Alberta 5 Pin Open

From yesterday’s original post! Christine Wren 2012 in Lloydminster. Colton was just shy of turning one, and had come with us to provincials. I was still off on mat leave, but returning to work right away and then changing careers. Dad was there to full time grandpa for 3 days while Brett and I played on the ladies and men’s teams. We spent one night walking the halls and going up and down the stairwells with a kid who wouldn’t sleep. It was a totally new experience playing ...as a new mom, with a very different perspective on everyday life. We were up against some amazing teams, and pulled off an incredible win, my first on the ladies team! I played with some beautiful women all weekend, and the legendary Gerry Anderson as our coach The first Edmonton teams sweep I was a part of, and off to a successful Nationals in Gatineau for our team See more

Today’s memory is shared to us from Tim Wiseman!! 2010 Open Nationals Gold First time ever making an Open team, I was fortunate enough to be on the team with two of my idols growing up Bruce Morter & Lynn Howell (who was our coach). Many of you might not know, but another legend on our sport, Tom Stevenson use to work and coach us at Sherwood Bowl growing up. Tom brought us around the Bruce’s, Lynn’s, Geno’s and Dianne’s at an early age. It meant the world to me to particip...ate on a team with them. Your first gold is always the sweetest. Not that others don’t mean anything, the first one for me, always meant the most. I remember, as soon as the last balls were thrown, Bruce looked at all of us, shook our hands and said, Congrats, you are a National Champion. Forever in the record books. The thing they never tell you, is once you become a Champion, doing something that means that much to you, you will always be firmly bonded together in life. Sharing that experience with Dexter, you can never ask for a better experience. Mark Johnstone played on that team with us, turning out to be one of our closest friends. I am still good friends with Brett Mapstone & Sean Heller. It ended up being Bruce’s last National Gold. It was one of the first true experiences that bowling is much more than a sport to me. It gave me the confidence to feel that I can compete with the best and sense of belonging.

Well folks we wrapped up 30 days of singles profiles yesterday of all the individuals who earned the right to compete for our Alberta Open Singles Championships for the 2019-2020 season! In the spirit of all the photos and memories that have been blowing up my timeline for the last couple of weeks, I thought maybe we could start one with your favourite memories from the last 45 years of our Provincial Championships! So now that you have the time, dig through those old photo boxes and share some stories!! Post them to the page, send us a message, or email to [email protected] and we’ll make sure they get shared!

Saved our reigning Provincial Champion for last!! Wearing her green Edmonton Ladies threads, Jennifer Baker!! JENNIFER BAKER HAS BEEN BOWLING FOR A TOTAL OF 23 YEARS AND HAS A VERY IMPRESSIVE RAP SHEET. SHE HAS MADE OPEN TEAMS 8 TIMES, 7 TIMES AS A SINGLE AND 8 TIMES ON THE TEAM. SHE HAS A HIGH SINGLE OF 450, HIGH TRIPLE OF 1056 AND A HIGH 4 OF 1326. JENNIFER HAS BEEN TO NATIONALS A TOTAL OF 22 TIMES IN HER CAREER, 5 TIMES ON THE OPEN TEAM AND 3 AS A SINGLE. FOR MASTERS, 5 TIMES AS A SINGLE AND 3 TIMES ON THE TEAM. IN YBC SHE WAS ON THE TEAM 5 TIMES, AND WAS A SINGLE 3 TIMES. JENNIFER'S MEMORABLE MOMENTS INCLUDE: WINNING DOUBLE GOLD IN 2018 WITH THE NEWFOUNDLAND LADIES TEAM AND WINNING MASTERS SINGLES TOURNAMENT LADIES GOLD, AS WELL AS BEATING MITCH DAVIES AT THE REGINA CLASSIC.

Our last Men’s singles competitor representing Edmonton is Matt Schultz! MATT SCHULTZ RESIDES IN SHERWOOD PARK AND HAS BEEN BOWLING FOR 33 YEARS. HE HOLDS HIGH SCORES OF 450 SINGLE, 1160 TRIPLE AND 1410 QUAD. MATT HAS MADE 10 EDMONTON OPEN TEAMS, PLAYING TWICE FOR SINGLES. HIS NATIONAL APPEARANCES INCLUDE 5 TIMES AT THE OPEN, 13 TIMES AT MASTERS (TWICE AS A SINGLE), AND 8 TIMES IN YBC (TWICE AS A SINGLE AS WELL). MATT'S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ARE: WINNING THE 1999 ROSEBOWL AT 14 YEARS OLD AND BEING THE YOUNGEST MALE BOWLER TO MAKE IT INTO THE CANADIAN 5 PIN TOP 100.