High school bowling is still gaining traction, and at Picayune Memorial High School Head Coach Adam Feeley and his crew have seen growth each year with more students joining the team.

High school bowling is different from professional bowling in a variety of ways.

Teams are allowed to have 5 bowlers, and their scores combine into a cumulative score that will determine the event winner.

Teams are allowed to substitute bowlers during the event in order to match up with the opposing team, and that’s when having a large crew can come in handy.

Feeley said that bowling is a sport that requires a lot of skill and precision, something that only comes from hours of practice.

“Bowling is about skill, whoever does it a lot will be really good at it,” Feeley said. “If you do it as a recreational thing then you won’t be as good.”

Last year, Feeley had a boy’s squad and girl’s squad, with the total number of students involved coming out to around 20. He said both teams had a decent year and progressed with time.

The girls finished fifth out of 17 teams and the boys finished the season fourth out of 18 teams.

“We did improve this year and I liked that,” Feeley said.

However, Feeley is fighting an uphill battle when it comes to drawing interest to the sport.

With most of the mainstream sports being so big, Feeley has to work to get more players, and to do that he has to sell the sport.

“They see it as a way to do something fun and unique,” Feeley said. “It’s hard to draw interest. Most of it comes with it being that unique sport.”

Feeley said sports like bowling are important because it gets kids involved and teaches them a variety of lessons that can benefit them later on in life.

“It helps you learn how to be accountable,” Feeley said.

“There are 4 other people depending on you. It teaches you a little about adversity too because sometimes you’re not on your game and you have to play through that. Being able to deal with situations and adversity is important.”

Getting kids into an extra curricular activity can be beneficial, and Feeley said that’s why he tries to get more students on the teams.

“These are sports where you catch people who fall through the cracks,” Feeley said. “It’s very important that kids are involved, and it helps the kids socialize.”

Feeley said he’ll continue to draw in more students so bowling will keep growing the way it has been in the coming years.

“Hopefully I’ll have a better showing and have more kids next year,” Feeley said. “We’ve had constant growth in members that are interested, and it’s a small sport that needs to maintain that growth.”