Last year, the girls bowling team had enough players to divide into both a JV and a varsity team, but this year the number of girls has decreased significantly. Since the girls bowling team has only been a club at Naperville Central for two years, the average number of girls on the team cannot be determined.

“In both years we’ve been lighter than we would have wanted to be,” Steve Ondrus, girls bowling coach, said.  “Last year we had a total of nine bowlers and this year we have five.”

Ondrus has been licensed to teach bowling for 26 years. He has also been a boys JV soccer coach. Many of the girls left the bowling team after last year, leaving a small amount of girls left to actually compete.

This year was sophomore Claire Wunnicke’s first year on the girls bowling team.

“Last year I know there was a lot of senior girls from the team that graduated,” Wunnicke said.

With seven seniors left, only one returning player decided to compete this year. Throughout the season, Wunnicke and the rest of the girls have been practicing, learning and training for their games and competitions they have. They need a specific amount of girls on a team in order to compete.

“If we just have a match against a normal school we would have about six girls bowling so it can be six against six,” Ondrus said.  Normally in bowling you only count four scores out five scores so one the scores doesn’t get counted. The girls are hoping to get more people on their team so they are able to compete and go to more competitions.

“It’s been a struggle because we only have five girls and normally you need six girls on a team to compete,” Wunnicke said. “We’re not able to compete without six girls so we have missed a few opportunities to compete.”

The girls team is not just a competitive environment though. There is a lot of support and teamwork found as well.

“It’s super fun and it helps to relieve all your stress,” Wunnicke said. “We always support each other as a whole. For us this is a great way to make friends. This team cares about each other, supports one another and helps everyone get better.”