NEVER TOO YOUNG FOR 300

JACKSON -- Kyle Bruce is way ahead of schedule in his youthful bowling career.

Bruce, a 15-year-old freshman at Jackson Junior High, has been bowling for four years. Reaching perfection -- the coveted 300 game -- never even entered his mind.

"I never thought I'd get one," he said. "Not a lot of people do."

Imagine Bruce's surprise -- and excitement -- when he did bowl a 300 game in January. The historic performance came during the youth traveling league at West Park Lanes in Cape Girardeau.

"I was pretty nervous," said Bruce, who averages around 170. "Everybody was pretty excited and a lot of people were watching.

"The last two strikes were lucky. I didn't think they were going to go."

But even though Bruce never expected to bowl a perfect game, now that he has done it, he doesn't want to stop at just one.

"Now that I've got one, I want to get some more," he said with a laugh.

Bruce said he doesn't really even know why he took up bowling to begin with. He said nobody else in his family bowls.

"I don't really know, but I had some friends who bowl and I guess they just kind of got me into it," he said. "I bowl once or twice a week, mainly at Jackson Lanes."

Bruce's coaches are Rich Gross and Pam Brown.

"They've worked with me a lot," he said.

Although Bruce doesn't play any other sports competitively, he is quite a fan of other sports, particularly football. And he also follows basketball, as witnessed by his excitement while being interviewed on the Sunday that the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced.

"I've been watching a lot of the games today. My favorite team is Georgetown," he said, then added about football that, "the Cowboys are my favorite team. I was really happy when they won the Super Bowl."

Bruce, who said he also likes to ride motorcycles, enjoys bowling and would like to continue with the sport. As for a possible professional career, he really hasn't given that much thought.

"I want to keep bowling at least for a while, but I really haven't thought about it much past that," he said.

He does know that he liked the feeling of a perfect game.

"Some more would be great," he said.