Bowling

Recently, I had an interview with my friend Patrick where he shared his story about bowling. Patrick is a 21-year-old student who is majoring in Japanese and International Relations in a college in Illinois. He lives in the university dormitory. He has always been interested in Japan and Japanese culture. Last year, he visited Kyoto with his family and has got more involved in Japanese culture. He and his family returned to Illinois after three weeks.

Patrick said that he was really social when he was very young but, since he was 11years old, he was quiet and only talked to his family. He wasn’t interested in sports except bowling. Then he shared his story of how he became interested in bowling. His grandfather was a professional bowler so his mother used to enjoy bowling when she was young. However, Patrick’s family didn’t go bowling because his mom was too busy.

When Patrick was 18 years old, his mother started to become interested in bowling again with his family but Patrick was not excited about it. He was afraid he would get low scores. He didn’t want to go bowling at first but he eventually joined his entire family for a game. He was miserable after getting a low score of 30 points. He was worried people would judge him for his low scores and terrible skills. But his mother enjoyed bowling so much that he continued to play with his family. Even since then, the family would go bowling each week. At the age of 19, Patrick got good scores and became a skilled bowler. He started to like bowling. He was not miserable any more.

Patrick registered for a local bowling league and joined a team. His team had 4 members, Patrick, another 19-year-old boy, his grandfather and his uncle. All the teammates were good people. They were all about the same skill level. The members enjoyed playing games and competing with each other. Patrick was so comfortable with his team. He felt that he was a part of this family.

However, when Patrick started college and moved into the dormitory, he quit the league, because he found that the bowling alley was too far from the dormitory. Later, Patrick lived in the dormitory and had a roommate who was from Korea. Patrick invited him to go bowling and had a fun time with him. It was also fun to learn from him how to use chopsticks to eat cup ramen. In six months, he returned to Korea. Even now, Patrick still stays in contact with him.    

Patrick signed up for the Japan club and the bowling club. He applied to become an officer in the bowling club. He often invites his friends and classmates to bowling club activities on Wednesdays and encourages them to interact and enjoy bowling together. He keeps a journal with photos taken during the bowling club activities.

At present, Patrick feels satisfied and happy during the bowling club activities. He doesn’t need to have a good score. When someone gets a gutter, everybody laughs at his error. When the others have a good performance, everybody also laughs at them.