I have played many other sports before finding the one for me. Softball, volleyball, cheer, track, and dance, I have tried it all. I would have never thought that bowling would be the thing I'm good at. So many hard weeks of lessons and practice were leading up to the biggest day of all. The most important day. My eighth grade state tournament.

No team, no help, just me. This was the day that I had to put together everything that I learned to keep calm and take the game one frame at a time. I left school early with my friend the day of state. When we walked into that bowling alley she was no longer a friend nor a teammate. She was just another competitor that I was going against.

I started off the first three games really good. But having to switch lanes ever game was not going in my favor. Every girl was throwing the same pattern as me and the lanes were drying out quickly. I was in tenth place out of 160 other girls after that third game. It was time for a lunch break.

I came back really nervous. I wanted to place really bad and bowl in the second round on day two. They had reoiled the lanes over break. I was happy thinking this will help my ball roll down the lane better. Nope!! It made it worse than it was before. I could not do anything to help it. Not even going back to the basics would have worked.

I was getting so frustrated. I dropped down 9 places after the fourth game. As soon as I found that out I got really nervous. I walked out of the bowling alley and told myself," calm down, you can do this, it's not the end. Come back strong and place". I walked back in ready to start my fifth game. I had six opens, this was not acceptable. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to cry. I cooled down and remembered the quote the high school coach told me, "One game, one frame at a time". I finished with six strikes in a row, and ended the fifth game with a 140. That did it, it brought me back up to tenth place.

It all came down to this last game, the game that can make or break it rather I place or not to make it to the second round, it has to happen this game. I couldn't get a strike even if I tried to buy one. All opens the entire game. I ended the game with a 90. A 90 is not acceptable considering my average was a 180 .That last game dropped me all the way down to sixty-second place. That was it, I was done, I had lost all my chances of placing at all. You had to have placed in the top sixty to make it to the second round. Eight pins and two places and I would have been competing in the second round on day two. That's two spares that I should have picked up.

Thinking about this kills me. I always think to myself "what if?' everyday. I wish I remembered that quote "one game one frame at a time" a lot more when I was having trouble. I was sad that I didn't place but it was a good experience for me. This really helped prepare me for tournaments bowling with and against older girls in highschool.