Three Moose Jaw Bowlers Off To National Finals
The 2022 Youth Bowl Canada (YBC) Canadian championships to be held July 10 - July 12 will have a Moose Jaw flair as three bowlers from the city have qualified.
Moose Jaw will see bowlers who have numerous similarities. All have bowled with the Moose Jaw club their entire bowling careers, all started bowling when they were three years old and all will be going to the championships with parents.
But the differences are two will be competing in the YBC national championships while one will be competing for his last time.
Off To Nationals For Provincial Champions - (from left to right) Brekken Hill, coach Ken Munro, Hunter Andeson and Jackson Leroy
Ten year old Brekken Hill is partnered with teammate Hunter Anderson after winning the YBC 2022 Saskatchewan Bantam Boys Team Championship this past March.
Twenty year old Jackson Leroy is heading to Oshawa after being crowned Saskatchewan’s Senior Boy’s Singles Championships in December 2021.
For Brekken Hill this will be his first national championship after finishing second in singles competition the past couple of years. Only the provincial YBC champion gets to compete in the national championships.
Brekken Hill practices on Saturday - MJ Independent photo
Hill said he was “nervous a bit and pretty excited” about getting his opportunity to compete nationally.
Although only ten (10) years old Hill the Grade 5 William Grayson student said he has been involved in YBC since he was three years old.
“It was the first sport I could get into at a young age…I have liked it ever since I started playing it and I heave been improving over the years,” he said.
Training for bowling entails two and a half hours every Saturday afternoon. Saturday is a day packed with activities as he is involved with Jujitsu, judo and weight lifting.
Nine year old Hunter Anderson said he is excited about his first opportunity to compete nationally. Anderson is partnered with his teammate Hill.
Anderson finished third in YBC Saskatchewan’s Bantam singles final but qualified as a team with Hill.
Anderson said he bowls because he likes it.
Although the trip to Ontario is about bowling the scheduling of the trip means after the championships he along with his parents, as well as the other bowlers and their parents, will have (at their expense) a three day site seeing vacation. The group plans to go Niagara Falls as well as a Toronto Blue Jays game.
Asked which one he was looking forward to - the bowling or the vacation - Anderson said it was the bowling.
Practice Makes Perfect - Nine year old Hunter Anderson releases the bowling ball during practice on Saturday afternoon - MJ Independent photo
Asked if there was any pressure to bowling with the best in his age group from across the country he admitted “it kind of bothers me” if there was any added pressure to be a national championship competitor.
Both Anderson’s and Hill’s parents said not only was bowling was a good sport to keep children active in but it is also “super cheap” and affordable to participate in.
Lining It Up - Nine year old Hunter Anderson lines up the next shot at practice on Saturday afternoon - MJ Independent photo
For an annual $45 registration free plus an additional $11.50 each Saturday children can participate in a sport which not only keeps them occupied, affordable but it also an organized sport which allows very young to enroll and actively participate in.
Coach Ken Munro said that is what YBC is all about. To get children involved in the sport of bowling at an affordable price.
YBC subsidizes the cost of bowling by doing things such as paying for shoe rentals.
When it comes to attending nationals YBC pays for the majority of the costs for the athletes and the coaches. Parents and other family members who chose to attend must pay all of their own expenses.
The reduced costs for YBC is something 20 year old Leroy Jackson can attest to.
Jackson is in his seventeenth and final year with the YBC program and is off to YBC’s national championship as the Saskatchewan Senior Boys Singles Champion.
This will be his seventh appearance in YBC nationals and he is hoping to end up in the top three or four as he graduates to the more expensive world of adult bowling tournaments.
Years Of Practice - Jackson Leroy practices for the YBC Canadian Nationals championships - MJ Independent photo
A graduate of Riverside Collegiate Jackson said he participated in every sport he could at high school but always stuck to bowling and will continue to do so as an adult because he loves the sport.
As someone who has gone to nationals multiple time Jackson said the things he was looking forward to was not only the opportunity to bowl but additionally the chance to see friends he has met over the years.
Jackson said he was introduced to bowling as a three year old by his mother.
“My mom was a bowler so she got me into it…I like competing and meeting new and old friends,” he said.
Asked if bowing was physically demanding Jackson said it was not per say but a person could get tired if they were in a tournament and bowling for six hours straight.
“If you bowl and don’t have the chance to sit down between games it is go, go, go,” Jackson said.
“It’s basically a mental game and I have always have had fun in it…it’s biggest thing is that it gets people out and active and you make new friends through bowling.”
The high point in Jackson seven appearances in YBC national championship finals was a fourth place finish in 2018. This time around he would like to finish in the top three.
“I want to try to get a medal at nationals.”
This past year, the now high school graduated Jackson and construction worker, Jackson started to participate in adult tournaments in places like Regina, Prince Albert and Sakatoon.
Despite a top placing of tenth in adult tournaments Jackson says he intends to continue bowling long after he ends his YBC career.