At Quad Squad Bowling yesterday, we all had fun, and Melissa, Alex, and I all had quite a few moments of good bowling, but my "moments" kept happening and lasted, well, just about all three games.

My scoresheet is below.  If you want commentary, here it is...

My first game, I opened with 5 straight marks (a mark is a spare or strike) then I started my ball too wide in the 6th frame, missed the headpin, left 4 pins and didn't make a good shot to try and convert the spare. Then I marked the next three frames, and my caddy (Marguerite, she's awesome:-) noticed my front balance bubble was a tiny bit off (meaning my Bowler arm was slightly askew). She was going to fix it, but I was on a pretty good roll and being the last frame, I wanted to continue without fixing it. I put the ball in the pocket pretty well but left the 10-pin. Then I missed my spare by a tiny bit, and realized that the way Marguerite said my Bowler was slightly off, I probably would've picked it up if she had fixed it. My mistake. I settled for a 169, and no that's not my record, although it combines with my next two games for my highest three-game series to date.

My second game yesterday was I think my third or 4th game ever with no open frames (an open frame is one without a spare or strike). I was sitting on 127 in the 7th plus my next ball (because I made the spare in the 7th) and half-jokingly said to Marguerite, "if I strike the rest of the way, I'll have a 227!" And, just FYI, my personal best before today was 202, but the overall dynamic wheelchair bowling record is an ultra-impressive 243 by Mr. Jon Musgrave, a C4-5 quad in Colorado. So my 8th frame... strike. In my 9th frame, my ball hooked into the pocket pretty well, but I left the 10-pin again. I picked up the spare and was sitting on 167 in the 9th (plus my next ball). I needed a double (two consecutive strikes) or better to break my 202. I got the double. One more shot.

If I missed all 10 pins, I'd settle for a 197 (that's normally a very good score, but I REALLY wanted to break my record!). Marguerite was training a new caddy volunteer (a nice lady named PJ:-). I looked at them both, then said "Please Lord, don't let me trip" (which, for me, would be stopping unintentionally and consequently releasing the ball too soon). I didn't trip; I knocked down 9 beautiful pins and finished with a 206!  :-)

Before bowling today, I decided on a new goal -- a 500 series every time out. That's not easy, it's essentially a 167 average for three games (that would yield a 501 series) and my average lately has probably been around 150. My previous best series before today was a 554 (two 181s and a 192). Ok, game 3...

Alex and I have a little 'nole vs. Gator rivalry going (he's still pretty new to dynamic wheelchair bowling; he's doing well overall, but he struggled a bit today with the house ball, and is going to get his own ball soon) and the competition amongst us dynamic wheelchair bowlers is based on whoever has the highest single game score on the afternoon. With a 206 on the board and Alex struggling (I think his best today was 130) and Melissa not bowling her best either, I figured I could relax a little for my third game. Marguerite said, "are you ready to break your new record?" It's been 14-months since I bowled over 200 (before today, I've had five 200+ games: two 202s and three 201s) so... sure Marguerite, let's break it!  :-)

I almost did. It started out better than my 206 game. I had no open frames through my first 9, and had a double over frames 2 and 3. But, in the 10th, I started my ball a touch too wide and was thin on the headpin and left a 4-5-7-8 mess (that's two rows of side-by-side pins, offset) and it's almost impossible to pickup that spare with our limited ball speed (I've thought about us building an IKAN Bowler that actually loads above the user's head; that would add a lot more speed, but it's a WEE BIT dangerous. Anyway, any kind of mark in the 10th would've enabled me to break 200, and with a little 10th-frame magic, I could've topped my 25-minutes-old record. I settled for a 195, and my new series record of 570. Not bad. I believe the overall record for a series is another ultra-impressive record from Mr. Musgrave -- a 619 (that's three games AVERAGING 206.33!!!).

If you checkout the scoresheet, a circle indicates a split. In both the second and third game, I had a 3-10 split and picked both up (as splits go, they are probably the easiest, but by definition, splits are generally the hardest spares). Another personal record for me is fewest open frames for a series (I had three total -- hey, baseball and football keep crazy records, why not us for bowling?!  :-)

Here's my scoresheet...

FINALLY -- I get a new signature!  See below...

Bill Miller  :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 206 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
My blog: http://powerwheelchairusers.blogspot.com
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net