Ben Hendrickson flirted with 5-pin bowling perfection last year and with one strike to go his radar wavered.
So when he earned himself another chance to roll that perfect game two weekends ago in the BC Open north zone trials at his home base at Nechako Lanes in his first adult tournament, the 19-year Hendrickson knew exactly what to do.
He tuned out the crowd gathering around his lane in the 10th frame of his seventh game of the day and finished it off with three consecutive strikes. Perfect.
"Last year I was on 11 in a row and when I was going for my last ball on the 12th I punched a three pin and had a 438, so I made sure this time that's not happening again," said Hendrickson.
"Once I threw the first ball, everything felt good after that first ball in the 10th and the 11th ball felt even better. I guess you feel the pressure going into the 12th and you kind of feel eyes watching and you just have to deal with it.
"The pressure used to get to me when I was younger but then I just kept playing in tournaments and that goes away. You just have to focus on yourself and your game and you just block it out."
After already bowling six games, having spent most of the day at the bowling alley, there was no signs of fatigue creeping into his game as he lined up for his seventh game.
"My first three games I started out pretty good and I just finished it," said the Duchess Park Secondary School graduate. "It helped (bowling at Nechako), I'm pretty comfortable with those lanes."
Hendrickson didn't get much time to savour his 450 game. He had another game to bowl that night and went home just before midnight, knowing he'd be back the following morning to roll eight more games in the second round of the BC Open at Black Diamond Lanes starting at 9 a.m. He handled that extremely well and won the men's singles title, averaging 276 over 16 games.
"It was definitely a rush, I didn't expect it to happen the way it did but I am pretty excited to go to provinicials with those guys," he said. "They're people I watched a lot at adult tournaments because I couldn't bowl. Just being able to show I could bowl with them too made me happy."
Aside from the hugs and high-fives to celebrate his perfect game, Hendrickson won 52 weeks of free pizzas from Dominos and will also receive a few gift certificates.
Hendrickson, who won a Prince George Sports Hall of Fame Youth Excellence Award last year, bowled two games that year of 400 or better and had a three-game 1,000 total the same year.
Now in his ninth season of bowling, Hendrickson has qualified for the provincial 5-pin championships in April 10-12 at Scottsdale Lanes in Surrey, with a chance to move on to the Canadian finals in Gatineau, Que., June 3-7, 2020.
"That's going to be a blast, I'm really excited about our men's team," Hendrickson said. "It'll be good competition."
Also qualifying for the men's north zone team were Richie Beaulieu, Kevin McAlpine, Chito Tecson, Larry Richett and Chris Arnett. The women's team qualifiers were Michelle Hruby, Morgan Burdock, Katrina Perreault, Coralee Szilagyi, Tiana Tecson and Lee Sheppard, while the mixed team for provincials includes Dean Florell, Tyler McLean, Braydyn Ingebrightsen, Lisa McAlpine, Lorraine Sharyk and Stacey Taylor.
This is Hendrickson's final season in the Youth Bowling Canada league and he will go to Quesnel for the zone singles championship Dec. 8 to try to qualify for the YBC provincials in March.
