Spring-Ford is home to many long-standing athletic traditions. The football team has been around for well over half a century, the girls basketball team won the state championship a few years back, and the boys lacrosse team hasn’t lost a single game against a PAC opponent for the last seven years.
So when something new in the great wide world of sports falls upon the ears of a Spring-Fordian, you best be sure that we will embrace it — especially when it is the addition of an entirely new sport.
Enter Spring-Ford’s varsity bowling team. Guided by head coaches Mallory Green and Ryan Souder, the program took flight for the first time in school history, with supporters rapidly growing in numbers as students flocking to watch the matches.
While sporting their blue and gold bowling shirts (which many have voiced their approval of), the team has started hot, winning their first two matches ever.
The squad is divided up into three groups: a boys varsity, girls varsity, and a junior varsity. There are five members on each Varsity group.
The boy’s varsity team consists of Matt Hansen, Jared Bowman, Matt Anderson, Brennan Doan and Bobby Schneeweis, a group that has been performing with precision and skill.
During the first tryout, Hansen famously bowled a 300, or in non-bowler terms a perfect game of all strikes. The girls team, made up of Ashley Della Guardia, Sydney Sherrick, Sarah Derosa, Lauren Black and Ashley Hudak. The group also has been performing at a surprisingly high caliber for a brand new team, competing in a slew of close matches.
With only seven other teams in their division, the squad hosts most of their games at Limerick Bowl and occasionally hit the road to go play at other bowling alleys.
Luckily, other schools who have bowling teams such as Pottsgrove also use Limerick Bowl, making it a neutral site when the two teams play. And, with their playing field also being a local hangout, spectators are allowed to bowl a few lanes down from where all the action is, being able to play the sport while they also watch and support their classmates.
The team has also caught the eyes of students and teachers alike with their lavish and, as Senior Class President James Mullen calls them, “the toughest jerseys in Spring-Ford.”
With a head of steam and the swagger that could only be possessed by the newest sport in school, the team looks to add onto their already impressive start.