Laville Bowling Team shows Lancer Spirit through the season, earning third place
LAKEVILLE—WHEN Kevin Kubsch started the bowling team at Laville High School (LVHS), one student who asked to join was a flight risk because at that point, he was failing all but one class. “First thing I do, is I look up grades when I would get those new students to see how they were,’” Kubsch recalls. “I said, ‘If you don’t do something in your grades, you’ll never bowl.’” The student swore he would get his grades up, and Kubsch decided to take the chance and signed off to let him join the team. During the pre-season, Kubsch checked everyday, and began noting an incredible phenomenon: his grades were steadily rising. “Before the end of the semester, he was one class away from being on the honor roll,” Kubsch explained.
There’s a moral to the story. “When you get kids into in sports, you keep them interested in school. and that’s what we do. We’re able to keep them focused on, ‘hey, if you want to bowl, you gotta have those grades.’ and if they do that, we know they’re going to graduate,” Kubsch explained.
The Laville Bowling team revived in 2021 after a nine-year hiatus. Kubsch describes the program’s restart as more of a “open mouth, insert foot” incident. at the time, Mitch Mawhorter was superintendent at Unionnorth School District.
During a Lancer Pride Club bowling trip that celebrated students with no failing grades, no visits to the principal’s office, and few absences, Mawhorter off-handedly voiced his regret that high school bowling wasn’t an official sport. Kubsch, who was a lifelong bowler and had a seat on the local bowling association’s board of directors, was quick to correct his understanding. “That was my first mistake,” Kubsch said with a twinkle in his eye and a crooked grin. “He
says, ‘I want a team and you’re coaching!’ What am I going to tell him? No?” It ended up being one of the best ‘mistakes’ he could have ever made, and one that he hasn’t regretted.
Mawhorter promised to find funds for the team, leaving recruitment to Kubsch. Since a low-end ball alone costs around $125 and must be tailor-made for the bowler, the success that Mawhorter had was no small feat, especially considering that there were six students who competed the first year. “None of them had ever picked up a bowling ball in their life,” Kubsch commented. “We struggled that first year, but you could see they were gaining momentum, that they were enjoying it, it was something they had a passion for. They were responding well to what I was trying to teach them.”
The program gradually grew, both in numbers and in ability. The second year, there were 16 bowlers. This year, there were 23. There are also a couple assistant coaches, Matt Urbanski and Dave Pluta, who joined Kubsch last year.
Last year, the bowling team won fourth place in sectionals. at that level and in the next level up, regionals, students play as a team for what is called a baker game, where each member of the team plays two balls each game. The top bowler on the team bowls the first and sixth frame, the second bowls the second and seventh, the third bowls the third and eighth, and so on. “It’s a really neat system, it’s a good parody system. It brings teams that may be a little weaker into a stronger contender,” Kubsch explained. “and when the kids are bowling well and you team that up, it creates for a lot of excitement.” a certain number of the top scoring teams, then, move on to the next level of competition. This year, the LVHS team ended their season at semi-state ninth place. However, that wasn’t decided until a mere few games before the end of the tournament.
The team advanced to semis after winning third place at regionals. The day of the semi-state championship, LVHS was sitting in third place at game 10 out of 12. “When we went into the eleventh and twelfth game, we fell. We threw two of our lowest games,” Kubsch said. “We were 83 pins out of qualifying. That was four spares that we missed during that whole 12-game match. When you think about, these kids never touched a bowling ball before and they take it that far, it’s been something I’ve never been affiliated with, and I’ve been bowling since I was six years old! I have eight 300 games to my name and a 800 series, which are the best things you could do in bowling, but those don’t compare to what those kids have done.”
The school board agrees, and publicly congratulated the bowlers, both team and individual competitors, for their accomplishments during the Feb. 13 meeting.
With their continued success, the team has now graduated to mid-to-high range equipment. The ball alone averages around $220. That doesn’t include the ball bag or shoes. To this day, LVHS purchases the first round of equipment for a new bowler who can’t afford it themselves. Their fundraiser is selling pizza tickets for the Mishawaka barnaby’s. Tickets are on-sale continually at LVHS, the elementary school, and from Kubsch himself for $12. Without the coupons, a pizza costs about $24. From each ticket sold, the bowling team gets $5, which makes it one of the best fundraisers available in the school corporation.
Unlike other sports, bowling is something that could be considered a lifelong sport, something that these students will be able to enjoy long into their old age. “We’re trying to build bowlers for the future. a lot of sports, you have to give up when you’re 30 or 40 years old. I just read an article where a 90-year-old man bowled a 300 game. bowling is a sport for life. It’s fun to maybe build kids that will enjoy this game for the rest of their lives and meet a lot of great friends,” Kubsch said. “That’s one of the great things about it.”
The public is welcome to attend bowling tournaments. The next season will begin in October and games are held every Saturday at local bowling allies. Information on tournaments can be found at local bowling alleys or indianagobowl.com/highschool.