Today, local five-pin bowler Kyra Thurston will throw her first-ever ball in a national championship tournament. By the end of the day on Monday, she'll have played a total of 22 match-play games.
For the 11-year-old from Black Diamond Lanes, the Youth Bowl Canada nationals in Gatineau, Que., will be a physical and mental test. But Thurston, who will compete in the bantam girls singles division, loves the idea of going head-to-head against the top young rollers in the country.
"I think it's going to be a bit easier, almost, because you don't really have to worry about feeling bad because you beat somebody from your own centre or somebody that you know," said Thurston, whose only previous match-play experience has come in YBC inter-city tournaments in Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake. "If you were to beat them, you wouldn't feel quite as bad because you don't know them at all."
As the B.C. bantam girls champion, Thurston will take on fellow champs from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northern Ontario, Southern Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories. She'll play seven games today, nine on Sunday and six on Monday.
Thurston admits she's nervous, but, at the same time, she's excited about the chance to compete at such a high level. She also has reason to be confident because, of the 12 players in the field, she has the second-highest average, a 162. Her highest single game is a remarkable 315, which she tossed at last season's zone finals.
Thurston, a sixth-year bowler, is the second member of her family to qualify for the Canadian championships. Her elder sister, Holly, stepped into the national spotlight in 2014 as part of a Black Diamond bantam girls team. Thurston has received some words of wisdom from her sister and plans to do her best to follow them.
"She just said that I need to relax and have fun and not really worry about what the other peoples' games are - only worry about the person I'm bowling against," Thurston said.
Holly, as well as parents Christina and Andrew, are in Gatineau so they can take in the experience and offer their support.
Thurston, a Grade 5 student at Foothills elementary school, advanced to nationals when she won the provincial title in early March in Surrey. At provincials, she posted scores of 141, 247, 195, 263 and 172 for a five-game total of 1,018. She finished 111 points ahead of silver-medalist Hailey Plested of Nanaimo.
