Arvin will hit the lanes at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on Friday morning.
“It’s actually very refreshing to know that you’re making such an impeccable history mark for the school,” she said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve done. My dad thinks Top 40 finish. I’m hoping to impress him with a Top 20 finish.”
Her dad Nick is a big part of this. Not only because he’s been a well-known area bowler for years, but because he’s the HHS girls coach.
Nick watched his daughter roll a 169-197-211—577 series in the district event at Beaver-Vu Bowl last Thursday. After Kaylee endured a three-hour wait to get the final results, she turned out to be the fifth of six individual state qualifiers.
“I think I got more nervous for that cut because I know how bad she was wanting to do it,” Nick said. “I think the dad part of it took over a little bit for me. To see the enjoyment out of a child’s face, that’s the thing about it.
“I think I probably would’ve been the same way if it would’ve been somebody else’s child sitting there if I was coaching them. But seeing my own daughter do it, yeah, it was a little bit different. Who wouldn’t say that?”
Her district showing had its own drama. Kaylee began the day with four open frames, a demoralizing start for a bowler who wasn’t satisfied with how she’d been performing the last couple weeks.
Nick said she needed a couple encouraging words and minor technical adjustments. He helped on both fronts.
“She was a little angry, to say the least,” Nick said. “I told her to go out and have fun. I said, ‘That’s what you’re here for. There’s 32 frames left, so make the best of them.’
“She left a 10-pin on her next shot and made it, and I think that was a big confidence boost to get that spare. Then she threw a three-bagger and cruised in from there.”
Kaylee admitted she let her emotions get to her early. She was a bit intimidated by some of the averages of the girls around her.
“To go out out there and bowl with them and against them was scary,” Kaylee said. “But I managed to get through it. I beat people I didn’t think I would ever be able to beat.”
She started bowling at a very young age, no surprise for a member of a deep-rooted bowling family.
But around the age of 10, Kaylee decided to step away from the lanes and give soccer her full attention. She wouldn’t return to bowling until her sophomore year at Hamilton.
Why did she decide to give the sport another shot?
“I knew I wasn’t bad at it, and I was like, ‘If I’m not bad at something, I guess I should probably give it a try,’ ” Kaylee said. “I showed up for tryouts, and I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to do it or not. I hadn’t picked up a bowling ball in years at that point, and I went out and shot a 170, a 160 and a 180-something. I was like, ‘OK, I should probably get back into it.’
“It’s more of a passion now. I think I’ve really grown into it, especially over my senior year. I guess the appeal of it is that I don’t have to rely on other people. It’s all self-oriented. Therefore, you can’t blame other people if you mess up. It’s all on you.”
Nick was surprised and pleased that she wanted to bowl again.
“She picked it back up pretty well and really got serious about it this year,” Nick said. “We made a lot of adjustments and made some adjustments to her equipment. She got a new ball — that always seems to help — and went up in weight from a 14-pound to a 15-pound ball. I think that’s helped her carry a little bit more.”
Kaylee is not a hard thrower and doesn’t have a lot of hook in her shot. She practices often with her dad, and they have a good player/coach relationship … most of the time.
“We used to fight a lot my junior year when he first started coaching, if he would say too much or not say enough,” Kaylee said. “I was never happy. At that point, I guess he started being more of a coach instead of the dad aspect, and it’s helped.
“He teaches me more than anybody. We’ll sit there and talk oil patterns, different spares, different shots. It’s like a guessing game. He’ll ask me out of nowhere one day, ‘OK, if you’re making a 7-pin, how many boards do you need to move?’ I’m just like, ‘Uh, nine?’ He’s like, ‘Right,’ and it’s all good.”
Her future won’t include school bowling, though she hopes to remain active in local events. Kaylee is planning to attend Northern Kentucky University and major in business administration.
“I’ve grown up in a bowling alley, this one to be exact,” she said while looking around the Game of Fairfield after a practice session this week. “I feel like nobody really realizes that bowling can be just as competitive as other sports, so they kind of overlook it. They shouldn’t do that.”
The 577 district series is the best three-game performance of her career, so Kaylee knows the state tournament will be tough sledding. Last year’s 20th-place D-I bowler shot a 595.
Kaylee said the key for her will be not overthinking the whole thing, and she admitted that’s an ongoing struggle for her. Nick said he’ll try to be a calming influence in Columbus.
“I’m going to be very, very nervous, but I should be OK,” Kaylee said. “We’ll talk through it.”
D-I State Bowling
What: Division I state bowling tournament
Where: Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl, 3224 S. High St., Columbus
When: Friday (girls) and Saturday (boys), 10:30 a.m. start both days
Local qualifiers: Kaylee Arvin, Hamilton; Mia Kordowski, Tanner Roark, Lebanon
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