An unlikely journey from 10-pin bowling to five-pin bowling ended with national gold.
The Black Diamond Lanes foursome of Diane Bertram, Cheryl Antoniazzi, Mandy Erickson and Veronica Laass rolled to a Canadian title in Thunder Bay, Ont., a couple weekends ago. In the Inter-Provincial National Championship -- a pins-over-average tournament -- they met Alberta in the final and posted a score 40 pins higher than their team average. The Alberta players finished 25 pins below their average and had to accept silver medals.
In the semifinals, the Black Diamond ladies were 25 pins under average but still beat Quebec, which finished 39 pins below average.
Bertram and company, who formed the only all-female team at nationals, are in their first year of five-pin bowling. They made the switch from 10-pin because throwing the bigger and heavier 10-pin balls was getting too difficult for them.
For all four women, ending their inaugural five-pin season as Canadian champs was a thrill. It proved to them anything's possible when beating your own average is the objective.
"For me, and I think the rest of the team will agree, it just meant that it doesn't matter if you are a good bowler or a not-so-good bowler, anyone can go and do this," Bertram said. "We don't have high averages. It's all about fun. We'd like to see the ladies league grow for both [Black Diamond Lanes] and obviously for us. The more people that are there, the more fun it is."
The local ladies qualified for nationals by first winning a zone roll-off and then prevailing at the provincial finals in Chilliwack. At those first two tournaments they refused to take anything too seriously. When they arrived in Thunder Bay for the two-day nationals, the charged atmosphere inside Galaxy Lanes got to them and they strayed from their "just for fun" approach. Consequently, they struggled on Day 1 of the tournament.
On Day 2, they got back in the groove.
"The key on the second day was to really regroup and remember why we were there, and I forgot that the first day," Bertram said. "We kind of gave ourselves a bit of a pep talk and said, 'No matter what happens, we're here, and we're here to have fun.' We wanted to win, obviously, but that really wasn't our main focus. Our main focus was that we were going to go away and enjoy this trip."
Kyle Parker, proprietor at Black Diamond Lanes, is a bit like a proud papa when it comes to the golden accomplishment of Bertram, Antoniazzi, Erickson and Laass.
"It's pretty incredible that it's their first year of five-pin and they come home with a national championship," he said. "They have spent so much time working on their game in here. They obviously have a real dedication and a passion for it. I can't think of anybody more deserving."
Along with their medals, the ladies were presented with commemorative watches and $2,900 in prize money. They split the cash among themselves and also gave a one-fifth share to Gail and Ken Chambers, who served as coach and manager respectively.
Ken Chambers has been president of the B.C. Five-Pin Bowlers' Association for 29 years and is in his final year on the job.
