The Menchville Bowling Teams, The Mad Strikers and the Monarch Babes 2.0 meet at York Lanes every Tuesday and Thursday evening to have some fun and tip some pins. Many might be surprised at the amount of people running up and down the lanes, bowling isn’t talked about nearly as much as football or basketball, but it certainly seems to be a great sports community nevertheless.
The Menchville teams were certainly having a good time on the lanes, high- fives and fist-bumps after every strike and spare. Even some of the other teams around them were supportive: talking advice, demonstrating techniques. The floor managers too seemed to have good relationships with the teams, talking like old friends and neighbors.
“We aren’t the best team out there, but we are getting better by far,” said Nancy Anderson, sponsor of the Menchville Bowling Team, “Our boys team has especially improved, they qualified for the state championship in Richmond.” Freshman Hayden Campbell said “The team has really helped a lot, I haven’t even bowled in the last seven years.” Well, it certainly doesn’t show as both Hayden and Josh Mullen bowl strike and spare one after another. The best scores of the day went to Mullen, graduating in 2017, with a total of 452, and Caylyn Cook, graduating in 2017, with a total score of 458.

The Menchville Team is very different from other competitive sports teams, it seems to be a much more casual and friendly environment. “It’s not like other sports, it’s not like baseball where not everyone gets to play a game. Everybody gets a chance to bowl and nobody just sits out,” says Mrs. Cook, one of the attending parents.