May 10, 2015
Editor’s Note: Vanderbilt’s Giselle Poss got off to a rousing start with her membership on the Puerto Rican national bowling team at the recent Concecabol Games in Mexico City.
The diminutive junior from Montgomery, Ill., struck in five straight frames in the last of six games to catapult Puerto Rico past host Mexico by a scant five pins, earning the Games’ Silver Medal in team play. The hosts had to settle for the Bronze Medal.
Poss made both the junior and adult Puerto Rican National Games earlier this year. She is eligible for the team since her mother, Eileen, was born in Puerto Rico and still has family living there. The Mexico City event was Poss’ first with the adult team and consisted of singles, doubles, trios and the team competition. Poss bowled well all week, averaging 207 for all events. Among Giselle’s teammates is former Maryland-Eastern Shore bowler Kristie Lopez, who now competes for Wichita State.
Poss has a big summer of bowling ahead of her. She will join Vanderbilt assistant coach Josie Earnest and incoming freshmen Jordan Newman and Kris Quah at the prestigious Queens, held this week in Green Bay. She will then head for Puerto Rico and in in-house tournament June 12-14, an event designed to help that team gear up for the PABCON tournament.
The Poss Blog
Hi everyone! This past week I was picked to go to Mexico City to play for Team Puerto Rico at the Concecabol tournament. It was the first time I had the chance to travel outside the country and Mexico definitely didn’t disappoint. There were some obvious cultural differences I soon noticed, including the fact that Mexico City is among one of the largest cities in the world. I’ve never seen so many people and with the amount of traffic, it took about an hour to go just one mile bycar.
Also, there was a bit of a language barrier for me since I don’t speak as much Spanish as my teammates. I can understand others okay, but it is difficult for me to speak complete sentences back to them.
The biggest thing that shocked me on my trip was that we couldn’t drink the tap water. We all had to buy bottled water everyday so we wouldn’t get sick. I found it ironic that the bottled water was actually sourced from Mexico.
Another thing is that the tacos in Mexico are to die for. I ate tacos every day for lunch and dinner and never got tired of them. I love the various kinds of hot salsa different restaurants had and I wish I had brought some back to the States.
During the week, I had the chance to bowl singles, doubles, trios, and team events. The women had success during the team event where we won the Silver Medal and won the Bronze Medal for team all-events!
I’m the newest member both on the team and to travel and play so it was pretty cool for me to win my first international medal. Also, my teammate Kristie Lopez won the masters event! Our coach, Jeri Edwards, was very proud of our success.
Looking forward, I can’t wait to go to PABCON in Panama in June to experience another tournament with my wonderful new teammates and coach.
-Giselle
