The Alberta junior male champion from the St. Albert Bowling & Rec Centre is on a roll.
Tyson Brook bowled above his 185 league average to qualify for the 52nd annual Youth Bowl Canada national championships.
“It’s the pressure,” said Brook, who rolled scores of 227, 175, 182, 324 and 222 for a 226 average at the YBC 4 Steps to Stardom provincials last February in St. Albert. “A lot of people think that pressure is a negative thing, especially in tournaments, but that pressure seemed to help me. I don’t know what it is about the pressure, it just kind of lets me know that I’m here to win something or to try and win something.”
Brook, 14, was bowled over, no pun intended, by the result.
“Going into it I didn’t expect to win but after I bowled the games that I did averaging 226 I started to think, ‘We’ll, I’ve bowled against these people before, they’ve beaten me by a lot before and I just bowled a bunch of good games that beat most of their games,’ ” said the fifth-year fivepin bowler. “At the end of the tournament before the results I was thinking, ‘I might actually win this. I think I will,’ so I had a different perspective going into it than coming out of it.”
Tyler Sisko, the runner-up, finished with a 201 average and one point ahead of Jeremiah Said in third place.
Brook was unclear where he ranked on the leader board going into the last game.
“They don’t tell you the results throughout the tournament. You find out at the very end,” he said. “If you want too you can figure it out in your head, kind of add up your games if you want and walk around and look at other people’s scores. I didn’t have any motivation to do so. I just wanted to stick to my own game and see what I can do.”
Brook was on pins and needles after the bronze-medal winner was announced during the awards ceremony.
“I thought, ‘OK, that’s not me. I don’t know but I might be top two.’ Then they went to silver and I went, ‘I think I bowled good enough to be in the top three so OK I must be first.’ Then they said first and that was great,” he said. “It’s intense sitting there watching the guy saying, ‘And in first place is...’”
The result was extra special for Brook, the house winner at the St. Albert alley for a berth at the Edmonton and area zone roll-offs for a shot at provincials and the ultimate goal of nationals.
“It means that a lot of people look up to me, particularly as a role model,” said the Grade 9 Sister Annata Brockman School student. “It’s great to represent not only St. Albert and not only Edmonton where I live but Alberta as a province.”
Brook’s first national appearance starts May 7 in Calgary against 11 bowlers from across the country.
“I hope to place third or fourth.”
