By Jonathon Brodie/London Community News / Twitter: @jonathonbrodie
While some parents boast about their child bringing home a trophy from the local soccer tournament, 14-year-old Mykaela Mitchell?s parents can brag about their daughter bowling for dollars.
?People think bowling is just recreation?if you?re a youth you can bowl for scholarship money and bowling is the only sport where you can earn scholarship money and a lot of people don?t know that,? said Mykaela?s father, Kevin. ?You can play hockey and stuff like that, and you can do well, but you don?t win scholarship money.?
The Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary School student?s bowling career has taken off since making her first national competition at age 12. Since then, you could look at Mykaela?s bowling career as an educational investment rather than a recreational activity to benefit her health and social wellbeing.
?Right now we?re spending a lot of money travelling and investing in this,? said Mykaela?s mother, Sonia. ?But at the same time bowling is the only sport where they can win scholarship money.?
Mykaela earned $1,350 in school savings competing in the North Pointe Junior Gold Tournament in Indianapolis in July where she finished in seventh place out of about 115 female bowlers under the age of 15.
In the past two years, she?s saved about $4,000 from tournaments across Canada and competing in her local league.
She?s also the youngest female in Canada to ever bowl a perfect game, getting 12-consecutive strikes in a tournament in Mississauga, Ont. in Feb. at the age of 14.
Only going into Grade 10, Mykaela?s isn?t exactly sure what her decision will be going out of high school, but the one thing she knows is bowling will probably be the key to her success with scholarship money at her disposal and the possibility of being a U.S. college prospect in the near future.
?When we were in Indianapolis there were a ton of scouts down there for bowling colleges and she had at least three looking at her that we heard about, but they?re not allowed to talk to her yet because she?s too young,? the proud mother said. ?I?m sure when she turns 16 they?ll be all over her.?
The scholarship dollars should continue to pour in as Mykaela has dedicated herself to her sport stronger than ever, bowling about 500 frames every week.
Prescribing to the philosophy that bowling is 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical; she?s turned off the frame count and scoring during practices to work on the more cerebral aspects of the game.
?It?s overwhelming, stressful and nerve racking,? Mykaela said about the sport she loves, adding she wouldn?t change a thing about it and hopes to play for a long time. ?(The Indianapolis) tournament was so overwhelming for me, but it only pushed me to be better.?
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Source: http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/08/bowling-for-scholarship-dollars/
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