TAMPA, Fla. — The Jesuit High School Bowling Team is off to a 3-0 start to the young season.
The Tigers are led by four bowlers who average higher than 188. That's roughly the equivalent of having four starters on a basketball team average between 15 and 20 points per game.
Senior Aiden Dewhurst rolled a 253 (of a possible 300) in Jesuit's latest win in a match versus Brooks DeBartolo.
"Nothing really goes through my head when I’m in the zone," Dewhurst said after the match. "I’m just thinking about bowling the whole time. I’m just thinking about striking the whole time. Not much to it."
"You have to accept that one day you’re going to be good, and one day you’re not," Jesuit head coach Ted Beil added. "And once you get into a rhythm, and you’ve got that confidence going for the day, you tend to perform."
Some of Dewhurst's best performances come when the team plays in the Baker Game format, when a team of five bowls two frames apiece during one game.
"I bowl the fifth round in Baker’s, which is like The Closer, which brings everything together," Dewhurst continued. "Even if we have a bad game, I can still pull us back."
If the team is off to a fast start or a slow start, the Tigers say their camaraderie keeps them together so that they can rack up big scores.
"Everybody’s not going to have their best day," senior Dominic Pullo said. "Just having them pick you up, help you, high-five you, fist-bump, it’s pretty important to have."
"We all love each other like brothers," Dewhurst added. "The whole bowling team is like a big brotherhood. We all pick each other up. Even if we miss a shot, we all pick each other up."
Pullo and Dewhurst are two bowlers who use the ever-popular two-handed technique during games. Pullo got advice from a professional bowler who showed him that the two-handed style has as much to do with feet as it does the hands.
"You kind of have a jump-step," Pullo said. "That’s what mainly determines if you’re going to be able to bowl two-handed or not. Some people don’t have the footwork to be able to do it."
Dominic joined the bowling team his sophomore year, and his game is still gaining momentum with the double-hand technique.
"Everyone asks me how I’m so good," he joked. "I don’t know what to tell ‘em. When I started bowling, I was just better two-handed. I don’t know how, honestly."
Beil said the physical approach to the sport is important, but it's not as important as the psychological aspect of the game.
"I’d say 90% of it is mental. Once you’ve got the fundamentals down, you’ve just gotta get it through your head that you gotta do what you gotta do, and you can’t doubt yourself."
