wanted a title more than in those last few shots of the championship match.”

At the end of her Junior year of High School, recruiting packages were sent to perspective colleges and many showed significant interest in her. However, one week before the National Jr. Gold tournament, Rebekah strained a tendon in her Bowling hand making it very painful to grip a bowling ball. She competed in the tournament and fought through the pain but, turned in a disappointing effort. “When I injured my hand 3 days before Junior Gold I panicked a bit. I had prepared myself for the tournament for months and couldn’t believe the injury happened. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to make it through all 18 games of competition. I just hoped that the coaches would see that I was obviously fighting an injury and that they would focus on my mechanics and interactions with coaches and other competitors.” recalls Varin.

Some of the colleges who had expressed interest dismissed her. But, several schools continued to track her likely suspecting an injury of some kind. Ice packs being applied to her hand and wrist after each block may have been a dead giveaway. One of those coaches was Karen Grygiel who had inquired about the injury when Rebekah visited Monmouth University. She was impressed with Varin’s gutty performance. This combined with her outstanding academic record, and leadership qualities made Rebekah the ideal recruit Grygiel was looking for.

Through all of her experiences, Rebekah never forgets her roots and other younger Bowlers within the RI Flyers organization look to her as an example. In terms of helpful advice Rebekah offers the following: “Bowl for you. Don’t bowl for a coach, a parent, or a teammate. Do it for you and because you love doing it. Everyone has bad days and tournaments. Turn those experiences into reasons to fight harder and do better next time. Be the best you can be on any given day. If it’s not your day, then it’s not your day. Don’t let anyone stand in your way. Remember that anyone can win on any given day. Just because you’re bowling against someone who is “better” than you are doesn’t mean they cannot be defeated. Believe in yourself and find the will to win.”

The Flyers will miss her spunky personality off the lanes and her fierce competitive nature on the lanes but, with the knowledge that Karen Grygiel has an eye for talent we know she will be getting one of the most coachable athletes around with a high potential for further growth in the sport. We are also confident that Rebekah will have an immediate positive impact on the Monmouth University team.

Rebekah, the Flyers’ coaching staff is very proud of your accomplishment and your example to all of the bowlers in the program and to those that read this article.

2012 Queens – 4/20/12

Well, today’s block did not turnout as planned. Courtney fell victim to a few unfortunate mishaps and, in the end, simply did not knock enough pins down. We stayed an watched most of the burn squad. The shot opened up for them and they shot the lights out. Courtney will need a huge day tomorrow and maybe a little help.

Based on what we’ve seen the “B” squad will be on the fresh tomorrow an will not have the luxury of a wide open shot. Hopefully, they break it down well for Courtney. We’re hoping the scores normalize a bit. She still has a chance at making cut but, like I said will need a huge day.

Overall she threw the ball well today, some errant shots but, could never seem to really get clicking. She was playing them right based on what we saw. It seemed that just as she would get something started something would happen to break it up. Be it a split, washout or solid 9 count of some kind.

We’re hoping for better tomorrow. But, if nothing else It’s a learning experience.

 

2012 Queens – 4/19/12 Recap

Courtney got off to a slow start in game 1 of the sweeper. But, by the end of the block she had settled in and was throwing the ball great. The Sweeper did what we had hoped. It gave her a chance to settle in and focus on the task ahead.

After the Sweeper we broke for some lunch and ended up at B-dub…one of Courtney’s favorite spots. We headed back to the bowling center for her practice block. She threw the ball really well working off of what she learned in the Sweeper. We covered the house and ended up on her starting pair. She has a real good idea of how to approach the block tomorrow. We discovered several different lines and we put together a game plan for tomorrow.

It was good to see Kim Terrell-Kearney since we both had not seen her in a while. At Kim’s invite, we went to the ITRC after the block was over. Eric, Kim’s husband, came by to say hi and was kind enough to take us to the Bowling museum. The ITRC is an awesome facility. We traded notes with Kim and all of us were reassured in the fact that we saw the same things on the lanes and had very similar sense on where and how to approach the block tomorrow. We chatted with Kim and Eric for a while and then headed off to dinner. We ended up at the Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse.

We picked up some water and snacks to keep Courtney alert during her block. She has packed it in for the evening since her block goes off at 9am tomorrow. We have the right plan, it will come down to execution and just knocking some pins down tomorrow.

2012 Queens – 4/19/12

Today is practice day. It’s time to get comfortable with he house and the environment. Courtney is stoked and ready to go. She has decided to participate in a Sweeper tournament before her practice block today. It’s interesting that the Sweeper is going to be contested on the same shot they’ll be using for the Queens tournament. I think we were both surprised to learn that yesterday. It will give her an opportunity to settle into the environment and compete a little before the actual event. We both see this as something that works in her favor.

The center is nice, 50 lanes with a large concourse area. It’s an AMF house so, that will certainly feel familiar to her. We arrived there late yesterday afternoon to check in. Just in time to see them oiling the lanes with a Kegel “crawler”. Being a Software developer by trade I thought watching it move from lane to lane by itself was really cool. I instantly started considering how to write that in Java…what a nerd.

In terms of goals. Well, her first goal is to make cut into the top 64. That cut will happen after the first two block held Friday and Saturday.

We landed yesterday afternoon and got settled in our hotel without a hitch. We found a place named Lupe’s Tex Mex Grill. Really good Mexican food if your every in the Dallas area.