She’s a die-hard baseball and football fan, but the sport she chooses to devote most of her energy and time to is bowling. After weeks of dedicated training and competing, junior Addy Bates was ranked second at State during the competition on March 30.

“It’s so amazing knowing that all of the hard work I’ve put in finally pays off,” Bates said. “[Especially] for it to be my junior year, not even [as] a senior. A lot of people in this area haven’t even gotten that far so to be able to do this at a younger age is just so amazing.”

During her first two years in high school, when Bates competed throughout the district and region, eventually making it to State, she didn’t rank among the top five. Bates said that the difference between not ranking those first two years and getting her ranking this year was the amount of time she put into training. While preparing for the competition often made for late nights and early mornings, Bates said that this didn’t stop her from practicing every moment that she could.

“My freshman and sophomore year I went to State but I didn’t really get to practice as much outside of school,” Bates said. “This year, I was ready to go to State. There would be sometimes after work that I’d go straight to the bowling alley and practice until 11 p.m. Everyday when I had the opportunity, or even sometimes when I didn’t have the opportunity, I’d be up there practicing because hard work beats talent every time.”

Although she said that she is excited that all of her hard work is finally paying off, Bates said that without support from her family and friends, she wouldn’t be the athlete she is today.

“My family has been there through it all,” Bates said. “My dad, who is also one of my coaches, has helped me grow into the player I am now. He’s seen me at my best and he’s seen me at my worst, but he’s always been the most supportive and most understanding person out there. Without my friends and family within the bowling community, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I’m, very grateful for what they’ve all done for me.”

With her dad always involved in the sport, Bates said that bowling and competitions have been a common practice in her life. However, she said that wasn’t until a few years ago that she started to consider devoting more time to the sport.

“My dad has been doing it like his whole life,” Bates said. “I was like ‘sure, okay, I’ll do it for fun.’ I’ve been bowling since I was eight years old, but I really didn’t start taking it seriously until I was in high school.”

Bates said that the best part about bowling is getting to meet new people. With competitions all over Texas and players coming in from all over the country, she said that she often finds a familiar face at the competition.

“You get to meet people from all over the place,” Bates said. “I have friends that I can say [are] from all over the United States and to be able to compete with or against them in different tournaments is just so amazing. The bond that you have with adults, professionals, amateurs and people from all over the world proves that it’s a sport where there’s a lot of people who do it, but then again, it’s also a small world kind of sport because you get to communicate with everyone around the world.”

While bowling is more of a solo sport than a team sport (as football or baseball are), Bates said that the bowling community creates a team aspect.

“There are a lot of sports out there and when it comes to younger kids, nobody ever rides the bench in this sport,” Bates said. “You don’t have to be the most athletic person in the world to compete in bowling and it’s more about hard work versus how you’re built. Bowling allows you to have opportunities that you might not have in other sports, like there’s so much scholarship money in it and the opportunity to get a lot of money in national tournaments.”

Bates said that growing up, her family supported many sports team and connected as a family through either watching their favorite teams play or playing other sports like bowling.

“When I was growing up, I wouldn’t say that I was raised as a tomboy, but [my family has] always loved sports,” Bates said “I’ve always gone to sporting events and I have photos of me when I was younger going to Astros games. I was raised on sports and you can walk into my household at any time and there’s going to be a sports game going on. It’s kind of like a family tradition, and as a family, we’ve bonded through sports.”

For people just starting to bowl, Bates said that the most important thing is to enjoy the sport. She said that in the end, the score is not important as long as you are having fun.

“The score doesn’t matter,” Bates said. “You might see a small score on the screen, but it’s really how you feel and if you are having fun. That’s the main thing [but] people forget that it is just for fun sometimes. Sometimes [they] get too hard on themselves. Make sure the whole entire time you are having fun and enjoying yourself.”