Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Reasonable kids sports

I am a guy who grew up playing hockey and softball. I love hockey and it was such a great sport to be involved with. I learned so much from hockey like teamwork, sharing, unselfishness, bonding, brotherhood and friendship. When you play on a team, you learn these things because it is a sport that forces you to work together like football, baseball, soccer and any other team sport in which you rely on each other to get to a common goal. When the girls were looking at playing a sport we tried soccer first. Zoey liked it and so did Hailey but they enjoyed it at different levels. Zoey started a little later and was a little behind on some skills but that was our fault. Hailey had entered in at the right time and was on par with everyone else or a little above some players. She scored often and did well. Zoey did score a goal but wasn't as confident because other kids skills were a little ahead but she was the hardest worker out there.

After one season of soccer, the girls wanted to do something else so we looked at other sports they could do. Some how we arrived at bowling after we found free bowling in the summer for kids to get them interested in the sport. Zoey and Hailey both took to bowling better then we would have thought. Hailey finished second in a regional tournament she qualified for and as a team, Zoey and Hailey won the consolation championship for their division. During the banquet last spring, each won individual awards and their trophy for the championship. They have 2 trophies and 2 medals each for their first year. I hope they didn't set the bar too high!

This year we were lucky to find 5 pin bowling balls on Kijiji for a very cheap price. A set of balls brand new usually goes for around $100 and we found 2 sets with 5 balls and a bag each for $40! The girls were thrilled and if they do stick with it I will buy new balls for them as they move on and up in the levels. I wasn't ready to spend $200+ if they were only going to do this for a couple years and quit so it is so much cheaper than hockey! It costs us $20.50 each week they bowl and that pays for the lane use, shoes, banquet & prizes at the end of the year. The year end banquet if pretty good and the kids have a blast. They get a medal, prizes, food and a trophy if they win.

I am glad they found something they do very well at. This year Zoey is bowling one handed and is still throwing an average of 85 per game. Hailey has a 87 average but has been throwing an average of 100 each game. Hailey has won bowler of the month for her consistent high scores and will compete for bowling of the year at our bowling centre. If she were to win that for her age group, she would compete for bowler of the year for the province and then nationally. We will see how she does.

Cheers!!

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