School bowling leagues provide fun, chance for scholarships

When Josh Drury attended Saxony Lutheran High School, his bowling team made it all the way to the state tournament in 2010.

"I actually brought it all together," he said, with Saxony and Cape Girardeau Central High School fielding their own teams with help from Drury, a lifelong bowling enthusiast whose father and grandfather also played the sport.

Once Drury graduated the following year, however, local interest in high-school bowling seemed to fizzle until it finally died.

But when Drury returned to Saxony a few years later, this time as the school's assistant technology director, it didn't take him long to form another team.

Drury, his friend Jeremy Hunt and Darryl James, manager of West Park Lanes in Cape Girardeau, put their heads together and decided to build a new league.

Andrew Bohnert, left, a Saxony Lutheran High School student, throws his ball down the lane as Ethan Arnn, a Cape Girardeau Central High School student, reacts after bowling a strike Feb. 25 at West Park Lanes in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

Their goal was to make sure local students would have a chance to compete for the scholarship money teams from other parts of the state have been winning for years.

Although bowling isn't as popular as more mainstream sports, it's still a potentially big opportunity.

"Nationwide, there's over $26 million worth of scholarships in high-school and collegiate bowling," Drury said.

The 10-week local league has been underway for a few weeks, with two teams from Central, one from Saxony and one from Eagle Ridge Christian School duking it out every Thursday evening to see who will survive to qualify for the state tournament, which will take place around the end of the school year.

"These kids qualify in each of the regions, and those teams can win part of the $10,000 in scholarships (being offered)," James said.

Even if they aren't close to graduating, students can keep the winnings until it's time to head off to college or trade school.

"It's furthering their education, is what it is," James said.

Youth participation in the local league is closed until the end of the current session, but organizers would like to see as many area schools participating as possible.

Drury and James emphasized the bowling teams don't cost the schools anything, and fundraisers are underway constantly to gather enough money to get the winning team to the state championship when the time comes.

The goal is to raise enough for travel, lodging and meals for eight people -- five regular team members and three substitutes.

Hunter Jones, an eleventh-grader at Eagle Ridge, is all for it.

He's been bowling since he was a baby, and his mother and grandparents bowled as well.

"I'm mostly around here all the time, and they came to me to see if we could get a team together," Jones said.

Jonathan Drury, Josh Drury's brother, is a sophomore at Saxony who helped get the word out when the new teams were forming. Like his older brother, he's been bowling since he was tiny.

"I like to represent Saxony with something I'm good at," he said.

Any school interested in forming teams for the next bowling league should call James at (573) 334-1047.

ljones@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652