Commonly thought of as just an activity, some HHS students believe that bowling  should be thought of otherwise.  Students at HHS took intense interest in participating in the sport of bowling this year.

“I think of bowling as a sport because I put just as much time in it as I do with my other sport which is baseball,” said Eric Edlund, senior captain.

The bowling team has a JV blue, JV white, and a varsity team.  Each team consists of about six bowlers per team.  With the popularity rising, the bowling team rapidly filled all the possible roster spots on each team.

“Since I’ve been around the sport since I was nine, it’s pretty cool to see the team form into a solid group of guys that are motivated to get better,” Edlund said.

Every Monday and Thursday, the team travels to the Tuttles, located off of Shady Oak road, to practice on technique and form.

“Practices are really fun because we just bowl for about an hour or two with our teams”, said Joey Gordon, junior.

Each bowler has there own way to strengthen and condition the crucial muscles needed to be an impactful bowler.

“When I’m working out for bowling, I focus on the wrist and forearm muscles.  Without a doubt, those are the muscles most essential to being a successful bowler,” Gordon said.

As bowlers attempt to reach the next level in their bowling career, adding spin to each roll is component that bowlers often try to add to their bowling arsenal.

“It’s important build up strength in the wrist because it’s really helpful when you’re trying to put spin on the ball.  Once you reach the varsity level, you need to begin to develop skills such as spin to reach the next level,” Gordon said.

Throughout the season, members of the squad showed their spirit before matches and important events.

“Every Friday the team usually shows their spirit by wearing the team bowling shirts,” Gordon said.

Bowling is unlike any other sport in the Hopkins athletic program.  The team travels to different bowling alleys located around the Twin Cities and metro area taking on heavy competition.  One of the difficulties of bowling is adapting to different bowling alleys and lanes.

“With the oiling levels changing everytime we bowl somewhere new, it’s hard to recognize the amount of power and spin to put on each roll,” Gordon said.

Despite the obstacles that this year’s team faced, the squad continued to aim for the goal of reaching the state tournament and producing better bowlers for the future. The bowling team has gone to state every year in it’s existence except for the last two years.

“We had loads of talent that can ultimately got us to where we wanted to be.  I knew that state was a realistic goal as long as we stayed consistent and stuck to our game,” Edlund said.

In addition, Hopkins has never received any warnings or anything of that nature, although opponents of Hopkins have been ultimately disqualified due to lack of sportsmanship.

“Having good sportsmanship is a key aspect to Hopkins bowling that we took very seriously this year.  We don’t want Hopkins to get the reputation as bad sportsmen. I’m really proud of how to team performed this year.  It was really fun and special to see how the team came together and bonded as one,” said Edlund.