County's High School Bowling League Still Rolling Along

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Berkshire County High School Bowling League may have lost a team from the 2017-18 season, but it certainly did not lose any of its momentum.

 

In fact, participation actually is up a little bit from last winter, with 125 kids from eight schools participating in the sport, still considered a non-varsity club sport in Massachusetts.

 

On Thursday afternoon, the league's eight varsity and numerous JV squads packed more than half the lanes at Ken's Bowl in Week 3 of a season that culminates in March, when Berkshire County will look to claim its eighth straight state championship.

 

League President and Lee High coach Matt Fillio said the league's focus on fun makes it an attractive alternative for a lot of high schoolers.

 

"It's something fun for them to do," Fillio said. "Most of them don't have to pay anything. Some teams charge a little user fee. And it's only two days a week, so for a lot of them, they can still work.

 

"I know in the Saturday morning [youth] league, that's where we lose a lot of kids. They want to work. Here ... they come out and have one night of practice, one night of matches. And a lot of the coaches are pretty easy-going. If something comes up, and you say, 'I've got to work,' they're fine as long as you tell them."

 

Although the sport continues to go unrecognized by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and, thus, is not a varsity sport at any of the Berkshire County schools, some districts have been very supportive.

 

In Lee, for example, Fillio is thankful that the school committee has agreed to provide the team with a bus for the weekly competitions. And the district recognizes bowling as an activity seniors can use to replace physical education -- as they do for other sports -- in order to open up room for another elective on their academic schedule.

 

The school support pays dividends. This year, Fillio has 43 players of all abilities wearing the orange and black of Lee High.

 

Word-of-mouth is another draw.

 

"We've got more bowlers talking it up among their friends," Fillio said. "We've got a lot of younger kids. Hopefully, they'll stick with it."

 

Despite the league's obvious success, Fillio said that statewide recognition by the MIAA would benefit the sport.

 

Berkshire County League Secretary and unofficial historian Lou Orazio said it's a head-scratcher that the schools in Eastern Mass -- where bowling is not a major high school activity -- continue to block recognition by the state association.

 

Orazio, who has been with the league since its early days of four high school teams back in 2006, said that it got rolling after people in the Berkshires noted high school teams from New York crossing the state line to bowl at Cove Lanes in Great Barrington.

 

"In New York, they've recognized it since 1944," Orazio said. "Massachusetts is one of the few states in the country that doesn't recognize it."

 

Records on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association don't go back that far, but it does note that South Colonie High in the Albany area has four state championships, most recently in 2013.

 

In Massachusetts, the state meet is predominantly for schools from the Central and Western sections of the commonwealth, and Berkshire County schools have more then held their own in recent years.

 

Drury High won five straight titles from 2012-16, McCann Tech wrested the title in 2017, and Wahconah won it last year.

 

While filling the trophy case is nice, the really nice thing about the sport is the way it allows kids to learn a game they can play for the rest of their lives and get to know students from around the county. Only high school golf rivals bowling for the way players congratulate their opponents for their successes -- a birdie putt in the former, a strike in the latter.

 

"Most of these kids that are bowling aren't going to be playing something else," Fillio said. "Some of my seventh- and eighth-graders might be playing house league basketball, but they're not playing high school basketball. Some of the older kids might have played high school basketball at one time, but as they got older, they realized they're not going to play as much.

 

"Now, they can bowl with their friends and have a good time. For them, it's given them something else to do."