Central Ohio high school boys bowling preview: Growing sport deals with housing crunch
Aidan Furukawa misses the slick wooden surface at Capri Lanes. A junior on the Big Walnut boys bowling team, he’s adjusting to a new home this season.
The Golden Eagles were forced to move to Columbus Square Bowling Palace after Capri shut its doors last spring.
“The biggest part for me is adjusting to the new lane surface,” Furukawa said. “Capri had wooden approaches, and they were a lot slicker compared to the Palace’s synthetic (surface). I’ve had my issues in the past with the tacky surfaces, but they’ve gotten much better. I don’t have too much to complain about. I’m just happy we have a place to bowl.”
Super 12: Central Ohio's top boys bowlers entering 2022-23 season
Super 7: Central Ohio's top boys bowling teams entering 2022-23 season
Finding a good home has been a growing concern among central Ohio bowlers and coaches. Capri, Eastland Lanes and Grove City Lanes all have been shuttered in the last decade, making the task even tougher.
“There’s (more than) 50 teams in the (Central Ohio High School Bowling Conference), and we’ve had two houses close since I’ve been here,” said Teays Valley coach Nick Bolyard, who is in his seventh season. “Eastland closed a few years ago and that vacated some teams on the east side, and Capri just shut down on the north side and that vacated (four teams), so that’s a concern.”
Losing Capri, which housed Big Walnut, DeSales, Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne, is taxing the other bowling centers, according to Jo Dimond, who is tournament manager for the Central District and COHSBC conference coordinator.
'It seems to be growing faster than we have lanes for'
Big Walnut and Thomas moved to the Palace and DeSales and Kilbourne will bowl out of HP Lanes, which houses the most teams in the COHSBC at nine.
“We’re growing,” Dimond said. “I’m running out of lanes to put teams in. We had a bowling center (Capri) close this year and they sponsored four high schools, so we had to find homes for those high schools. ... It seems to be growing faster than we have lanes for.”
Economics is part of the reason it’s difficult for bowling teams to find a house, or at least lane time.
“When I started bowling, 40-some years ago, there were probably 28 or 30 bowling centers around the city,” said Jamie West, who coaches Westerville South and is an assistant general manager at the Palace, which houses the Wildcats, Westerville Central, Westerville North and Olentangy Orange in addition to Big Walnut and Thomas.
“Getting lane time for a lot of schools is a hardship,” West said. “We’re the largest bowling center in the city. But the winter is when we get company parties and that type of stuff, so it’s hard for us to give up the whole house for (high school) practices and have matches when you’re trying to make money. We just don’t have the lane availability because we’re still a business.”
Hilliard Bradley travels 18 miles to its home at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, but there’s a good reason.
“(Wayne Webb’s) lets us do things that other centers wouldn’t,” Jaguars coach John Thompson said. “We run tournaments in here. Our Jaguar Baker tournament is well recognized throughout the state and sells out every year. The house here is great for tournaments because you’ve got the raised floor, so parents can actually see some things.”
Wayne Webb’s houses the Jaguars along with Groveport Madison, Hamilton Township, Independence, Marion-Franklin, Columbus South and Teays Valley. It also hosts the state tournament.
“(We) had three high school teams fighting for 16 lanes (at Ten Pin Alley),” Thompson said. "When one team had a match, you couldn’t have practice. So, if you have three teams having matches, it limited our practices. (Wayne Webb’s) is a great house.”
@ThisWeekRich
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Columbus high school boys bowling preview for 2022-23
