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Bowlers strike out in bid for funding
Loraine German
Mesa Legend
Mesa Community College’s bowling program faces stiff competition
against major universities whose funding is up to 300 percent greater.
“School budgets do not allow financial support for the bowling
club,(and) as a result, all monies needed must be raised by individual
and corporate sponsorships.” This is what a prospective booster
letter reads as written by head bowling coach, Karl Simonis.
In an effort to raise the money necessary for the team to compete
out of state, the group is hosting the Mesa Community College Cosmic
Bowling event.
The event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 27 starting at 1 p.m.,
in the team’s home bowling alley, Brunswick Zone Mesa.
There will also be a silent auction taking place at the event that
has a cost of $15 per person or $25 per couple. The money made will
benefit the MCC club/bowling team and Brunswick Youth Bowling.
In the five years that the team has existed, the team has made the
Junior College National finals on two occasions.
In all tournaments, the team competes against four-year universities
that have funding from their schools.
For example, Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO, gets $300,000
in funding for their bowling program alone. These numbers do not
compare to the $1,500 bill that the student government just approved
for the team.
A four-year university team also has an advantage by being able
to enter more tournaments, while a lack of funding keeps MCC out
of a number of them.
More tournaments result in more experience due to the number of
games they are able to play. Rodney Hilton, a volunteer team assistant,
tells MCC bowlers, “the only difference between them and us
is about 1,000 games.”
Brandi Clark, a sophomore on the team, said that competing in the
tournaments sets the bar at a higher level and that makes it nerve
wracking for them, but it is also encouraging. “While under
pressure, we play a better game.”
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