2014 Team USA Team Trials – Day 3

Bekah Varin on the Bowl.com live stream courtesy of Nicole Trudell

 

WTBA Stockholm played as expected today. Courtney threw it well again for the third day but, the score did not show it. She had some problems with equipment match up today which did not help matters. We’re going to have to see what we can do to address that aspect of things going forward. We have some ideas on how to proceed with that and we’ll be looking to address that as we proceed. It’s tough to watch someone putting everything they have into each shot, making some brilliant shots but, just not translating to score. There is not much to do in that case except do your best to grind through  since we don’t have the luxury of drilling up equipment base on how a specific shot plays in a given house.

On the brighter side of things, Bekah is have a successful tournament based on the goals she set for herself in her first attempt at Team Trials. She again averaged over 180 which meet her goals for the tournament. Her aggregate average for the 18 games so far is also just over 180 which match her goals. She’s a bit distraught to see her ranking though. But, as I’m quick to point out this is a very strong field and the scores she is putting up are on par with the cut line in most Jr. Gold events.  

Tomorrow is the longest pattern of the tournament, WTBA Mexico City. Each time I’ve seen this pattern it has played well with a fade. If you can move in on it, you generally have a defined path to the pocket. It is deceptive since most people somehow don’t believe you can get that far in and still score. So, they typically don’t get far enough inside to make themselves successful. If you fall for that trap the pattern typically please very tight and you don’t as much of an opportunity to control pocket. What I’m most worried about is the amount of juniors with an extreme amount of surface on their equipment. We’re concerned that this may be somewhat of the miserable experience on Tokyo. Hopefully Bekah and Courtney will be able to get left of them out of the gate and stay there. Otherwise this may be another long day. Truthfully, I’m hoping that some changes are made to the tournament to limit the number of juniors in the tourney. They play the lanes completely differently than the ladies do and that, in my opinion is causing some issues with respect to how the patterns are breaking down.

There are 12 remaining games and two patterns left in the tournament. Both Courtney and Bekah have solid resolve to do whatever they can to end on an up note and finish strong over the next couple of days. All in all the tournament has had its successes for both of them. Courtney was absolutely brilliant on day one and has thrown the ball very well. That is certainly something to build on. And Bekah has turned in three solid days in a row. Again, something to build on as well and a stepping stone to her last Junior Gold Tourney this Summer. 

2014 Team USA Team Trials – Day 2

The Orleans Bowling Center

 

The WTBA Tokyo pattern played everyone in the women’s block very tough today. To say that the leaders flipped completely would not be far from the truth today. There were many seasoned veterans who had difficulty fighting the pattern today. In fact, many of those who struggled are nearly household names in the bowling community.

A sign of things to come was the large number of juniors competing in the tourney who used extreme surface on their equipment and essentially played in the track area. This brought about a situation where the mid-lane broke down very quickly causing equipment to read early. This combined with the back-end of the lane tightening up as a result made for tremendous issues with regard to carry. If a player moved left the extreme angle back to the pocket usually left a corner if it made the corner to the pocket at all. If you tried to play a little right, you were in danger of the ball over hooking. At the beginning of the block the pattern played very tight and a fade was the best option for those who could pull it off.

Courtney Parenteau threw the ball consistently well today but, suffered from the above nasty breakdown as described. She battled hard but, like so many others was just not able to find a consistent line to the pocket. Unfortunately, she did not fare well and is currently sitting in 54^th position over all. There is still a lot of time left in the tournament for her to fight her way back into contention. It’s going to take three solid days for that to happen and she will need some help from the other players above her as well. But, if anything can be said about Courtney, she will battle to the last frame of the last game. She just never gives up and just keeps on coming at you.

Rebekah Varin improved her position by exceeding her goals for the tournament. She averaged 188.5 which put her in 48^th place for the block and is sitting in the 60’s overall. A very solid performance today and she is optimistic tomorrow will yield another solid block.

Bryan Bourget showed moments of brilliance beyond his years again today. While his scores are not huge, we need to remember he is just 15 and has a huge ceiling for growth in the sport. This experience will only serve to allow him to continue to grow.

Tomorrow is day 3 and the pattern is Stockholm, the short pattern for the tournament. It’s kind of rough that these players will have fought so hard on the much longer Tokyo and now have to shift their thinking and how they see the lane tomorrow as the compete on a short pattern. That’s quite a jump and it will no doubt challenge most of the athletes. 

2014 Team USA Team Trials – Day 1

2014 Team USA Team Trials – Day 1 Leader Board

With the start of a new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start. Courtney Parenteau and Rebekah Varin, my two daughters were looking to do just that. The interesting thing I’ve come to learn about team trials is not only the strength of the field but, the demanding format. 6 game blocks on different patterns each day is difficult enough. But, adding to the difficulty is the scoring system. Each day players are ranked based on their total pin fall for the block. The points assigned are based on that daily rank and accumulated across all five days of the tournament. So, in other words, the top seed earns one point for the day and that is added to the total for the four days of the tournament. Players are ranked based on that aggregate total. The players with the least amount of points are at the top of the list. This format eliminates the possibility of a player having an enormous day and running away with the tournament. It’s very challenging in deed.

Today was contested on WTBA Atlanta a 38’ foot pattern that places a premium on shot making. Courtney got out of the gate with a 254 followed by a 215 then a 198 and was in 4^th place most of the block. The transition in game 4 was problematic and caused her to drop to 14^th overall. She battled back with a 194 game but dropped to 18^th. She put up a 224 in the last game and finished in 12^th for the day. She was able to stay on her Brunswick Aura Paranormal all day (thanks Parker Bohn III). Courtney continues to mature as a bowler. All of the exposure to advanced tournament situations (nationally and regionally), bowling in challenging leagues, practicing on WTBA patterns, and working with Kim Kearney and Rod Ross at the ITRC has started to pay dividends. To say I was proud of her today would be an understatement. She was simply awesome today. I know this is a long format for a tournament and so does she. And we both know anything can happen in this tournament. But, if today is any indication of how her week is going to progress, this could be a breakout tournament for her.

Rebekah had goals of her own. This is her first attempt at team trials. Let’s understand something out of the gate, while there are a lot of Junior bowlers here this year, this is a very talented field, as it always is. So, while her numbers and current rank don’t look that impressive, she had moments of brilliance today. First off, she averaged 175 for the day. While that does not sound all that high, consider that averages around 180 usually make the cut for the Girls U20 division at Junior gold. Save for her last game she was averaging around 186; that in and of itself is success. She had a goal to average around 180-185 for the tournament. She is not far off that mark. She caught a couple of pairs today she had trouble with. Other than that she bowled very well. Her high on the day was 226 and at one point was ranked as high as 21. And as for the 175 average, that is the highest she has averaged in a national tournament to date. So, she has nothing to hang her head about whatsoever.

Bryan Bourget continues to impress as well. While he is not ranked all that high it’s just because he ran into a couple of snags today. I watched him for a little while this morning for all of game 2 of the block. He got off to a slow start with a 150+ score in the first game. But, Bryan roared back in game 2 with a 254. An impressive score to say the least but, what is most significant is his poise under such pressure. I’ve seen many players cave in mentally after such a start. I’m confident Bryan will be just fine tomorrow.

All in all a successful day on the lanes for our Rhode Island crew. Tomorrow they will be challenged with the 43’ Tokyo pattern. I’m excited to see them all do well tomorrow.