Sports are usually built on team chemistry, with each member knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

The boys bowling team is no exception, according to senior Spencer Butterfield, who joined the bowling team as a freshman as a joke but later took the team more seriously once he got to know his teammates better.

“The competition made me take it seriously,” Butterfield said. “That’s when I figured out there’s a whole community of people that love bowling outside of birthday parties.”

Junior Kyle Hirner also sees how the close-knit nature of the team has affected his overall experience as a bowler.

“Since this is my first year, I wasn’t really sure who everybody was, but I’ve grown close to everybody,” Hirner said.  “I think I would perform a lot worse personally without [the bond]. The team also plays better when we are close-knit.”

Butterfield also believes being so close has helped the team during meets as well as in achieving  personal goals.

“I think we have good chemistry out there on the lanes,” Butterfield said. “Just knowing each other and being comfortable with each other helps us to be able to give each other good advice when we’re feeling down. That’s because we’re friends outside of the sport and I can’t imagine the team without [the bond].”

Building this tight friendship began with small ways to get to know each other, according to Hirner.

“Everybody has nicknames written on their sleeves so you get to learn about people through their nicknames,” Hirner said. “It built the relationships even stronger and we have some good friendships on the team now.”

Outside of the sport itself, the team hangs out or sometimes even spends time together during  extra practices to better their skills.

“Sometimes we just go over to somebody’s house and play video games,” Butterfield said. “Or sometimes we go to the bowling alley and practice together on the weekends. We do that if we don’t have a meet the next day or we just want to get a few extra reps in.”

The coaches also push the team to become close friends in order to have a better experience and become a better overall team, according to head bowling coach Rick Pollard.

“[The bond] helps them become a team,” Pollard said. “I’ve had a lot of other coaches express how awesome it is to see when we get off the bus, our group is one team. It’s not just a bunch of individual bowlers, in a sport that is an individual sport.”

Butterfield can not imagine having the same experience on the team without the relationship that has developed between members of the bowling team.

“If we don’t have a bond on the team then we’re just a bunch of guys out here bowling together and just wouldn’t care about each other,” Butterfield said. “But the bond is what holds us together and what makes the sport actually fun.”