Nationals - Day One - May 2

We were up and mobile by 6:30. Bailey and I showered first and then went down to eat the buffet breakfast to find that the hotel had set up the tiny restaraunt for meals for the teams. The place only sat around 80 people at once but there was probably 400 bowlers and their families to sit and eat all at the same time. The line up was out the door. STUPID. So anyways, kids and coaches left for Oshawa for pics etc. before the opening ceremonies at 8. We left shortly after 9.

Opening ceremonies were held in GM Place in Oshawa. They were short and sweet. The kids did a walk on parade thing...province by province. Then they had 5 or 6 short speeches.

The flags carried in:

The girls waiting to get lined up:

The Alberta Team starting in:

Jillian, Bailey, Cortney and Coach Kevin in the stands:


There are 366 competitors in both 5 and 10 pin bowling - team and individual events.

The entire Alberta Team:

ll the teams and the coaching staff:



The kids then got on the buses and headed out for their lunch - obligation.

We headed out to find the bowling alley and then found a restaraunt. After eating we went back to the lanes to watch the girls.

NOISY!!! 16 teams of 3 kids and coaches (8 boys teams and 8 girls teams) plus all the parents etc. watching. We had a blast. Jillian's mom went to the dollar store and bought pom poms - gold and blue. That really got us going. The girls all bowled really well. Bailey's wrist (which she had hurt 6 weeks prior to going to Nationals) held up until the middle of the 6th game...we went out to the van and got the ice pack, tylenol and the brace and that seemed to help.





This tournament is a POA tournament as well. Each team has a combined average that they have to beat. The two teams playing each other have their averages. The team that gets the winning point has to beat their team average by more than the other team. You can also get a half point if you tie. After 7 games, there are 3 teams who have won 6 games, 2 teams who have won 5 games and I don't know about the other 3 teams. Our girls at the end of Day One were tied for 2nd with 5 wins.

We went back to the hotel and discussed dinner and the one place that we really wanted to go to was busy busy busy. So we all piled into the big van and headed out to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at Boston Pizza. It was a great night of friendship and team building.