HIGH SCHOOL BOWLING: LaPorte County great Lesser gives South Central a boost in first season

LaPORTE

Several years after Justin Lesser finished tearing up the lanes in the region's high school bowling program, the LaPorte graduate can be seen at local meets again.

This time, it's part of a new beginning for a school south of LaPorte in the same county.

Lesser, who was honored last month as having the highest youth league average in the nation last season (a whopping 247 for 90 games at Thunderbird Lanes), is the assistant coach for South Central High School's inaugural season with a bowling team.

The record in the standings and the averages of the individual bowlers may not jump out at anyone (1-4 record in the Porter-LaPorte Conference, tied for fifth place), but it's been a thrilling ride so far for the former standout.

"It's been a blast," Lesser said. "I didn't think it would be this much fun. I thought it would be more serious."

South Central was close to joining the state's bowling program last season with Lesser's dad and owner of Thunderbird Lanes, Todd Apfel, pushing to get a team, any team, under the roof of his 24-lane center.

"The (South Central) principal last year didn't want to do it, but we talked to the athletic director (Kevin Hannon) this year and he was very supportive," Apfel said.

Apfel is officially listed as the head coach, but he's a very hands-on bowling center proprietor, so he can't always make the meets.

Not to mention Lesser can still relate to the kids and knows quite a bit more about the technical aspect of bowling.

"He actually communicates better with them than me," Apfel admitted. "He's using some of the skills and drills that we taught him over the years."

The new program gives kids at South Central a chance to compete in something new, especially at a small school that has a limited number of varsity sports in the winter (only boys and girls basketball with no swimming, wrestling or gymnastics).

"I like it a lot. I look at the personal achievements and just try to have fun" said junior Matt Homan, who was part of a school intramural program at Thunderbird one year. "Not many kids know or really care about the new team right now."

That might change after seeing the individual results.

Out of the nine boys on the squad, only two had any league bowling experience before this high school competition. Most were just barely averaging above 100, which isn't very good compared to most of the kids on other teams.

They've improved immensely under Lesser's instruction and leadership.

"Everyone's now averaging 130 or 140. In that short of time, that's one of the most impressive things I've seen," Lesser said.

"All of these kids are either juniors or seniors, so we'll have to see what happens in the next couple years. Hopefully they can recruit some freshmen and sophomores."

And maybe enough of their female classmates to form a girls team.

Contact Steve Gorches at 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com