Tenpin Bowling

You say you dazzle your soap dish with your shower-time arias, but always have wondered what a real singer would say about your voice? Perhaps the Annapolis Chorale can help.If you've ever had a hankering to sing Renaissance madrigals until you've "fa la la'ed" your way into oblivion, the Annapolis Chorale has some summer suggestions for you.And if you'd just as soon forget vocal music altogether and go bowling instead, well, the chorale can help you with that, too.It will be a busy summer for conductor Ernest Green and his Carnegie-bound Annapolis Chorale.

The National Amateur Bowlers, Inc. tournament at Fair Lanes Ritchie drew 158 entries, and director Joe Doctor paid out over $4,000 in prize money.Steve Schuman of Baltimore won the first-place prize of $1,000.David Page of Laurel captured second place and a check for $250. He bowls at the Bethesda Naval Hospital lanes in the Friday Navy Men's Mixed and carries a 192 average. In February, he placed third in the NABI tournament at Ritchie."Steve [Schuman] bowled well," Page said. "Earlier in the tournament I let him know that he should keep his ball speed up, maybe increase it a little.

Youths learn skills for life in Alliance leaguesThe Young America Bowling Alliance leagues at Brunswick Normandy are drawing to a close for the fall/winter season. The young bowlers, both Division I and Division II, continue to post impressive scores.The youth leagues at Normandy are divided into four groups: Bantams (8 years and under), Preps (9-11), Junior Varsity (12-14) and Varsity (15-21).The young bowlers are coached, not only in the actual skills of tenpin bowling, but in deportment, lane courtesy and good sportsmanship.

Jessica Phillips has come a long way. The seventh-grader at McArthur Middle School began bowling at age 7 at Rhine Main Air Force base in Germany.Her average that first year was 68. Now bowling in the YABA Saturday morning league at Fort Meade Lanes, she's averaging 165.Her parents, Deborah and Wayne, started coaching her when Wayne was stationed at the PX in downtown Frankfurt.Jessica, 13, is throwing a 13-pound Blue Hammer bowling ball. Her high game is 242, high set is 613."I try to practice two or three days every week," she said.

This bowling doctor makes house calls.Your game is a little sick, face it. Your expensive urethane strike ball is hitting the pocket, but you're not carrying the tenpin. And then you're Bowlingmissing the tenpin. Not only that, you're rubbing the skin off your thumb.What can you do?You always could fight through it, like a bad cold.Or you could call the bowling doctor.Bernie Smith, 55, isn't actually a doctor, but to those who know him, he's a fine bowling instructor. He has helped quite a few people improve their bowling games over the years, including some local professional bowlers, including Marty Letscher of Bel Air."

The Dixon family bowls. Marie and Dick and their son, Mike do their tenpin bowling at Bowl America Odenton.Marie bowls in the Saturday Mixed, Wednesday Powderpuff and Monday's O'Malley Prime Timers leagues; Dick coaches the Monday league and the Saturday Young America Bowling Alliance, the league where son Mike bowls.Marie carries a 150 average, and Dick carries an average of 175.Mike is averaging 185 with a 299 high game and a high series of 691. Those are impressive figures for an 18-year-old.

Leander Derr, a native of Hickory, N.C., lives in Columbia and bowls in the Club 55 League at Brunswick Columbia.Retired from Equity Funding Corporation, he found retirement too confining and is a sales representative for Grempler Realty.A late comer to tenpin bowling (he started about six years ago), he carries a 135 average with a high game of 191 and a high series of 525.In week 16 of the season, in the Tuesday Club 55 league, Derr tied with Wallace Cook for Bowler of the Week by posting a series 88 pins over average.

The 12th Annual Maryland Tenpin Bowling Council Scholarship Tournament was held at Terrace Lanes in Frederick on Dec. 6, and the young bowlers from Harford County did just fine.* Chad Kornick won a $1,000 scholarship for his first-place finish in the boys scratch division of the tournament, which was open to students who will be graduating high school at the end of the 1992-93 school year.Kornick, 16, is a senior at Fallston High, lives in Joppa and started bowling when he was 8.A few months before his victory in the Tenpin Council tournament, he said, "I'd like to bowl for a college team.

Kevin Lamb won the men's division for the third time in four years, and Barbara Blevins won the women's division in the 31st Invitational Tournament at Harford Lanes, Aberdeen.The 54 ladies and 54 men with the highest composite average from the past season were invited.Barbara, a native of Harford County, lives in Aberdeen with her husband, Wayne Blevins, and bowls in the Wednesday C&P Vending League at Bel Air Bowl and the Monday Doubles league at Harford Lanes. Her high game is 277, and her high set, 752. Her average has increased to 194."

"Why should (the official state sport) be any other sport but duckpins?" asks Joe Rineer of Mount Airy Lanes. "This is the only sport that was born in Maryland."Ken Frock of County Lanes in Westminster,who has been associated with tenpin bowling most of his life, still thinks "a lot more people in Maryland are involved with duckpin bowling than jousting. It just makes sense that duckpin bowling become thestate sport."Karen Wisner of the Hampstead Bowling Center said, "It would be great if duckpins were to become the Maryland state sport."