Students who seek a more competitive atmosphere than the typical bowling class may find Cal Poly’s new bowling league to their liking.
The college’s first bowling league opened for students to work on perfecting their bowling skills, meet new people and just have fun.
Steve Goldie, the owner of the Paso Bowl, PismoBowl and Mustang Lanes, is offering students and community members the chance to participate in a league that meets once a week depending on each location.
The league, organized by physics junior Kevin Coulombe, was something he wanted to do to “stay busy and responsible.”
“Organizing this league gave me something to take charge of and participate in and we’ve had a lot of participants this year,” Coulombe said.
The league was originally aimed at students living in the dorms, but Coulombe starting advertising the league for everyone to increase interest.
“(Goldie) wanted to find a fun way to get the students involved and compete against each other and have fun at the same time,” Coulombe said.
At the end of the season, the championship team will have its name engraved on a plaque in the bowling ally and will receive gift certificates to several restaurants downtown.
“If you really want to leave your mark here at Cal Poly, that’s a good way because it will be up there for the next 20 or 30 years,” Coulombe said.
Mustang Lanes recently refinished the lanes and upgraded the computer system, bringing everything up to par for having a league, Coulombe said.
The league currently has six teams with five people on each team, and room for ten teams. The league didn’t want to be delayed any longer from Week of Welcome and wanted to start bowling right away, Coulombe said.
Students often hear about the league from taking a bowling class to receive an extra unit, and there was plenty of feedback that created a successful start to the league this quarter, Coulombe said.
“I decided to take a bowling class because I needed an extra unit, and bowling is always fun,” arts and design sophomore Danielle DiMercurio said. “I think me and some friends are definitely going to join the league next year.”
Cal Poly offers hourly bowling classes Monday through Friday starting at 9 a.m. Often times these classes are so compacted up to 40 students could be on one waiting list.
“There is definitely a strong interest in bowling on this campus and you don’t usually find that on just any college campus and it’s fun,” DiMercurio said. “I like to get away from the pressure of some of my harder classes.”
The bowling league meets at 6:15 p.m. every Tuesday at Mustang Lanes for $5 including the shoe rentals.
“We’re going to have a league every single quarter and I’m hoping that next year we will have even more people,” Coulombe said. “Everyone participating this year is having a really great time and it’s going well so far.”