The Southwest Elementary Schools Bowling League is in its first season
Nov. 9, 2023—Sanders Elementary School teacher Troy Nethery learned trash-talk can inspire some good ideas.
"I was [at Dixie Bowl] doing a bad bowling league with some people I work with at Sanders, and one of the kids on the team was competing a few lanes down and said, 'Hey Mr. Nethery' and he was commenting on how bad my score was," Nethery said. "And he said, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had a bowling league for us?' And so I said, 'Let's try it!'"
That student is fourth grader Kaden A. He's also the one student who Nethery says is a better bowler than him.
Kaden says it makes him happy knowing he's a better bowler than Nethery because "he's older and I'm younger."
The Southwest Elementary School Bowling League is in its first year featuring teams from Sanders, Medora, Dixie, Greenwood, Eisenhower, Kerrick, and Johnsontown Road Elementary Schools.
Right now, the league is doing a four-week "test run" with the hope it's popular enough to warrant a longer spring league.
"One of the things I care about is having those opportunities for kids that they don't necessarily always get," Nethery said. "Not every kid makes the basketball team, but this is a team where you can keep working on your skill and keep developing it, and even if you come in dead last, you're gonna have fun doing it."