Joan Taylor

The 12th Annual Pro Image Bowling Camp finished up on July first in Rockaway, N.J. 25 students attended the camp at Rockaway Lanes There were eight coaches including three gold level coaches, which means that all campers had group and individual time repeatedly with each coach, working on separate elements of his or her game. As this was my twelfth year of coverage, I thought I'd come up with a new angle, that being to focus on the coaches themselves.

Finland's two-handed star, Osku Palermaa, 27, won the Shark tournament, the last stop of the PBA World Series to qualify for this year's 1 million PBA Tournament of Champions. He also found out that morning that he is going to be a father, so the victory was twice as sweet. For this week's Tournament of Champions, he was taking it day by day. He led the first three days but slipped out of the top 4 in the second block of match play and finished the richest tournament in the history of the PBA in seventh place, worth $26,000.

I've noticed that the newest buzzword among young people is "Seriously?" That means something like "Are you kidding me? Really?" I have to say that describes my feelings about something that came out of the bowling world recently and still has me perplexed. Nine "celebrities" attached in some way to bowling were nominated for the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA) Celebrity Hall of Fame. This year, voting was opened up to the general public, and pop singers Taylor Swift has been named as the newest inductee, class of 2011. Seriously?

August 1st was the last day of the tenth annual Pro Image Bowling Camp, or as I call it "Bowling Boot Camp" here at Rockaway Lanes in New Jersey. This year there were 48 students, spanning ages 12 to 72, who came from Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and even Texas. There were five females and 43 males, three lefthanders and 45 right-handers. Of the 48, 28 or more than half were there for their first time. Eleven were there for their second, six for their third, one for a fourth, one for a fifth, and me for my tenth.

Happy Independence Day! I am back from the 2010 Bowl Expo and annual Bowling Writers Association of America (BWAA) Board and general membership meetings. For me, this trip is akin to country music fans going to Fanfare in Nashville annually. As the proverbial kid in the candy store, I hardly knew where to start. This year was exceptional as two of New Jersey's "favorite sons," Tom Martino (right, Majestic Lanes, Hopelawn) and Johnny Petraglia (left, multi-hall of famer, Jackson) received top honors.

It's great when one of our locals distinguishes him or herself locally, and better when it happens statewide. But something rare has just occurred and it's an achievement that only one in more than a million can only dream of accomplishing. Marianne DiRupo (pictured), Succasunna, has been informed that she posted the highest average for a (sanctioned) female USBC Bowler for the 2007-2008 season at 240.27. This was in the Strikes and Spares League at Circle Lanes. "I was speechless when I read the letter (from USBC)," she said. "I had to read it three times."

Whenever I interview someone who has had an honor score or achieved some other form of bowling greatness, I always ask him or her for bowling goals. Usually the answer is "to keep bowling" or "an 800 series" or maybe "to get into a Hall of Fame." But someone once said to dream big, and that's exactly what Steve Pancoast, Hackettstown, did. "I wanted 50 by 50." Was he talking about adding on to his house? No. He wanted to post 50 games of 300 by the age of 50. It has happened, and Steve is not quite 49 yet.

Should our bowling centers go smoke-free? This is a literally hot topic, and in anticipation of the possibility of such legislation, the New Jersey Bowling Proprietors sent one wet bowling shoe to each of their state legislators, about 70 single shoes. Joan Taylor's 2005 NWBW Writer  of the Year award (professional category) culminated a sweep of the Professional Class story contests. This is one of the award-winning stories.