Bowling team continues to improve on the lanes

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The New York Mills High School bowling team is hard at work practicing their skills each week at Mills Lanes & Lucky Strike Grill. About midway through their season, the team has made personal and team progress over the past six weeks.

Coach Hannah Vosen and assistant coach Andrew Schlosser said that the team has been steadily improving and shows a lot of promise to compete at the state level this year.

“I’m excited to see how we compete at sections to see if we then compete at state,” said Vosen. “I think it would be a good experience for them. Considering that the oldest kid on the team is a ninth grader, where we’re competing against seniors at a varsity level.”

The team has worked their way through four competitions so far and have three more to contests before the fork in the road: score high at sections and continue on to state, or end the season with heads held high.

“I always tell them to do their best, have fun, and make memories while they’re doing it,” said Vosen. “It’s nice to win, but I’d rather them have a good time. Winning is just a bonus.”

“Obviously, we want to win, but that’s secondary to improving themselves,” said Schlosser. “I just want the kids to improve. As long as I see them improving, that’s enough for me.”

This is both coaches first year coaching the NY Mills team. Vosen coached the Perham team for a year after being in the league for four years in high school. Both coaches are Perham Class of 2019 graduates.

“I was actually asked when I was bowling here one night,” said Vosen about her appointment as coach. “They thought I was good and could help with their team.”

“Hannah asked me one day if I wanted to be the assistant coach and I said, sure, why not,” said Schlosser. 

He has enjoyed coaching so far this season, especially the students attitudes at practice. 

“All the jokes the kids make. They’re funny,” he said.

The coaches main team goal for this year is for each student to improve their bowling skills and make sure to enjoy their time on the team.

“The kids are doing pretty good,” said Vosen. “We have a good chance at state. I’m excited to see how we compete at sections.”

Among other goals, Schlosser hopes to beat his hometown team of Perham.

“I want to beat Perham,” he laughed. “I know we can do it, we’ve gone up against them twice. We get really close to beating them.”

Though the coaches emphasize the importance of having fun, Vosen said there is definitely a competitive angle to the sport.

“It doesn’t seem like a super competitive activity,” she said, “But it is. You have to be really good at it to move forward.”

Having competed so far with Fergus Falls, Perham, Thief River Falls, Wadena and other teams, Vosen said that the seven students on the team show that level of progress in their bowling.

Team member Chase Tibbetts has been a part of the team for three years now, having started as a seventh grader.

“I joined the team because I love bowling and I thought, why not do something for the fall,” said Tibbetts. “I found a fun way to pick it as a team sport.”

Tibbetts said that his favorite part of being on the team is interacting with team members both new and old each year as the group grows.

“Every year we get new people and we treat each other almost like a family here,” he said. “Through ups and downs you can laugh and joke around. It’s a fun place to relax and yet still be serious about the practice.”

Tibbetts is looking forward to showing the teams improvement in the next few competitions, especially once they make it to sections.

“Definitely the team improvement that we’ve had and having a better chance of making it to state,” he said. “Also more individual awards because our team has definitely improved on ourselves, which helps the team. All of our success by ourselves as a team.”

Team members this year include: Emily Deyonge, EmmaLee Guck, Reegan Baymler, Brock Ruther, Fox Holtberg, Chase Tibbetts and Thomas Monson.