SequatchieBowler17

I've watched Wes Conaster bowl quite a bit, and he is capable of some great bowling. Moving from Smyrna to Upperman and seeing the success of both of those teams is a testament to his ability as a team player and an individual. 2012 Avg: 213.88 Chase Smith is one of the most unique bowlers I've seen in a while who can dominate a whole field on any given day. I'd keep an eye peeled for him throughout the whole tournament. 2012 Avg: 222.03 This may go without saying, but Kyle Hubbuch is a likely top 6 contender, and I'm anxious and excited to see him bowl. 2012 Avg: 212.40 A personal favorite of mine is Tanner Johnson of Soddy Daisy, who practices very regularly and is fun to watch. If his spare game is polished, he'll be a powerful force. 2012 Avg: 212.40 Travis Bumbalough from Upperman, another favorite of mine, is a young guy who's been in the sport long enough to give the top 6 a run, and for a freshman he is very well-composed and a fantastic personality on or off the lanes. 2012 Avg: 206.97

I just wanted to say good luck to everyone who will be bowling in the tournament tomorrow, March 20. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of the guys from high school bowling there! Also, congrats to Wilson Central for their great performance all around this past season. A lot of their bowlers, guys and girls, should be back next year, so they're bound to have another great year!

It's incredible to see how far Columbia Central has come since 2008. After losing a few very valuable team members, you guys worked from the ground up to make it to state again this season. Congratulations on the run, and good luck next year guys.

I just wanted to give the highest praise to Lawrence County for their efforts during the sectional event in Hixson. It's hard to come across a team with the amount of character they have, and I wish them the best of luck in the coming years. Even in a foreign center, they still managed to put up some impressive scores (245, a few 220's, some 210's) and even a 280 the day before the event during practice! (Watching that kinda scared me a little, being a former Soddy bowler) Soddy bowled somewhat out of our league in that match, and even with Lawrence County throwing together some very good games to find themselves down considerably after the first match, they did not complain nor did their sportsmanship decline at all. They continued working to string together some good shots, and that shows how dedicated they are to doing well, and it also shows that they do not quit even under unfavorable circumstances. They are simply a class act, and I hope to see them doing well again next year. Similarly, we here at Soddy would like to wish all the remaining teams in the state event good luck! And everyone try to stay warm and drive safely

That's exactly what this sport needs, Brandon. I would love to see Tennessee High School Bowling convert to an all-season-long sport shot. Maybe if we get enough people to press for it long enough, it will happen.

Not trying to be Mr. Technical or anything, but 299+276+267 = 842. And Congrats to JR for that

Oh, and Matt Olson gets props for the 300 in state, but the 135 and 178 that accompanied it would not imply that his overall average for the season was a 274, but still congrats man.

I just want to make sure we don't forget Mitch Curran, because I was looking at some post season tournament results and he was no pushover... He had multiple 750+ series, and I've talked to him a few times and he knows a lot about the game.

Congrats WCHS, that's the kind of bowling people like to hear about. 3,697 should be close to the state record for the girls' division, you should check on that. And 299's are few and far between, so congrats JR, and keep up the good work.

Sounds like Soddy Daisy is the Schick Quatro and any other team is stubble. And of course bowling would be the Gilette shaving cream with which Soddy shall soon shave all the stubble.... you get the analogy.

Stephenr, you're absolutely right. Matt, I apologize, plain and simple. I hope I can be forgiven, and I hope this next season will be a good one.

Luv2Bowl, I can honestly say that you've put up a compelling and very powerful argument. This is probably the first post I've seen on this sight that has actually successfully proven a point, so I genuinely praise you for your sophisticated and relevant remarks. However, I don??™t believe that my original post was triggered at all by my realization that my high-school bowling days are over; I came to terms with that during the very last ball I threw??¦ You??™re right when you say that my post was personal toward Matt, but I had a point to prove. Matt constantly reminds me of his accomplishments and my short-comings from this past season, and only when it??™s just me and him around, no one else. So it is typical that you find him to be well-mannered and respectable standing in your shoes??¦ As for me, Matt was well aware of how high my expectations for myself were for this past season, and when he reached his goals and I didn??™t, Matt thought it would be perfectly fine to capitalize on that by repeatedly boasting to me about how much better he performed in the state tournament. As we all know, this is quite true. There is nothing that can be taken away from him for his record-breaking achievements, and I??™m quite certain that luck isn??™t the main reason for his successes. Matt knows very well that he purposefully irritated me day after day at school and at practices by gloating to me. He even blatantly admitted it to me that he only does it because he knows how much it meant to me and he likes to watch me get upset about it. No matter how hard I tried to be civil with him, he always took it one step further each day. After dozens of attempts to bring his bragging to an end, I realized that it would take more than just words to get him off my back, especially since he tried to act so proper and humble around everyone else. It will be hard for you to understand my viewpoint since you were a victim of this two-faced trick he played, but rest assured that I would never do something like this unprovoked??¦ I recognized how Matt put so much emphasis on his reputation to the public eye, so I figured that the only absolute way to end his immaturity would be to expose his actions publicly. Apparently this worked quite well since he didn??™t even come within 20 feet of me yesterday at the bowling alley, much less talk to me. Before I had completely given up on him, however, I offered to practice with him a few times several weeks ago. Upon receiving the offers, he told me he??™d be glad to join me for practice, but would inform me later of other plans he??™d made that overlapped perfectly with the scheduled time, which basically resulted in him ditching me. This didn??™t happen just once, nor twice, but three different times in a 5-day span. Once I??™d realized he was enjoying intentionally standing me up, my last nerve had been pinched and I told him he could find another teammate with whom to practice, and he couldn??™t have cared less, even after I tried to reach out to him. He made it clear that he thought he could make it just fine without me (which he might be able to do) since he beat me last season, and after hearing this, I decided it would be the final time he would ever rub it in my face again, so I posted the new forum, and haven??™t heard a single remark ever since. Matt doesn??™t want people to know how he truly acts, but he certainly pushed me way too far, and I tried to help him AGAIN, and all he wanted to do was push me away??¦ What a way to be ???well-mannered and respectable.???

No fights necessary. I never intended to start a fight, but rather give some incentive for people to practice and work hard over the summer so they can compete with what is going to be thrown their way. As for not winning state, I would like to know how coming in 5th place with the flu is a short-coming... Because it's actually quite hard to do. I can't take away anything from Matt, and he obviously didn't cheat or do any such thing to get where he was. Furthermore, I don't even know who you are, nor do I really care. I do know, however, that this didn't involve you, and I'm perfectly capable of handling my own situations, so while I apprecaite your positive intentions, I will neither acknowledge nor accept any of the advice you're trying to provide. I tried apologizing to Matt last night, and explained to him why I took the actions I took to get him to quit bragging to me about his accomplishments and my short-comings this season. However, he unfortuneately refused to cooperate with anything I had to say, so I wished him good luck for this next season and we're moving our separate ways. I thought maybe Matt's father and I could discuss this matter like civilized people and resolve it, but he wanted nothing more than to tell me how little class I had when he approached me yesterday, so I was unable to present my side of the story to him. So much for that... Good luck bowlers and please don't take what I've said out of context anymore... It's quite a simple concept to understand: Practice and get better; don't let your abilities go to waste because you don't feel like bowling for 3 months at a time. Matt, if I've gone too far, I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize since it seems this might be my last chance to do so. Whether you accpet it and/or return it is completely up to you, but I think if you'll face your faults, as am I, you'll realize that we're both better because of it. I honestly am sorry, and I wish you good luck this season.

Matt, your're just lucky the rest of the Tennessee bowling community doesn't know you like we do... They would realize, just as we do, that most everything you do is, in fact, "foolish and childish." You don't want everyone to think you're conceited, but you certainly come off that way sometimes, and you don't necessarily have to come right out and say that you're better than everyone to make it known that you feel that way. According to your post, bowling for you is not enjoyable anymore, so I don't see a reason for you to partake in something that you don't "enjoy." Taking a break is one thing, but not picking up a bowling ball for 3 weeks at a time is another. Last season, I spent an entire month helping you get back on track by helping you with your swing, mentality, spare game, and timing. The result was you having the highest average in the state. Before that month of rehab, you wouldn't mean more to the team than a pair of sweaty gym socks. This time you don't have that privelege because of the way you treat people. You can wish everyone good luck all you want and try to come off as an angel, but you know what your true thoughts and actions are, and you know exactly why you're being confronted. Finally, I knew you'd flatter yourself with thinking that this post was ALL ABOUT YOU. Don't flatter yourself; it's not. I wanted bowlers and bowling fans to know that it's time to step up and knock this season out of the park for the sake of the sport. No fights, no arguements, just good clean bowling and may the best team come out deservingly victorious. Matt, I still wish you good luck in the coming season, as do I to everyone else. I know the best will come out on top this time around.

Upcoming high-school bowlers in the state of Tennessee, this sport is beginning to lose its significance in large amounts, and very quickly. I can remember when I first moved to Tennessee my sophomore year and wanted nothing more than to make Soddy-Daisy's bowling team... That year, Hixson's boys won the state title and overcame some tough competition in the process. Next season, my junior year, Columbia Central rolled over a lot of genuinely good bowlers and earned their state title. The previous individual winners have been hard-working and mentally indestructable in their journey to the top. My final year as a high school bowler, I watched as Hixson went co-ed, a team whose boys and girls had both won state titles just a couple years earlier, I watched Columbia Central struggle to form a lineup literally the season after their big year, I watched the individual title go from Gary Faulkner (amazing bowler) to Michael Poirier (most inspiring bowler i've ever met) and then almost to Matt Lyon who would rather spend time fishing for algae-ridden boots and work on his golf game (for absolutely no reason) than spend an hour practicing with some of his closest friends in the bowling alley. I want to make him an example... If you're committed to the sport and believe you truly have the potential and desire to succeed at it, THEN DO IT ALREADY. Matt couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, couldn't convert single pins to save his life, at times had the mental game of a lunatic on drugs, and WE ALL SAT BY AND WATCHED HIM LUCK HIS WAY INTO BOWLER OF THE YEAR!!!! He will be the first to tell you that he did anything but EARN his 223 average this season, and I can't believe just months after this seemingly important event he'd rather do anything than work at his game. What's worse though is that he never ceases to think that he's way better than EVERYONE ELSE!!! The point is bowlers, prove him wrong already. This isn't about Matt, it's about YOU. Bring bowling back from the grave toward which it is headed and let's start earning our titles again, not throwing the ball anywhere and watching the pins all fall seconds apart from each other like Matt does... It's like watching a soccer game where the goalie punts the ball and all the players watch it roll into the other goal to win the game. Bowling is better than this, and we can do better. Make people who deserve to win earn the victory. Because I can't stand to see another year go by watching someone who thinks the sport is a complete joke OWN IT. Thank you, and good bowling this next season.