That’s how he rolls
Ben Pettit has had a bowling ball in his hands since he was 3, and 10 years later he’s on a roll – bowling adults over.
The 13-year-old is the youngest person to win the New Zealand Open men’s tenpin bowling championships, a tournament he initially entered just to gain experience – bowling against people with more training and who were nearly twice his age.
But going into his last game at the Queen’s Birthday Weekend tournament, Ben knew he had a chance to win.
‘‘[There was] a lot of pressure
there but I was kind of in my own game, so I didn’t really think about it that much,’’ Ben said. ‘‘I was just bowling.’’
During the tournament, competitors bowl for five hours over 15 games. The person with the highest combined pinfall is the winner.
Ben ended the competition with 1402 pins and an average of 233.
When his win sunk in, the Porirua teenager immediately burst into tears. ‘‘I was just so happy. [It’s] just amazing because it was my first tournament that I ever won, and it happened to be the men’s nationals.’’
He also won the competition with a twohanded technique – something he started perfecting in 2019.
‘‘I used to bowl one-handed and I kind of got sick and frustrated because I was so young, and I couldn’t generate power as well, and I wasn’t as good as I am now . . . I saw Jason Belmonte, the best bowler in the world, he bowls with a two-handed technique, so I took that up, and it went well, so I stuck with it.’’
When Ben is not at school or home, he trains at North City Tenpin in Porirua for up to 15 hours a week.
He is also preparing for competitions in Australia set for next month.
Ben will represent New Zealand in the under-21 team at the Australian national teams championships and will also take part in the Australian under-14, 18 and 21 competitions.
Ben said he hoped to continue bowling and study at Wichita State University, which has a bowling programme.
His parents, Paul and Paulette, joke that he can bowl strikes on command and, while Ben said it was normal for him to knock all the pins down, he still got excited at doing so.