3 days ago
Harlem High School's mental toughness drives success in bowling championships
MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. (WTVO) — The Harlem High School Huskies have earned their way to another national championship in bowling.
Both the boys' and girls' teams competed in Indiana over the weekend and walked away as National Runner-Ups and National champions, respectively.
The trip to the championship wasn't easy, as Harlem senior Andrew Bell said. Bell described the challenges his team faced throughout the season.
'I had a hard time at state,' Bell said. 'I had so much riding on it. Mentally, I really wanted to perform for my team. I felt like I had to be the rock, but it just drained me, and I completely forgot how to walk and throw the ball.'
Bell said some of his teammates also went through a tough mental battle this season, and it taught him how important the mental part of the game is.
'Mental is probably like 60, 70% of all sports,' Bell said. 'You can be on top physically, but if you can't control the mental, it's not any good.'
On the girls' side, Ashlin Teves is a three-year varsity bowler. She said she sees the program's success as an opportunity to inspire future bowlers.
'It's like a privilege to be able to like, have like a target on my back,' Teves said. 'I don't really see it as pressure. I just see it as people, they look up to us, they want to be like us.'
Jim Heathscott has been the girls' head coach for 25 years. He said he credits the team's success to their focus on the controllables.
'We don't watch them, we can't tackle them, we can't throw marbles on the ground,' Heathscott said. 'It doesn't matter what they're doing. We have to make sure we're taking care of ourselves.'
Bell said he leaves behind the legacy of family, which he said is something he learned from his teammates and coaches.
'They're all family to me because we've just grown up like that and the coaches are really enforcing that,' Bell said. 'They are not really all about the physical thing; with the coaches it's all mental, and that's why I think our team has always been so good.'
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