Rusty Rollers

It is a game I used to excel at more than twenty years ago and I have many trophies to show for my competitive standing back then. So, when a friend asked me to participate in a ten-pin bowling competition last week-end, I did not hesitate. I managed to coax two of my friends, Audie and Mahani, to join me in forming a team.

My bowling bag, which can accommodate two balls, had to be dusted and cleaned as it had gathered dust and cobwebs in the store room. Two balls, why would one need two balls to bowl? Well, according to the pros, one ball is for strikes and the other for spares but it turned out that strikes and spares were few and far between on that day.

We went to the bowling alley early so as to practice because we did not want to be an embarassment since all of us had not bowled for years. Our scores were not too bad so we were really looking forward to the competition.

There were 100 competitors, men and women, and the women were given a handicap of 20 pinfalls as we had to compete with the men. Each competitor had to bowl 3 games.

We did not do too badly considering that we were competing against regular bowlers but during the second game, aches and pains started to surface. It was a torture to finish the third game and boy, were we glad when we did!

Including the practice games, I had bowled a total of 5 games. Assuming that I needed two throws for every frame and spared in the last frame, I would have swung my ball 105 times for the 5 games. To put it in perspective, swinging a 13-pounder 105 times and balancing on one knee when delivering the ball can cause all kinds of aches - to the thighs, upper arms, neck and back!

The real impact of bowling 5 games was felt the next day - I came down with the flu while the other two had to take painkillers just to be able to move around. Moving around felt like a robot due to all the stiffness!

Much as we had a lot of fun during the game, we all unanimously agreed on one thing - NEVER AGAIN!