Ben Hendrickson certainly earned his medal at the Youth Bowl Canada national championships.
Hendrickson, a 15-year-old from Prince George's Nechako Lanes, rolled to bronze at the five-pin nationals, which concluded Monday in Calgary. On the way to his medal in the senior boys singles category, he played 22 matches in three days. And, after all that, he had to face Quebec bowler Mathieu Madore in a tiebreaking game for bronze.
At the end of the 22 regulation games, Hendrickson and Madore were deadlocked with 14 wins each. In the playoff, Hendrickson emerged with a 267-225 victory - no small feat considering Madore was a six-time national medalist and Hendrickson was a first-timer at that level of competition.
"(The playoff) was nerve-wracking," said Hendrickson, who was also the youngest competitor in the 12-player field. "My heart was just pounding. I never sweat when I bowl, and I was sweating a lot. I was nervous going into it but I knew that I could handle it so I told myself to breathe and I just threw."
Hendrickson started slowly in the first couple frames but then tossed three strikes in a row, which put him in the position to win.
Some of the other national qualifiers were as old as 19, and every other bowler in the tournament had been playing the game for more years than Hendrickson, who is in his fifth season.
Naturally, he was thrilled to leave nationals with a medal in his possession.
"It was pretty awesome because when I got there I saw everyone and I said, 'Oh my God, this is going to be a struggle,'" said Hendrickson, who claimed the B.C. senior boys title in March in Kamloops. "But I felt pretty amazed, my first appearance at nationals and coming back with a medal."
Hendrickson played seven matches the first day, nine the second day and seven (including the tiebreaker) on the last day. Those initial 22 games weren't as tiring as he thought they would be because there were breaks built into the schedule. Still, he had to try to maintain an even keel and not let his personal ups and downs disrupt his overall focus.
"When I lost (a match) it was upsetting but a loss was a loss and I had to look forward and get another win to make up for that loss," said Hendrickson, who had a 233 average for the tournament, a number that is on par with his regular YBC average.
Nelson Frank of Saskatchewan grabbed national gold (17 wins), while Northern Ontario's Pat Perrin took silver with 16 victories.
The experience of attending nationals has Hendrickson motivated to get back there again.
"It does push me to try harder and train a lot more for it, knowing the expectations I'll need," he said.
In a piece of good news for Hendrickson, he's got four more years of eligibility as a senior YBC player.
Prince George was also represented in team play at nationals. In the senior girls division, the Black Diamond Lanes foursome of Kassidy Johnson, Lezzyl Aquino, Paige Meise and Shae-lyn Rafferty placed fourth with 11 wins in 21 matches. Their average pinfall of 914.57 was higher than silver-medal-winning Alberta (877.24) and bronze-medalist Southern Ontario (849.33) but those teams won 13 and 12 matches respectively.
Gold went to Quebec, which won 14 matches and had an average of 926.9.
