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Bringing youth to bowling

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Photo by Ken Veloskey

Cousins Danielle, left, and Crystal Roeber have been bowling since kindergarten and are among the best young bowlers in Janesville.

JANESVILLE — Crystal and Danielle Roeber of Janesville are good news for local bowling.

Crystal is a 21-year-old elementary education major at UW-Whitewater, and her cousin, Danielle, is a 16-year-old junior at Janesville Parker High School. Each started bowling as a pre-schooler.

Crystal is the lone woman bowler in the El-Ra Monday Classic League and holds a 206 average. She bowls with Mike Dunham, Brandon Grover, John Dixon and Bob Schenck on team sponsored by the Watering Hole.

“She handles (bowling with men only) very well,” said Schenck.

While handling the adult league with aplomb, Crystal is sensitive to bowling’s future among the Wii generation.

“I help with the youth programs,” said Crystal, who works at El-Ra. “I coach every Saturday.

“It’s kind of hard for me, knowing that my job depends on the people who come out here and bowl. It really bothers me that we’re losing youth bowlers every year.’’

Bowling is not lost on her young cousin.

Danielle has been a member of Parker’s club team since her freshman year, and she competes in Janesville’s youth leagues, bowling—just like Crystal did—six times a week.

Crystal, a 2005 Parker graduate, bowled on Parker’s two-time state runner-up teams.

Despite the Parker club team’s overall success, Danielle and her teammates go unnoticed at school.

“No one knows that there is a team at school,” said Danielle. “We have a school paper, and they put an article in once, and people say, ‘Oh, there is a bowling team at Parker’ ”?

Dave Biggerstaff, Parker’s club team coach, believes the team is worth noting.

“We are very blessed with a lot of good young bowlers on this team,” Biggerstaff said.

The Parker girls team has strong senior leadership in Taylor Biggerstaff, who rolled a 300 as a freshman, Jensen Wallisch, Ashley Albright and Kelsey Bystad.

Biggerstaff said Danielle has made big strides.

“Danielle has progressed in a big-time way the last two years,” Biggerstaff said. “Her game has really developed.’’

While Biggerstaff has promoted bowling in his family with Taylor and his older son, Kyle, the irony for the Roeber cousins is that bowling is not a family tradition. Neither of their mothers or fathers are avid bowlers.

“They’re not good, but they try,” Danielle said of her parents’ bowling prowess.

While their parents did not visit the lanes with regularity, they made sure Crystal and Danielle were bowling because it kept them busy and out of trouble.

Bowling kept them on task, and they each became real good along the way.

Crystal bowled her first 300 when she was 18 and has marked a 775 high series. Crystal had a 288 this season.

Danielle recently posted 723 and 716 series. She rolled a 296 last April.

“I wasn’t paying attention to the score until somebody told me after I threw my first ball in the 10th frame,” Danielle said, recalling her near miss at her first 300. “Then I was scared.

“My 11th ball was really good, but my last ball wasn’t,’’ Danielle added.

Crystal marked perfection in bowling for the first time in an adult women’s league.

“I did pretty bad my first game. I had like a 170,” said Crystal. “I came back with a 213 and then shot 300 my last game.’’

Perfection hit her like a bolt of lightning.

“I was just in shock,” Crystal said. “The whole entire bowling area was silent. That was nerve-wracking.’’

It’s no shock that the Roeber cousins are looking forward to bowling together. Danielle will be 17 this July. Bowlers must be 18 to compete in an adult league.

“We are looking forward to it,” Crystal said.

That will be more good news for Janesville bowling.