“It’s something you can just chill and do, because if you have a bad day you have a lot of support from your teammates,” says Fort Recovery’s Ella Schoen.
After missing a season with an ACL injury, Fort Recovery’s Ella Schoen is back, better, and actually leading the MAC bowling average for girls…like she never missed a beat.
Minster, OH – On a cold, drippy Saturday morning in December, junior Ella Schoen of the Fort Recovery girls bowling team admitted that bowling is a sport she enjoys for the ‘chill’ factor.
“It’s something you can just have fun and do, because if you have a bad day you get a lot of support from your teammates,” she said.
That is, if you actually have a bad day. Because while it’s still early (three weeks) into the current season, Schoen…hasn’t really had one! She was actually leading the MAC in individual average with a 188.7 average coming into Saturday, and didn’t even know.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my grandmother, Carol (Francis). She liked the sport and…encouraged me to bowl.”
Again, the ‘chill’ factor. She’s bowling for the fun of it, for the opportunity to be with her friends and teammates…and as for the future – if she really does become extraordinary at it – she’ll cross that bridge when she comes to it.
What’s unique about the Indians’ junior is her missing her sophomore season because of an ACL injury, suffered in softball.
“She just turned to go after a ball and her knee gave out,” says dad, Ken, who was in Minster on Saturday to watch and lend support. “It was just one of those things.”
But more uniqueness – Schoen is good enough athlete to have come back from the injury, still play softball in the spring, and while she’s at it…she might lead the league in bowling average.
“Softball is probably my favorite sport, but I started bowling in the seventh grade,” she says, talking about how she first picked up a ball.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my grandmother, Carol (Francis, from Willodell, outside Versailles). She liked the sport and she’s the one who really encouraged me to bowl.”
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Four years later, she admits to having a 245 game (the highest score she remembers).
“Bowling is really popular with the boys at Fort Recovery,” she says. “And now some of the girls are beginning to get good at it. We have a couple of others on our team who have a lot of talent.”
Obviously, Schoen has some talent of her own. What you notice is the athleticism to snap through the ball upon release and a follow-thru that allows her more revs (turns on the ball) and movement down-lane. And, if genetics really is part of sports talent, her dad Ken was, himself, an athlete at Recovery, basketball and baseball.
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Will the league catch up to her?
Undoubtedly, because there are others similarly talented at Coldwater, New Bremen, Minster, and Versailles. The MAC is a league that’s fast become known for bowling. Jasmine Schulze (Coldwater) is bowling varsity as a freshman at Division I Wright State University.
And if Ella Schoen follows in those big footsteps, she might take the sport seriously enough to at least get her education paid for. For now, he plans are to pursue a career in nursing, or medical rehabilitation.
Until then…just ‘chill’ with it. Bowling has offered a platform for her that few envisioned just five years ago; and it’s fun.
And funny…how ‘fun’ can lead to ‘future’.
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