SAC's Bowling Legends
After our last sports’ article featuring the fraternal bond between Aloysian athletes Mattea and Samuel Ciantar, its high time to write a feature reflecting upon the strong platonic bond that can be created through sports. And what better way to show this, than to direct the spotlight towards a friendship which has known its origins right into the very heart of Professional Youth Bowling?
Commerce Student Daniel Magro and Science Student Jonathan Chetcuti both started indulging in Professional Bowling 4 years ago, when they first joined the newly-founded Youth Squad of the Malta Temple Bowling Association, making them the first Maltese youth to actually practice this sport professionally. This is where they first got to know each other and, they’ve been training together ever since.
Upon asking our Aloysian bowlers what had actually inspired them to train this sport despite its lack of recognition amongst the Maltese as a professional sport, both admitted that bowling was not the first sport they had chosen to practice. Both very athletic in spirit, Magro and Chetcuti had already come in contact with several other different sports disciplines, such those of football swimming for the former and, football and karate for the latter. However, while Magro was introduced to professional bowling due to regular amateur games which he used to play from time to time, Chetcuti admits that he was first introduced to Professional Bowling through his family:
“Most of my family members play bowling and my uncle, Mike Spiteri is also a wellknown Bowling champion – so basically I was always encouraged to start training bowling professionally, but I only decided to do so in order to try out something different and find out if it was worth it – and in the end it was a rewarding choice”
These two athletes have each showcased great potential through several different local competitions organised by the Malta Temple Bowling Association, for the three main Bowling Categories that is; the Singles’ Category, the Doubles’ Category and the Team Category, also referred to as the 4-Men League. Their most notable and recent success was perhaps when they placed first in the 3rd Division of the Team Squad League last May, which automatically paved way towards their progression to the Second Division during this season’s participation. However, apart from the Team Events, Magro and Chetcuti have both managed to obtain high individual points in other competitions throughout their career, competitions which crowned Chetcuti second in the Singles’ Silver Cup and Magro winning titles such as the Most Improved Bowler Award, Highest Average Award and Best Scratch Award in the Scratch Game Series & Handicap Game Series, individual series originating from the 14-week 4-Men League.
Our second-year Bowlers can also boast of several different Bowling experiences on the international scale, mainly the 2012 Youth Bowling World Cup in Vienna as well the Nuneaton Open in 2013. Back in 2013, commerce student Daniel Magro also stayed on in England after the Nuneaton Open, in order to compete in the 2013 Youth Bowling World Cup in Norwich, where unlike his previous participation back in Vienna, he managed to progress to several knock-out games, based on the best out of 3 competing days of the participants, before being eliminated. Chetcuti and Magro have then both competed each and every year in the yearly Malta Open which is an International Tournament for all elite bowlers in which several foreign bowlers participate. The last tournament of its kind has seen Magro achieve his personal best score yet, that of 246 pins.
As regards to training, these two bowlers usually train between 2 to 3 times weekly, for 4 or 5 hours per session – one of these sessions is especially designed for the Youth Squad and therefore along with coach, instead of focusing on the games, aim etc, these two Aloysians along with their fellow teammates focus more on their foot techniques and coordination of the whole body in performing the standard stance for bowling by consciously performing their 5-step movement from the last step to the first in order to perfect their timing in the forward one eventually. Apart from the usual training, both Chetcuti and Magro attend 3-hour long gym sessions 3 times weekly, where they conduct weight training on all of the main muscle groups especially the core, forearms and quads in order to ensure further strength and endurance, as well as to balance their body as a whole since bowling incorporates actively one side of the body.
As for their future aspirations, while both Magro and Chetcuti have admitted to having just decreased their amount of weekly training despite their usually brilliant time-management due to the fast-approaching MATSEC exams, they both showed interest in becoming elite bowlers and get sponsorships to further compete and train abroad as well as to be able to promote further this sport in the Maltese Islands through coaching.
On closing our interview for this issue, we asked these two Aloysians about the benefits they have gained from their bowling career and while both faces lit up, Daniel Magro took the lead as he spoke on both their behalves, explaining their feelings towards the sport and its advantages:
“I must say that Bowling has changed me as a person. It has taught me to appreciate physical fitness and motivate myself to pursue it, it has given me personal and social confidence as well as a solid base to my self-esteem, the value of sportsmanship and social interaction skills. But most importantly it has forged a strong friendship between me and Jonathan, which has led to many great memories and opportunities together – so much so that together we have created a music band – ‘The Avalanche of Legends’ - that allows us to further value our friendship.”
Compelled by this heart-felt end to the interview, The Voice would like to extend this perception to all our fellow Aloysian readers and while we encourage all of you to treasure the friendships you already have and to invest in them, we further encourage you to never shy away from trying out new experiences and maybe even try out a new sport - you never know where and when the next great friendship is awaiting you!
Jacqueline Grech Licari
