One of the big concerns as far as my bowling is concerned is that I often feel as though I am going to all of a sudden forget how to bowl again - which is something that happened to me around a year ago. I just lost it and couldn't get the magic back that made me a good bowler in the first place.
Two weeks ago, I had a stellar performance that was at least somewhat driven by a friendly rival who had recently returned from Norway to rejoin our ranks. Lane assignments are determined by a randomizer app, so I did not choose for this to happen, it just kind of worked out that way. It was a combination of me just being in the zone, remembering what made me good at this sport in the first place, and probably some motivation by the guy who just happened to be placed on the same lane as me, that encouraged me to bowl well for the 2nd week in a row.
We had 24 people turn up this week and there probably would have been more but I asked the group to not invite any new members until we can get a grasp on how much interest there is. There are only 12 lanes here at this establishment and frequently there are at least 2 of them that are not functioning. We dedicate 2 lanes to only have 2 people on them (for the championships) and the other 10 can have a maximum of 3 people per lane. This means the maximum amount of people we can accommodate is 34. For the sake of time I will not put more than 3 people on a lane even if more than 34 people turn up. The rule has become "first come, first served" and this is something I am going to stick by. It simply takes too long if there are 4 or more people on a lane.
While I am always pleased about other people's performances as well (except for one person who comes to these events that for whatever reasons I cannot stand him) but I am far more interested in my own performance and in game one, I was absolutely on fire. I finished the game with a 178, which I thought was going to be the highest score of the day but just moments later the current champion (who is not me) got a 180. I was not playing against him and he is one of my best friends so I was not upset about this at all. We did end up having exactly the same average score on the day though and now people are quite excited for us to end up matched up against one another, which is something that is going to be happening very soon. The way the championship is determined is that the top 4 scores of the Premiere League, which consists of 8 people, are put into a randomizer and the challenger is determined at random. That way people can have a chance to shine even if they are not the best bowlers.
After all, this is more about socializing than it is about the actual bowling, so we want everyone to be able to take part.
At the post-bowling award ceremony / get drunk venue we went to a place that we have never been to before called "Night Market" and it was nice of them to open 2 hours earlier than they normally would in order to accommodate our group. I had warned them ahead of time that there would be 20-30 of us all turning up at the same time so I was impressed when they actually had more than enough staff to look after us. In the past I have informed some locations to be prepared and they promised to do so, but then failed. We do not return to places that can't deliver on their part.
One of the main things that these establishments need to have in order to accommodate us is that they must have a BUNCH of cheap lagers that are ice cold. We aren't necessarily a stingy bunch but we also are not craft beer and fancy cocktail types, so it is absolutely essential that they have a lot of ice-cold Huda and Larue on hand. Those are the two big lager companies in Vietnam btw.
In the end it was a triumphant success of a day with most people bowling better than they normally would. In the tag team competition my team won against 9 other teams. We won quite handily actually with a score of 175. The November overall high score was set last week by me at 192 and I suspect that this may end up being the score for the entire month. We'll see. I know that I am always trying to beat that score myself and so are many others.
We started doing this more than 3 years ago with just 3 people going bowling every Thursday and I am delighted that it has turned into the highlight of many local people's week. If you are in Da Nang, come and meet up with us at the Lotte Mart bowling alley at 11am on Thursdays!