Heading into the Youth Bowling Canada national championship tournament, Jeff Strong was hoping to avoid a last-place finish.
He did. In a big way.
Strong, a 15-year-old from Prince George's Black Diamond Lanes, won the silver medal in the junior boys division. He claimed the shining prize Monday in Regina when he beat Manitoba's Derek Sabourin 318-270 in a sudden death playoff. The 318 was impressive, especially considering the fact Strong's personal-best score to date is 370.
Strong, who rolled to a B.C. championship earlier this year, was making his first-ever appearance at nationals.
"I feel really good," he told The Citizen via cell phone.
"I think [playing in nationals] was a bit easier than I thought. I thought I was going to get slaughtered but I actually did all right."
The tournament followed a match play format, and Strong went 17-7 overall. Before play started on Monday morning, he knew he needed to post a 5-1 record to give himself a chance at a medal. He began the day with a loss to the Prince Edward Island champ but then rattled off consecutive wins against the Yukon, Manitoba, Newfoundland, the Northwest Territories and Quebec.
With a dynamite final day required, Strong tried not to put any pressure on himself.
"I thought, 'If I don't do it that's all right but if I do, good on me,'" he said.
Strong said the nationals experience was "definitely something to remember.
"It was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime thing but, I don't know, there's still a lot of years to go," he said.
Nineteen is the upper age limit for youth bowlers.
Kyle Parker, proprietor of Black Diamond Lanes, used the world "incredible" to describe Strong's accomplishment.
"He's a great bowler and he obviously went there and bowled his heart out," Parker said. "We couldn't be prouder of him. He's practiced a lot and he's put a lot of effort into getting this far and I think it's absolutely fantastic that he's done so well."
Sabourin had to settle for the bronze medal. For the second year in a row, gold went to Phillip Butler of Northern Ontario.
