Nov. 10, 2014
(Editor’s Note: Former Vanderbilt All-American was the United States’ lone woman at the 2014 Bowling World Cup in Poland. This is her third and final blog about the experience.)
My journey at the World Cup is now completed and I am so thankful for the amazing opportunity I was given these past 10 days. I got to meet people from all over the world, make new lifelong friends, compete for my country, and gave myself the chance to win it all. I can’t begin to describe how much it means to me to wear the red, white, and blue and compete on behalf of my country. It is something that I live for and love to do.
After 20 games of qualifying I was at the top of the standings, leading the event. I went into Saturday’s round of 24 feeling very confident and ready to keep myself at the top. However, sometimes not everything goes as planned. I struggled a bit throughout the day and found myself on a bit of a roller coaster ride each game. I managed to still keep myself in third place and safely making the cut to the top eight.
This meant another eight games on Sunday. These games were a little different than the rest; it was round robin with one match being bowled against the rest of the competitors in the field. With these matches came the chance to win bonus pins, 30 each game. Having the chance to win these bonus pins was huge, that was an extra 240 pins that could be detrimental to making it to the final three.
Sunday I came in more motivated than ever. I was not happy with how I performed the day before and was determined to have a better showing. In those eight games I had a record of 5-3 and averaged over 230. The scores were high and big games had to be rolled in order to win many of the matches. I bowled a 279, which was my high game of the tournament and I stepped up many times to win some close games.
The eighth and final game was a position round. I was in third going into that final game and had about a 70 pin lead on Russia, who was behind me in fourth. Many may think that 70 pins is a comfortable lead with only 1 game to go. However, whoever thinks that is very wrong! The woman representing Russia had thrown a 279 game at me earlier in the day and with the 30 bonus pins up for grabs that made my lead not quite as large. In order to beat me she had to top my score by 47 pins and earn the bonus pins to take the last spot in the final three.
When the game started she began with five straight strikes. Now I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous that she was going to shoot 300 at me. When she opened in the 6th frame I took advantage of the opportunity to string a few strikes myself and make the gap smaller and smaller. When it got to the tenth and final frame I got up and tossed a strike to lock up my spot in the final three!
Knowing that I was competing in my first World Cup ever and I made it to the final round, I was ecstatic! This is exactly what I came out here to do and I was just a few games from being able to raise that cup in victory. However, every story doesn’t always end the way that you want. The finals were a best of three match play. I was the third seed and had to face Malaysia before the winner would go on to face Colombia in the final match. I was able to win the first game of the match by about 50 pins. The second game came down to the tenth frame where I could have shut my opponent out but was unable to deliver. She then stepped up and doubled to win the match. The third game was wire to wire all the way until the final shot. I got a bad break and left a 7-10 split in the ninth frame which eliminated any lead I had going into the final frame. I could have struck out to shut out Malaysia, but fate wasn’t in my corner. Malaysia again needed to step up and throw two strikes in order to win the match and she did.
It was most definitely heartbreaking to know that I was eliminated and did not get a chance to play in the final match to win the whole thing. However, I am extremely proud of how I bowled all week long. I left everything I had on the lanes and gave it my heart and soul. I was honored to have competed for my country and that I was able to have the success I did. There are many, many good bowlers who competed in this tournament, so knowing that I finished third is amazing! This was an experience that I will never forget. I definitely learned a lot about myself and grew as a bowler as well.
On the brighter side my teammate Chris Barnes took home the title on the men’s side and is bringing the cup back the USA!! He bowled amazing in those final matches, even throwing a perfect 300 game in the semi-finals to move on. I know that he was beyond thrilled to win this tournament and as his teammate I couldn’t be more proud.
With our performances throughout this week we won the Team Cup! This goes to the country that has best combined finishes between their male and female competitors. It was quite amazing to hold that cup with Chris at the closing banquet. We were the best overall country at the World Cup and we will forever have our countries name engraved on the Team Cup. We made our friends, family, teammates, and country proud and we couldn’t be happier.
Overall, I had an amazing time here in Poland. I not only got to compete in the sport I love and represent my country, but I also met some amazing new people who I am happy to call my friends.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me through my journey this past week. Without all of you I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did, so for that, THANK YOU!!!!
So long from Poland!!!
Brittni
