Starting with departure day, July 11, 2010.
At home, looking rather pleased and excited to get going:
Airport parking lot...Cory discovered on Mount Hood 3 years ago that the life of an athlete is very much the life of a baggage handler:
With a lot of "hurry up then wait"....
...while the rest of Team BC congregates:
Time to check-in at the flight counter:
See ya in London Cory - Good Luck!
Now onto the competition:
A strike in Game 1 versus Saskatchewan, and with a score of 251, 42 points over his average, Cory earns a point for his team which gains 6 out of 8 possible points:
During Game Two, this time vs Alberta, a score of 206, 3 points below his average, but still earns a point and his team earns 7 of the 8 possible points:
Then a nice spare with Cory's uncle Gilles cheering him on:
Game 3, against Prince Edward Island, and a score of 192 which would turn out to be Cory's lowest score for the entire competition. Cory does not earn a point and the team gains only 1 of the 8 possible points.
After punching the head pin, an awkward delivery that still takes down a couple of pins:
Then a strike with Uncle Gilles still cheering with a big "Yes!":
Another good ball, still against PEI on Day One, but the right corner refuses to fall:
Then Day Two, starting with Manitoba...a nice throw..and his mum groans as the left corner pin stays up:
Next it's the right corner pin's turn again, and it was starting to look like just one of those days!
But as he has learned, he forgets about the last ball and any thought of bad luck, and focuses on getting the spare.
Then two strikes in a row...and a focused attempt for a turkey (3 in a row), with dad doing some tongue-in-cheek play-by-play, that just misses:
Cory bowls 231 in this game, 22 points over his average, earns a point and the team takes 7 of the 8 points.
Looking back, it's clear that Cory was able to win this tournament not by throwing a lot of strikes - the most consecutive strikes he had was 3, and he only did that twice all week. He has bowled up to 6 in a row before. But his ability to not get discouraged by pins not dropping and focusing on getting the spare really gave him an advantage. This was a difficult bowling alley for the higher average bowlers as only 4 of the 30 top bowlers beat their averages. With the pins not dropping as easily as they normally do, bowlers who would normally get a strike with a good ball often left just one pin standing. So it really was the bowlers with the ability to focus on their second ball that did well. Bowlers with lower averages normally need two or three balls to get all five pins anyways so the pins staying up after the first ball didn't really affect them. But for those bowlers who bowl 4 or 5 strikes per game with averages in the 200-range, spares were the only way to get a high score.
Then onto the next game, a memorable one, this one against another team from Alberta. And things did not start well, with Cory punching the head pin in the first frame.
The next frame not much better as Cory misses his target:
And by the fifth frame, halfway through the game with only 60 points up on the board, Cory struggles with his composure and it's time for his coach Judy to have a chat:
And whatever Judy said, it worked. Cory came back with a strike in the 6th frame, and with this spare on his last ball of the game, put 163 points up on the board over the last five frames to finish at 223, 14 points over his average. You can hear me say "one of his best games ever" - not because of the score but because he had to overcome a lot of adversity to get there. His 223 is 14 points over his average but not quite good enough to earn a point and his team takes only 3 of the 8 points.
After the game, a few minutes to chat with Cousin Debbie, with Uncle Gilles looking on with his other Cousin Diane.
Then it's onto Day 3 and a game against the Northwest Territories. At this point, we knew Cory's team was in 2nd place, 3.5 points behind another team from BC, a team they will compete against in the second game of the day. That game could likely decide which team will go directly to the Gold Medal game the next day.
Here's a good looking ball against the Territories, but the right corner stays up:
But all the pins fall down on this shot:
The left corner stays up on the next shot, but Cory nicely picks up the spare:
Then a strike and this game seems to be going just fine:
But then a couple of open frames where Cory did not spare or strike, followed by a couple of strikes in a row, finishing with a score of 247, 38 points above his average,earning a point and the team takes all 8 possible points.
Then it's the game against the other team from BC, which will determine who will qualify for the Gold Medal game the next day. A good start...
But then this...
and this.....
and this.
Which means time for another chat with Coach Judy.
And again Coach Judy knows exactly what to say...
And that spare ends a game of 226, 17 points above Cory's average, earning one point for the team and the team earns 6 of the 8 points and takes 1st place, moving directly to the Gold Medal game the next day.
And, Cory has a total pinfall count of 1576 for the 7 games, 113 points over his average, and that gives him 1st place in the A Division where 6 of the other 7 bowlers did not beat their averages. The 2nd place bowler was 50 points above his average, so Cory's score was more than double his nearest rival. An excellent week of bowling under pressure in a difficult bowling alley for high average bowlers.
It's great to know that Cory prepared himself very well, both in practicing a lot by playing over 200 games during the winter as well as being prepared for the pressure and adversity. Certainly his coach helped him a lot but few champions can do it all on their own. He has learned that a good plan is the basis for good results, so now he is working on a plan for the upcoming ski season which hopefully will include a first-ever race camp in November to kick-start this qualifying winter of ski racing.
The team Gold Medal win is well documented in previous posts so that brings the story to his triumphant arrival back at Vancouver airport on July 18. We had flown back the night before in order to be there when Team BC returned, and other family members and friends were with us too.
Here's Cory at Vancouver airport with good family friend Elaine, Aunt Sandie and Uncle Brian, and his mum. Sandie had brought large Canadian flag, fitting for a national champion:
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Waiting for his luggage with Cousin Rebecca:
So that's it, 2 Gold Medals from the 2010 Special Olympics National Summer Games hang on Cory's bedroom wall. A first and wonderful experience at a National competition.
Bowling season restarts in about 3 weeks and there may be a few local tournaments to compete in, but of course this is a big ski year. We'll post again in a few months when the ski season is near.
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