The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of her mother, national champion Driskell Rolle, P’Anté Rolle joined ‘one handed bandit’ Kenteeno Francis, all-around athlete Sarah Penn and Clarence Sargent as the four champions of the Youth National Junior Bowling Championships.

The quartet clinched their respective junior and senior girls’ and boys’ titles as the seven-week long tournament came to a close on Monday at Mario’s Bowling and Family Entertainment Palace.

The Ministry of Education, the Bahamas Bowling Federation and Mario’s Bowling jointly organised the tournament.

Despite the fact that they didn’t perform as anticipated, tournament organiser Angie Smith said the two finalists in each division will go on to represent the Bahamas at the Junior Tournament of Americas July 23-29 at Strikers Lane in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“The selection was very good. I’m sure that they are going to do a great job once they get into Florida and get on the lanes to get a feel for it,” she said. “

P’Anté Rolle, a student of Queen’s College, secured the junior girls’ title as they out-pinned Chante Bain of SC McPherson 129-108 in the final showdown.

Jodeyn Newton of SC McPherson, Beyonce Stuart of HO Nash and Rose Curry of LW Young rounded out the top five.

“It feels good, but I felt my performance was definitely not the best,” said Rolle, who has been bowling for a couple years after watching her mother perform. “I got a gutter (in the sixth frame), I was missing a couple of spares, but I managed to pull it together. I knew that I would win it. It feels great to have won it.”

Leading from start to finish, Rolle said her mother really inspired her and she was appreciative of the support she got from her.

Francis, given the nickname the ‘one-handed bandit’ after he suffered an injury to his left hand and had to have it placed in a cast, said he wasn’t going to let his disability get the better of his performance.

“I feel good, great,” said Francis, who picked up a spare on his final frame to secure his junior boys’ win 103-101 over Sion Coleby from SC McPherson.

“It was a close game. I just didn’t want to lose. It’s an amazing feeling to be the champion. My right hand didn’t let me down.”

Thamari Rolle of Nassau Christian Academy; Elvardo Johnson of CH Reeves and Raymond Adderly of CH Reeves were the next three finishers.

Another close encounter took place in the senior girls division where Sarah Penn of CI Gibson held of Padesha Kelly 160-147 for the title.

“It was good, but it was a lot of pressure. I’m just glad I got through it. It feels good to win,” said Penn.

“I don’t think I bowled the best I could, but it wasp okay, but it feels great to be the champion.”

And in the senior boys division, Clarence Sargent missed a spare at the end of his match and sat on “pins and needles” as he waited for Nickbert Emepue from CR Walker to complete his final frame.

“I felt my heart pumping after I missed the spare,” the Doris Johnson’s 12th grader said. “It was good. I was kind of relaxed until I got to the ninth frame and then I felt the pressure.

“But my coach (Doris Ramsay) told me to just calm down and go for it. It feels good to have finally gotten through it and to pull it off.”

Robert Coakley and Stefon Wilmore, both of Government High and Johanthan Dames of CR Walker completed the top five field.

Smith, the coordinator of the tournament, said despite the fact that the bowlers didn’t perform up to their expectations in the final, they still ended on a high note.

“All of the bowlers turned in some good scores from the tournament started,” said Smith, of the initial event that took of on April 26. 

“The scores were not what we expected, especially from P’Anté, but she did very well from day one. I think all of the bowlers who won were expected to win. They were the top seeds at the end of the tournament, so there wasn’t any surprises.”

Having pricked the interest of the bowlers in the high school system, Smith said the federation is looking at the possibility of staging a mother-daughter and father-son competition on Mother’s and Father’s Day respectively.

And during the summer, she said they intent to stage a boot camp in July for those bowlers who will be interested in continuing in the sport.

Smith publicly thanked the Ministry of Education and Sports Director Evon Wisdom; Mario’s Bowling and Entertainment Palace and the coaches and bowlers from all of the schools that participated.

Raymond Adderley, Tara Culmer, Tara Johnson and Byron McClain all assisted Smith in ensuring that the bowlers were properly instructed on hoe to play the game.