Never Underestimate the Power of the Bumpers

From time to time, my family and I like to go bowling at a bowling alley near our home. We all put on our brightly colored bowling shoes and pick out just the right color of ball with the weight that works best for us. Then, while one of us holds onto Elisha, our two-year-old son, we each take our turn at rolling our ball down the slippery, waxed lane.

On one particular occasion, my oldest son, Channing, and my daughter, Kayla, asked if we could use bumpers on the lane in order to prevent our balls from ending up in the gutters. The staff at the bowling alley was very accommodating of our request and placed the bumpers in the gutters.

Channing went first, and we all watched as he ricocheted the ball off of the bumpers and knocked every one of the pins down - a strike on his first try. The ball must have bounced from side to side at least a dozen times as it made its way to wipe out the pins. Then, Kayla went second and rolled the ball down the center of the lane, but only half of the pins were knocked down. However, on her second try, Kayla took out the rest of the pins, scoring a spare.

I took my turn next and attempted to roll my ball down the center of the lane. I must have angled the ball in an odd way, because it only made contact with two of the pins. Even on the second try, I did not manage to knock over the rest of the pins.

My husband Michael then stepped up to bowl his ball and ended up scoring a spare as Kayla had done. He has always done well at sports.

As the game continued, we all watched in amazement as Channing strategically bounced his ball this way and that off of the bumpers until he ended up scoring a number of strikes and beating us all at the game. It was incredible how he knew how to angle his ball in a certain way in order to take out all of those pins.

Since then, we have been bowling without the bumpers, and Channing still beats us. We think pool might be another great game for him to try.