Matthew Meehan has been bowling for four to five years, his interest first started after a hospital trip.
“I got out of the hospital because I had something with my eyes and when I was at home I saw it on tv and I thought that it was really cool, and decided that I wanted to do it” Meehan said.
While at home his interest in bowling sparked.
“I was all for it” Matthews mother Roseanna Meehan said. She was excited to see Matt start bowling. “I was all for not having kids get locked into one sport and I know it’s harder when you get older because time commitments get so heavy.” Roseanna said.
Meehan practices a few times a week, and generally bowls around six games per practice. “Matt usually bowls two to three times a week” Roseanna said.
Meehan also bowls on the weekend in competitions.
“On Saturdays he has Junior League, which is normally up in the Allentown area, and then Sundays are sometimes tournaments, which are from Jersey, to Maryland and Harrisburg, so we do a lot of driving.” Roseanna said.
According to Meehan he also enjoys many aspects of bowling and he relates it to golf.
“I like the competitiveness of bowling because it’s kind of like golf. There are different oil patterns in bowling like there are different courses in golf. In golf you use clubs for different lies, and in bowling I use different balls for different oil patterns.” Meehan said.
An oil pattern is a layer of oil that is placed on top of a lane that varies the ability for the ball to spin and curve. “The heavier the oil, the less the ball curves, and the lighter the oil the more the ball curves” Meehan said.
Meehan competes in larger scale competitions as well. “There’s this competition that I compete in called Junior Gold, which is a national tournament. In U-fifteen alone I was one of 700 and that’s just for my division.” Meehan said.
Meehan has also traveled to Detroit and will be traveling to Las Vegas Nevada for Junior Gold in the summer.
Avery Taylor, a freshman at Souderton Area High school and friend of Meehan’s says that Matt seems to enjoy bowling.
“Bowling looks really hard, and it’s very hard to master, but Matt seems to have it down and he knows what he’s doing” Taylor said.
From an outside perspective a lot goes into bowling. “Matt seems to take bowling very seriously. If he messes up a shot you can see that he’s annoyed, but he tends to know how to fix it.” Taylor said.
To others Meehan has good qualities and bowling suits him well. Meehan takes bowling seriously but he enjoys it very much, and to him it is a big part of his life.
“Bowling is important to me because it is a way to have fun and get away from things.” Meehan said. Since the bowling community is small Meehan encourages others to join. “Go out and try it, it might be something you like.” Meehan said.