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The Catholic Girl Who Went to School to Become a Teacher and Came out a Bowler 3/30/2005 By Alex Kwak Nearly four years ago, as she was preparing to graduate from Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis and head off to college, Vanderbilt senior Therese Griner had one thing on her mind – Math. Simply put: Griner has a thing for numbers. “When I was looking at colleges I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Griner says. “I felt my background in math was very strong. I had a math teacher in high school that I always looked up to and I envisioned myself becoming like her. I absolutely love numbers.” Now as she rapidly approaches another graduation her love for all things numeric remains but it may have taken backseat to a new love affair. Bowling. Griner is one of 10 Vanderbilt women who came together from all areas of campus life to form the University’s 16th Varsity sport. And just as soon as she got the ball rolling, it was already time for this pin pioneer to “hang ’em up”. In her final year as a college student Griner simply decided to restructure her life so she could become an NCAA Division-IA athlete. “I did not have to do this,” Griner says, reflecting on her decision to make such a huge commitment when most seniors set their schedule on autopilot and coast out the final semesters. “First of all it was kind of an unreal experience because I never thought it would happen. I never planned on being an athlete.” While she admits that it was not always easy, Griner says she would not trade the experience for anything in the world. “If I had given up I would have really missed out. The hardest thing was being able to really organize my time and when I was taking classes, and to then have to practice and still go out and be a normal senior. It was great. I wish I was not graduating.” Just because May 13 marks the date when Griner becomes the first official VU Varsity Bowling Alumnus, Griner may not be exactly leaving the sport behind her. “I’m from a Catholic background and I had planned on teaching in a Catholic school,” the soft-spoken but always upbeat senior says. The sixth of eight children, she had always figured that she would return to St. Louis after Vanderbilt and seek employment as a math teacher at one of the dozen or so Catholic school in the area. But just like her first-ball strikes, life, it seems, had a little hook in it. Griner has been offered a job at the nearby Pope John Paul II high school teaching advanced geometry and algebra II, but maybe more enticing is the fact that the school has a varsity bowling team that competes regularly with other Nashville area schools and Griner has been offered a coaching position as well. “When I thought about teaching and my career path I always thought about math because I love math,” she says. “But my brother is a teacher and he ended up coaching (track and cross country) so I always thought I might end up helping out on a team somewhere. But I never thought it would be bowling.” Griner has not accepted the position yet because she is holding out to see if she has been accepted in the JET program which would send her to Japan to teach English, however she says that even if she is accepted she will likely still take the job at Pope John Paul II. Regardless of where she ends up, Griner is completely satisfied with the experience and opportunities she received from joining the team. “There are so many things I’m going to take away,” Griner says of the legacy she hopes to have helped build here. “The most exciting things I’m going to take away are when we beat those really good teams, meeting the coach (John Williamson) and the other players.” She is also acutely aware of the path she may have helped tread for generations of girls to come. Her sister-in-law has already recruited her to bowl with her daughters and hope they have the “bowling gene” to perhaps, one day, follow in Therese’s footsteps. “Me and my nine teammates are the only ones who can say we were the first ones,” Griner says. “I easily connected with them. I’m really sad about leaving the team. I feel like we had further to go. I think that (the team) has a really good chance (to compete nationally) with these recruits next year – it’s going to be outstanding.” If she does decide to pursue coaching and remain active in bowling Williamson will have a pretty handy recruiting tool at his services, not to mention a good candidate for an assistant. “I could see myself coming back and helping out,” Griner says. “(Before receiving the offer from John Paul II) I was going to ask if I could be a manager or an assistant coach because I didn’t want to leave.”
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