Bowling proves great way to launch a new year
Josh Karen ’18 of the swimming/diving team says yes to pizza. (Ed Burke photo)
Coach Joe Burke, left, assistant Rey Crossman, and the Men's Basketball Team. (Ed Burke photo)
Hockey player Marc Cibelli ’17, best-dressed award-winner (left), Natalie Taylor and teammate Connor Van Arnam ’17. (Ed Burke photo)
One athlete demonstrates winning form. (Ed Burke photo)
Members of the hockey team, ready to get to work. (Ed Burke photo)
An athlete launches a possible strike. (Ed Burke photo)
Coach Darren Bennett and the Women's Basketball Team. (Ed Burke photo)
Members of the hockey and women's basketball teams on break.(Ed Burke photo)
American Studies Professor Greg Pfitzer demonstrates winning style. (Ed Burke photo)
Professor Flagg Taylor (right), with members of the Women's Basketaball Team. (Ed Burke photo)
Who doesn't love an afternoon of bowling? (Ed Burke photo)
Fun with friends -- a great way to start a new year. (Ed Burke photo)
Rey Crossman, assistant men's basketball coach, notched a 190 for second highest score. (Ed Burke photo)
On the court or in the pool, athletes are the stars. But at the bowling alley, it’s coaches who seem to excel.
That’s how it worked at the 2016 bowling party for Skidmore’s winter athletes, coaches, athletics staff, and faculty. Coordinated again this year by Flagg Taylor, associate professor of government, the event at Saratoga’s Hi Roc Lanes is an informal gathering designed to promote fun and relaxation, he said.
“I started this four years ago as a way to ‘break up the break’ for the winter athletes,” he explained. “They have a lot of pressure to practice and compete, and I wanted them to have a chance to get away from that routine.” The Student Affairs Office funded the bowling party.
Some 80 Skidmore people took over about half of Hi Roc’s lanes for two hours. According to Taylor, while many athletes are terrific at basketball or hockey or swimming, they are not strong bowlers. Top scorers at the Skidmore event were Cornelius Tavarres, associate women’s basketball coach, who notched 200, and Rey Crossman, assistant men’s basketball coach, who followed with 190. Freshman Chase Ta (men’s basketball) and senior Ben Freiberg (ice hockey) scored 163 and 157; sophomore hockey teammates Travis Kauffman and Sean Timmons posted scores of 155 and 153.
The best faculty bowler was Taylor, nailing four strikes in a row on his way to a score of 154. Meanwhile Greg Pfitzer, an American studies professor waiting for shoulder surgery next week, turned out to be an ambidextrous bowler who willingly played through the pain.
Professor Natalie Taylor, Flagg’s wife, “started out with spare, strike, strike—thus scaring many of the ice hockey players in the lane next to ours,” he reported. “But then she collapsed rather quickly under the pressure of the extremely high bar she set for herself.”
All attending enjoyed the afternoon of fun, laughs, and lots of pizza.
