By Lindsay Chung
It’s a cold and snowy Monday night, but that’s all forgotten when one opens the door to Kent Bowling Lanes in Centretown. The sound of bowling balls rolling down the lane and bowling pins falling mixes with laughter and chatter as teams get together for another night of league fun.
While open bowling at Kent Lanes has declined, league bowling is on the rise.
“There’s a generation changeover when the kids hit a certain age. Kids are coming to the adult leagues, so you have an increase,” says David Stevenson, whose family owns the alley.
His father Richard agrees.
“Bowling is always steady. It has its ups and downs, and it’s coming back.”
Another five-pin bowling alley in Ottawa sees somewhat different results.
John Pilon, manager of West Park Bowling on Wellington Street, says league bowling at his alley has neither increased nor decreased, while open bowling has risen slightly.
Patrick Thompson is president of the Monday night league at Kent Lanes. The league took up six lanes when he started bowling seven years ago and now it takes up 10.
Delores Whitman, who has been bowling at Kent Lanes for five years, thinks people choose league bowling over open bowling because of the social aspect.
“It’s a team atmosphere. You build friendships and cheer for each other, and it helps motivate you to come every Monday,” she says.“If you have a day job, it’s a good way to release your energy.”
David Stevenson says Kent Lanes has seen an increase in league bowling in the last two years because other bowling alleys have closed. Queensway Bowling Lanes at Hampton Park Plaza closed most recently. Aladdin Lanes on Donald Street and Kanata Klassic Bowl also closed in the last few years.
He says the no-smoking bylaw has also played a part.
“When the bylaw came in, smokers left, but the non-smokers came back,” he says.
James Kelly, a league bowler for seven years, says the increase is due to word-of-mouth.
“At the start, we got everyone to ask one person to come, and that’s how it’s built up,” he says. “There’s a lot of husbands and wives.”
Eighty-year-old Joe Iles is the oldest bowler in the Monday night league. He has been bowling for 50 years and has bowled at Kent Lanes since the 1970s. When he started bowling, he played in alleys that had only four lanes, and he says Kent Lanes had 10 when he first went there; there are now 20. He got started because his church had a bowling league, and says he goes back because of the people.
One of them, Karen Foster, has bowled there for seven years.
“It’s affordable, it’s fun, and you meet lots of people,” she says of the sport’s appeal.
On a Saturday afternoon at Kent Lanes, a large group of giggling girls comes in for a Glow Bowling birthday party, but otherwise it is fairly quiet.
“Last year at this point in time, we were packed,” David Stevenson says, looking around at the number of empty lanes. He says that while open bowling has decreased, Saturday nights are still busy.
John Palmer, who brought his daughter to a birthday party, says bowling is a great activity for families.
“Things have gotten so expensive,” he says. “I could probably take my daughter and two sons for two hours bowling for a fun afternoon for less than taking one to a movie.”
Open bowler Dave Whalen, 22, says he picks up the bowling shoes once in a while.
“I like the competitiveness of it,” he says. “It’s not like a lot of other sports that are really gritty; there’s a lot of skill involved.”