Acton’s Caleb Eggett perhaps knows better than anyone else what it means to have a passion.
His love for bowling began as a toddler and has persisted through challenging times, such as the pandemic. With the world shut down and no place to hone his skills, the 17-year-old got creative. He practised on the grass in his backyard - a decision that paid off as he recently qualified to compete in two national tournaments.
“I’m excited because I get to meet a bunch of new people,” he said about the tournaments. “[Playing on grass} definitely helped with the muscle memory because after COVID, once I went back for the first year, I had jumped an average of 160s and 170s to about 200."
He and his teammates will be representing Southern Ontario in the Youth Bowl Canada (YBC) Championships in Guelph and the Canadian Tenpin Federation’s (CTF) Canadian Youth Championships in Sault Ste. Marie. The YBC event will run from April 17 to 19 and the CTF tournament starts on May 18 and ends on May 21.
In order to get to where he is now, he won the provincial rounds in both leagues. The YBC will have a singles and teams portion and the CTF competition will have singles, doubles and team events. Eggett will be playing in all of them.
Mother Ashley Manasterski said her son first picked up a bowling ball when he was a mere 15 months old. She added that Caleb was three when he first entered a league and 10 when he started going to tournaments.
“This is our first time going to the nationals,” said Manasterski, who's known around Acton for her Take a Plant, Leave a Plant initiative.
She said she'll be pushing her son to “stay out of his head” when he picks up the ball.
When asked about where his passion comes from, Eggett returns to his familiar mantra.
“It's just the fact that I’m making friends along the way and the competitive streak I've always had, as I've always loved the sport,” he said.
