|
2/14/2006 by Jennifer O’Neill When Vanderbilt freshman Tara Kane returned to her Greensburg, Pa., home over the holidays, the Commodore bowler noticed that things had changed a little bit around her old familiar surroundings. Several of the bowling centers in the area had posted various examples of Vanderbilt varsity bowling publicity on their bulletin boards. The mother of two young boys getting involved in bowling sought her out for advice and inspiration. A local coach asked her to attend his team’s practice and speak informally to the squad. Kane began to realize she is competing for more than her school, her team and herself. She is representing a long line of young bowlers with dreams of their own. I’m one of a very few from my area that has received a Division I scholarship for something other than football,” Kane says. “People have used my example to show younger kids that possibilities exist if you are willing to work hard to excel. I like being that inspiration; it is a good way to get others involved in bowling.” Serving as a role model is no easy role. “Collegiate bowling is far more intense than our high school experience,” Kane says. “Our practices are much more focused. In high school we usually just bowled games. Here we hardly ever bowl games in practice. We work on fundamentals and we focus on specific pins and targets. Our practice facility has an easy shot (editor’s note: lane conditions conducive to higher scoring) and our coaches don’t want to give us a false perspective of our game with scores much higher than they might be under tougher conditions.” In addition to concentrated practices, the team has one strength training session per week and does yoga twice a week, meeting at 7:00 a.m. as a group with a certified yoga instructor. The strategy is to strengthen arm and leg muscles and to increase mental toughness and focus. “The yoga has helped me,” Kane points out. “I used to have minor hip pain during tournaments in which we would bowl a lot in a day or weekend. Since we began yoga, that pain has disappeared. I even noticed that when I went home over the holidays and didn’t practice yoga that the pain began to come back. Once we started up with yoga it was gone. I’ve also believe I can now get deeper with my shot after these workouts.” Kane has gotten off to a strong collegiate start. She became the school’s first individual tournament champion last fall by capturing the title at the Arkansas State Invitational, setting a school record 267 in the process. She is currently second in team average at 200 and has placed in the top eight at three of the team’s five tournaments so far. She had set a Pennsylvania state record as a prep star. “I am very goal-oriented,” Kane said. “With both of those records, that was a way of fulfilling my goal. Your mental state is one of the most important things in bowling, and setting those records helps by giving me confidence.” “She has had numerous games over 240,” says Coach John Williamson. “She is very dependable. One of her best traits is I don’t have to worry about whether she is going to show up because she gives 100 percent every time we are at the lanes.” Kane even has something in common with another Pennsylvania sports star. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Feb. 8, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said that before he started playing football for his high school, he was a member of the school’s bowling team. After experimenting with other sports, Bettis ultimately departed from world of competitive bowling, but Kane took the road less traveled and continued to bowl. “My parents put my sister and me in bowling as one of the childhood experimental sports,” she says. “We danced, played softball and baseball. I started bowling when I was about five. I decided to stick with it because it was the sport I was most successful at.” Vanderbilt’s bowling program began in September, 2004, but that was part of the allure of it for Kane. “I knew Vanderbilt was going to be a great opportunity for me to achieve goals,” Kane said. “I wanted to contribute and not sit on the bench.” The Commodores currently are ranked No. 7 in the country, with five matches remaining in the regular season. If Kane can keep rolling along, she will help put her Vanderbilt teammates on the bus to the NCAATournament. |
