Miss a measly cornerpin that’s worth two points and it can cost you cash or hardware in fivepin bowling.
Vernon’s Ashley Krause can throw strikes and spares all night, but making sure those nasty cornerpins are knocked down takes extra care and practice.
The 18-year-old missed a bronze medal by 1.5 points in singles match play at the 2007 4 Steps to Stardom Nationals in Winnipeg. She is determined to medal at the Youth Challenge scratch tournament, starting today in Regina.
“Dianne (Team B.C. coach McPhee of Vancouver) has come up a couple of times and we work on technique and cornerpins, making sure we clean up everything,” said Krause, a Grade 12 Kalamalka student. “I do the same things with (coaches) Bill Blair and Lawrence Kupryk in league on Sundays.”
Krause, who shares the senior YBC top average with Krista Koenig, at 217, was sizzling at the Youth Challenge provincial finals last November at Galaxy Bowl in Abbotsford.
She rolled a scorching eight-game total of 1,922 with 224-223-174-264-237-284-240-276, defeating Brittany Dacosta of Langley by 47 pins. Both girls will compete at nationals in singles and team play.
While in a zone where everything was going her way, Krause feels there was another reason she had such big success on that special Saturday.
“Not all the other competitors were bowling that well and I kind of jumped on that opportunity,” said Krause, who also plays Rep soccer. “My strength as an athlete is I’m able to stay calm and not get my emotions ahead of everything else.”
She started tossing bowling balls with two hands as a tyke, and under her father Ron’s guidance, became very good. So good they bumped her up to junior a year early.
“I was the only one using two hands in junior, but I learned pretty fast and caught on to one hand pretty quick,” she laughed.
Krause, who played for the Kalamalka Lakers in the recent senior AA basketball provincials in Kamloops, loves to compete and uses an inner peacefulness on the lanes.
“I’m quiet, I don’t talk much when I’m bowling.,” said the soft-spoken Krause. “You have to keep your focus. I get some soft music going (on her iPod) before I start. My music for soccer is a lot different than my music for bowling.”
Krause will follow up the thrill of the bowling nationals by going to Europe on a soccer tour in July. Her dad coaches the U18 girls team. She is a striker.
The Vernon team, with 10 locals, will play two friendlies in England and Germany before taking in the Women’s World Cup semifinal and gold-medal game in Germany.
A part-time employee of Fitness West, Krause will head back to Germany in September for a five-month school exchange to learn more of her ancestors’ language.
Blair and Kupryk have been coaching Ashley since she was five.
“Her attititude is very good,” said Blair. “She listens very well and she’s a nice girl. She’s easy to coach.”
Krause plans to eventually study education at Thompson Rivers University, and possibly play soccer for the WolfPack.