Bowl America’s two season-ending grand finals tournaments, the Youth of the Year and Star of the Year, always are enjoyable events to cover. However, the Youth of the Year event on June 1 at Shirley was one of the most interesting because it included one of the more talented fields of junior bowlers in recent memory.
I wasn’t able to carefully watch all of the competitors, but a few certainly stood out. Among them was the Bantam Division’s Christian Sciacca of Bowl America Chantilly, who entered with a 109 average and already has a game that offers promise.
And there certainly is material to work with in the games of Janeen Hall of Gaithersburg and Amanda Medders of Manassas in the Junior Division, as well as Dan Kaminsky of Dranesville and John Patton of Chantilly in the Senior Division.
Ironically, the individual who impressed me the most finished last in the Senior Division. Barbara Wallen of Falls Church, with her simple approach and solid finish, brought forth visions of a young Kendra Cameron.
Shirley manager Jim Reynolds, who’s known Wallen for nearly all of her 21 years, said that she soon will join adult competition and is eager to advance her game.
The view here is if Wallen can team with a coach who specializes in refinements rather than complete overhauls, there’s no doubt that she will make her mark in local bowling circles in the years to come.
Bob Cosgrove, editor of BOWL Magazine, is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America.