Getting through to the NSW State Tenpin Bowling Championship is one thing - but actually winning it is another alltogether. Jason Brown - NSW Junior State Champion tells his story of how he won.
Hi my name is Jason Brown, I am 28 and I have been living in Orange all my life. I have a trade in cooking where I have been a chef for about 6 six years, but I now currently work at the Orange Tenpin Bowl as a Coach and Assistant Manager.
There are many successes that I have been fortunate enough too experience over time, but there is one moment in my life that I’m sure will always stay very clear in my memory for a long time.
This story is goes back 11 years ago in my junior bowling days. It all started when I was 17 and went to Sydney to Bowl in the NSW State championships Tenpin Bowling. At the time it was a big thing bowling the state championships as it was a huge step up the ranks from bowling in your local tournaments and leagues.
Anyway I started the weekend off with the President Shield were it was the first time we had a team (Western Warriors) from the country NSW enter the event and I was quite nervous especially with the noise that the teams made with all the cheering etc. It was a huge shock to the system it was full on pressure bowling nothing like your tennis matches where the umpire says quiet please or like Golf where people hold quiet signs it was full on crazy. Anyway we were well beaten on the day but there were still 2 days of bowling to go with the championships and the masters to go.
On to the next day things still weren’t going to well with one day to go the trip was starting feel like it was a disaster my confidence really hit rock bottom. I was really struggling with the lane conditions and I couldn’t adjust to it at all it was just another huge learning experience that even to this day has taught me a lot.
Well with Masters to go I wasn’t to go down without a fight. I had good night's sleep and I woke up on the right side of the bed and I was ready to hit the lanes. I really don’t know how but I just felt like things were going to change around go my way, I just knew that I had nothing to lose and I really wanted to get out there and enjoy myself and have a good hard go.
The State Masters is a singles event where you play head to head, so I all I had to do was to keep winning. I didn’t have to be the bowler who is averaging the highest I just had to beat my opponent.
I started well and won my first 4 matches and I was quite pleased with how I was going even though not all wins where great but I was just doing what was needed to keep in tournament. Just before I started the next match I had a mate who bowled in the state team that could not believe how far I was in the tournament and he said to me “mate you want to hope you don’t get Jason Walsh for your next match as he was averaging 220 for the 6 games” and me being a newcomer to the event I had no idea who he was so didn’t faze me too much. Anyway funny enough you wouldn’t believe it yes I was up against Jason Walsh in my next match.
So it was time for me to meet my match and as I started to warm up and commence I went over to shake his hands and wish him all the best as you would normally do but he didn’t want to shake my hand he totally just ignored me. This was a shock to the system as I just thought it was plane rude unsportsman like. So my mother who was behind the lanes watching me bowl, told me to forget about and concentrate on winning the match and show him he isn’t as good as he think he is.
Well it really gave me a lot of motivation and I wasn’t going to let this match slip away. Well funny enough I won the match and I did it easily as he bowled a low game of 113 which didn’t make him too happy. After that result I felt like that there was someone watching over me helping out all the way and it just showed him that what goes around comes around later. All I had to now was just win 1 more match to make it to the final round and that’s just what I did as it was probably my more consistent win.
As I approached the lanes for the final the nerves where starting kick inn and the crowd just kept getting bigger and all gathered around our pair of lanes where it did feel quite intimidating. This time I was up against another top bowler Jamie Kyriacou from southern coast who was in great form.
I didn’t start off to well as I was completely blown away in the first match and struggled to find a line as the lanes were starting to dry up a lot. I felt like I met my match and it was over but I was fortunate enough to find out that I had a repercharge, which means I get a second chance because I went all the way to the final undefeated. So it was huge relief when I found out that I had a second chance and also that I now knew exactly what I was up against.
As I started my next match I noticed the NSW State coach sitting at lanes watching me bowl and as I went to take my seat he gave me some words of advice and told me to try get the ball off my thumb earlier on the lane. This was quite helpful and I just couldn’t believe that this man believed in me and new that I could win. As it came down to the last 3 frames of the game I was only 15 pins behind and was crawling myself back into the match and the support from the crowd was amazing they were all cheering and I hardly new a lot them, so it seem quite strange getting the support I got.
Well it all came down to the last frame and I decided to let Jamie go first as I thought it was best to leave the pressure on him instead of myself. Which worked as he through a big split and I was now back in the game. All I had to do now was spare or strike and I was to win. I threw the ball a little wider so I the ball didn’t hook too much and leave a split and I knocked down 9 and left the 4 pin standing. And know all I had to do was spare it, the 6 pin spare is a regulation spare for a right hander but in the situation I had lot riding on it and really took my time and made sure of it and Yes I spared it. We were now tied all I needed was to knock 1 down pin so I just made sure I kept it in the middle of the lane where I eventually got 7.
I was now “NSW State Junior Champion” it was the most proudest and happiest moment of my life everyone was on the lanes congratulating me, my mum was in tears with joy and also my coach which I had never seen bloke cry with joy like that before and that’s when I knew that I had achieved something special. It totally changed my life and my views of the sport of Tenpin Bowling.
Til this day it’s still my most proudest moments and I really can’t wait til I one day experience another successful moment again in some sort of shape or another.
Jason Brown
Jason Brown - NSW State Tenpin Bowling Champion
