Home on the lanes
Bowling falls in and out of popularity, but don't tell that to a league bowler: Some bowl in two, three, four leagues a week, and you can catch several of them on "Hawaii TV Bowling," airing at 4 p.m. Saturdays on KWHE.
"Oh yeah, you turn on the TV and you'll see a lot of people you know," said Cynthia Tam, who bowls weekly at Leeward Bowl.
Hers is a small, cozy league with only seven teams; other leagues contain as many as 17 teams. One of the league members dreamed of becoming a professional bowler before settling down and having six kids.
Family is present everywhere at Leeward Bowl, a dimly lit place filled with the chatter of bowlers and about 25 spectators who gather each week to watch. The spectators, perched behind the ledge at the top of the stairs like black crows on a telephone line, are acquainted with most of the bowlers in the pits below as non-bowling parents, kids, siblings, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and husbands.
Tam bowls with her husband, Milton Sr., and their youngest child, Milton Jr., in the Monday league. As Milton Jr. talks in between frames with his friends and makes casual wagers on upcoming frames, his mother sits with daughter Charmaine.
The whole family bowls: Eldest son Michael, 33, is a sub for the team and middle child Charmaine, 31, bowls in Special Olympics. Charmaine serves as her mom's cheering squad during league play.
"We wanted to find something we could do as a family," Cynthia said. The Tams have now been bowling together for more than 10 years.
"We bowl for fun and relaxation. It's not a hard sport, but it is a challenge, trying to do well, and sometimes you don't. My husband will give me advice, and you just try to bowl as good as you can. Besides, when you're not doing well, somebody else (on your team) is usually doing good."
Michael agrees that bowling is a great way for families to spend time together, though he adds that jackpots ranging from $30 to $1,000 per game provide good incentives.
"It's good to bowl with family," said Michael, who practices once a week. "Me and my family bowl well together. But bowling isn't free, so (I) play for jackpots. I'm competitive. You're in it to win. If you're doing badly, it doesn't feel too good. But if you're doing great, that's a good feeling. If you get into it as a sport, start when you're young. Then you go back and get better."
Some children watching their parents bowl are barely knee-high, winding their way around adults' legs, reaching for boiled peanuts or other treats, while preteens spend time preening with friends as they explore the alley.
Nearly every night and every morning, there is a league gathered at the alley. On Saturday nights -- one of the more popular nights for leagues -- the parking lot is packed with cars and karaoke music can be heard from the outside. But on slower nights, there are a few lanes open for couples, groups of friends or single-minded bowlers who want to practice.
One Monday night, a group of kids on a double date chatter loudly while competing against each other. One of the girls curses at her date after her ball misses some pins, and he offers her some advice. Next to them, a group of five women cheer loudly in Japanese whenever they get a strike or spare, which is nearly as often as the league bowlers. Sharing their lane is a young man practicing alone. One of the league members gives him advice between shots of his own.
Ready for an evening at Leeward Bowl is the Tam family: Charmaine, left, Cynthia, Milton Sr. and Milton Jr.
"Every weekend, a lot of the bowlers get together," said league secretary Gina Yasuda, who has been bowling since she was 4. "You see each other twice a week and you think that would be enough. You'd think we would be sick of each other, right? But we're not. We have barbecues and bring our kids and go to the beach or go night fishing."
Yasuda even met her husband, Myles, through bowling.
"We were bowling kids," said Yasuda, whose mother-in-law, Carol, is general manager at Leeward Bowl. "I even gave up hula practice for bowling practice.
"We both grew up in the bowling alley and we were bowling brats. Now that I think about it, I was there nearly every day because my mother bowled in so many leagues -- twice on Fridays, Mondays, Tuesdays. ... We didn't know each other, but we saw each other around. We went to the same junior high (Highlands Intermediate in Pearl City), but didn't talk to each other."
Most of Yasuda's family met their mates through bowling. Her mother, Angie Rogers, met her current husband through bowling. Yasuda's mother and her mother-in-law bowled together in a Friday morning league for several years. Yasuda met her husband when he joined her mother's Tuesday night league. They married in January 2001.
"I knew his mother, but I hadn't realized he was her son," Yasuda said. "It's funny. We are total opposites. He's so quiet and I'm talkative. (But) I didn't know anyone in the Tuesday league so he would start talking to me. Tuesday nights were how the whole thing started. I tell people, 'You need to go beyond the walls of the bowling alley.' Then what do I do? I marry a bowler."
And now, their 1-year-old, Zackary, a toddler with short, spiky hair, is interested in the sport. He mimics his mother's swing as she bowls.
"He has his own ball. A real one, not a plastic one," Yasuda said. "He finally got to use it last Christmas. And now he always wants to bowl. His first word was 'ball.'"
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