Bowling
Favorite athlete: Nikola Jokic
Favorite team: Sixers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Going to Nationals freshman year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Messing around in the hotel rooms with my team.
Music on playlist: Partynextdoor
Future plans: Major in accounting
Words to live by: “Failure is growth”
One goal before turning 30: Have a lot of money invested.
One thing people don’t know about me: I go to the gym.
By GORDON GLANTZ
Harry S. Truman bowling coach Jim Ryan has been bracing for a bit of separation anxiety.
The reason? The stellar four-year career of senior Alex Andrade has come to an end.
“Alex is one in a million, that kid,” said Ryan. “He’s quiet, but he is a born leader. He is a strong bowler, and he’s great at school.
“And, I wish he wasn’t graduating.”
To ease the blow, Ryan came up with a solution.
“I’m going to miss him so much that I asked him if he would be interested in bowling on one of my men’s league teams during the weeknights next year,” said Ryan, adding that the offer was promptly accepted.
Andrade will gladly adjust to being teammates with his former coach and is thankful for the request.
“It meant a lot to me because I did not have a team for adult leagues, and it shows he thinks I am a good bowler,” he said.
The Final Curtain
This past year, his last, Andrade didn’t initially qualify for regionals based on his average.
However, he finished second in the SOL and qualified for regionals that way and went on to finish 35th out 180 bowlers.
Good, but not good enough for Andrade.
“I’m not satisfied with my high school career,” he said. “I started my career with a high of coming in fourth at states and making nationals, so every year after that I wanted to get back to that level and win a state title.”
Ryan, though, sees it a bit differently, explaining: “He’s that kid that everybody looked at and thought. ‘Oh, he’s just some kid’ because he is so quiet. Then he will come out and just shoot the lights out.”
Strong, Silent Type
Although he is an excellent student who is looking to study accounting, Andrade is definitely more of the strong, silent type.
“He’s a very intelligent young man, but he doesn’t talk a lot until you get to know him,” said Ryan. “I’ve known his family from before he was born, and yet it still took me until last year, which was his junior year, to get him to really talk much to me.”
Part of that communication came from being a captain.
“He was one of my captains for the last two years, and he would only really talk to me and the other captains,” said Ryan. “He is there, and he is there to bowl and he’s there to win.
“If we don’t win, he’s, like, ‘We’ll just do better last time.’ He’s not one of those overly emotional type of people who will get upset about something.”
That approach has served Andrade well.
“Bowling is 80 percent mental, and he has conquered the mental part of it,” said Ryan. “If he throws a bad shot, he’ll turn around and have a smile on his face. He’ll know whatever it is that he did wrong.
“If he doesn’t bowl well, he’s a little upset with himself. But, by the time he gets back on the bus, is ready for the next practice or the next match.”
Andrade has been hitting the gym, and it has not only helped with his physical improvement but also with the emotional side of it.
“I agree (with Ryan) that mental matters way more than anything else in bowling,” he said. “What I do to keep the mental (part of the game) strong is I don't get mad after throwing bad shots or missing spares. I just try to move on to the next frame.
“The only way to grow and learn is through trying and failing. I use this mentality in bowling after tournaments or matches. I analyze what went wrong and what I should do differently if I bowl on similar lane conditions again.”
Simple Math
As for the next step, Andrade plans to begin his secondary schooling at Bucks County Community College.
“I am going to community college for my first 2 years to save money, and then I will transfer to finish my accounting degree,” he said.
Andrade’s current class rank is 19th in his senior class, and his GPA is a stellar 97.8.
He said: “I have always taken school seriously because it’s easy. The students who fail just don’t do their work.”
That work ethic carried over to the bowling lanes.
For example, a big part of being a captain has been conferring with Ryan on personnel moves.
“If a change has to be made, like a substitution, I make my captains do it,” said Ryan. “I’ll let them make that decision.
“I’ll call my captains back and I’ll say, ‘OK, this is what I’m seeing and what I am thinking. What is your opinion?’ He would voice his opinion, and I’d say, ‘OK, go make the change. Tell him that he’s going down to junior varsity and tell the other kid that he’s coming up from junior varsity to varsity.’”
Andrade added that it was important to him not to come across the wrong way.
“My leadership style was to help my teammates when needed but I didn't want to boss them around,” he explained.
Born to Bowl
Andrade stepped right in onto a loaded roster and was ready to rock as a freshman.
“He was on varsity since Day 1,” said Ryan. “He stayed on varsity, from freshman year on, every day and for every match.”
Adrade had, as it turned out, a deep foundation in sport.
“I played basketball in first and second grade, but I stopped because I did not enjoy playing actual serious games, only pickup with friends,” said Andrade, who wanted to thank coach Ryan and his parents, Melissa and Art, for their support in his bowling career.
Like with basketball, Andrade got started with bowling at a tender age.
“I started bowling when I was, like, 5,” he said. “Every year for my birthday, I wanted to go bowling for my party. When I was 8, that is when I first joined a league and started to take bowling more seriously.”
Still, his favorite athlete is Nikola Jokic and his favorite team is the Sixers, so he will always carry a torch for hoops.
“Bowling was not my first love in sports,” said Andrade. “I wanted to play basketball first, but I realized I was not that good, so I went with bowling.
“I also started bowling because a lot of my family members are bowlers as well.”
And there was enough immediate success that he was encouraged to stick with it.
“My freshman year, our team qualified for nationals in Ohio,” said Andrade. “The experience of competing at the highest level really helped my development for my later years.
“That experience helps me to have less nerves when competing in tournaments, and it lets me share my experience with the new kids on the team.”
Meanwhile, Ryan will be thinking of his new men’s league teammate and the legacy he left behind.
“He is such a laidback kid, but he’s just a great kid,” said Ryan. “I wish I had 20 more like him, just with the same attitude.
“I wish I had another year with him, I really do.”
