So I decided that I didn't want to write a blog for last week because I had no idea what I wanted to say. We didn't bowl to our potential and I think we all knew that. A lot of stuff was going on at the same time, like people were sick, but that was still no excuse. We missed things that we shouldn't have and we lost matches that should have been won. We finished 5^th place overall, but we knew we needed to step it up.

This past weekend was a little better than last weekend. The first day was definitely rough for us, but we were ready to step it up. We were in 4^th place going into Sunday and needed to hold onto that place to have a chance for first. We bowled our first set of baker matches and won that, but the second one we had to bowl Kutztown and they were right behind us in 5^th place. They ended up beating us by a little more than 40 pins, which put them in fourth and us in fifth. Now the best we could finish was 3^rd place, but we still wanted to fight for that. We went into match play seeded fifth and had to bowl the best of 7 baker games. We didn't get all the carry we needed, but we were able to throw the shots when they needed to count. Once again, we had to bowl Kutztown to make it to the final match to fight for 3^rd place. We were back with a vengeance and ready to fight. It came down to the wire for most of the matches, but we threw the shots we needed to win. Then we bowled New Jersey City and beat them to finish 3^rd.

It was a pretty good tournament for us, especially day two. We realized what we had to accomplish and fought hard. We gave 110% and never gave up. We were down 0-2 to Kutztown and came back to win. When we were at breakfast before we went into the second day, our coach said she had something to read to us. It was the speech Al Pacino gave in the movie Any Given Sunday, but the wording was changed to talk about bowling. It went like this:

I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes 'til the biggest battle of our collegiate lives all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team or we're gunna crumble, spare by spare, strike by strike, 'til we're finished.

We're in hell right now, ladies, believe me. And, we can stay here -- get the crap kicked out of us -- or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell one shot at a time.

Now, I can't do it for you. I'm too old.

You know, when you get old in life things get taken from you. I mean that's...part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life's this game of matches. So is bowling. Because in either game, life or bowling, the margin for error is so small -- I mean one-half board to the left or right, you miss the pocket, one half second too slow or too fast, you leave a split.

The wins we need are everywhere around us.

They're in every break of the game, every spare, every strike.

On this team, we fight for that win. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that match. We claw with our fingernails for every good shot, because we know when we add up all those frames that's gunna make all the difference between WINNING and LOSING! Between LIVIN' and DYIN'!

I'll tell you this: In any fight, it's the girl who's willing to work the hardest who's gunna win that match. And I know if I'm gunna have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willin' to fight and die for that win. Because that's what livin' is! The ten pins in front of your face!!

Now I can't make you do it. You got to look at the girl next to you. Look into her eyes! Now I think you're gunna see a girl who will work just as hard with you. You're gunna see a girl who will sacrifice herself for this team because she knows, when it comes down to it, you're gunna do the same for her!

That's a team, ladies!

And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.

That's bowling ladies.

That's all it is.

Now, what are you gunna do?

Simply amazing is probably the best way to communicate the feelings that went through my head last weekend. We did it. We won the Lady Bulldog Classic. It was a great feeling knowing that all the hard work that we put in is finally paying off. We drove to Laurel, MD early Saturday morning knowing what we had to do. We had to be confident bowlers and stay together as a team. We needed to prove to ourselves that we can start strong, stay strong, and end strong. We bowled well the first day of competition, holding onto first place by only a single pin. That night, we had a team meeting to discuss what happened during competition and if there was anything that needed to be addressed. We felt really good about day one and were confident about the next day. We were all exhausted and were ready for bed. It was an early night, and then we were ready for day two. We bowled bakers Sunday and came out shooting. For the 20 baker games we shot, we averaged a little under 222. We won the tournament overall as a team, and also our anchor, Maria Rodriguez, won the tournament individually.

I believe this win has a lot to do with the things that I explained in my last blog, confidence and team bonding. With some talent, luck, and these two things, a team will become unstoppable. That is what happened to UMES last weekend. We weren't going to let anyone beat us without a fight. We had a few tough matches, but we never let those get us down. We came right back firing on all cylinders, taking on the next team. We took one game at a time, and within that each pin that we needed to hit. A team needs intensity and inspiration to accomplish what they want. We had that this weekend and plan to keep it for every single match that we bowl.

We came back to campus Sunday night, and our classes started Monday for the semester. We are all currently trying to get back in the swing of things with classes, practice, work-outs, and leisure time. Since our coach was very proud of our performance this past weekend, we didn't have early morning work-outs, but rather working out when we find the time. It was a relief to know that I didn't have to be up at 5:30AM Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I'm able catch up on some much needed sleep and concentrate more on classes. It's the middle of the week, and tonight we are heading to team practice in Millsboro, DE. We are ready to work hard tonight and make sure we are ready for this weekend. We leave Friday afternoon to head up to Reading, PA for the Kutztown University Invitational.

Wish us luck and I'll update you guys sometime next week! Thanks for reading J

-Kristina

P.S. GO HAWKS!!!

This past week, the team flew back to campus and then was off to Arkansas. We flew into Little Rock Thursday night and had to bowl Friday in the Mid-Winter Classic Tournament. Almost all of the top schools were participating in it, so we knew we had to step up our game. Friday we bowled decent and afterwards we went to dinner with our Coach's parents. We had a great time laughing over stories of previous years and joking around with Delaware State. Saturday we bowled a little better and ended up 5th at the end of the day. That night we met as team and discussed how to boost our moral and confidence. I think we all took to heart what was said and it was shown on Sunday. We bowled exceptionally well as a team and bonded even more. We finished fourth overall and had a record of 12-3. We didn't bowl as well as we wanted, but fourth place wasn't that bad. We stayed an extra day in Arkansas since classes haven't started yet, so we spent the day at the mall. We flew back Monday afternoon and have a whole week to relax and practice.

One of the main things that I think everyone on the team, including the coaches, learned was to have more confidence in one another. Confidence to an athlete means believing and having faith in yourself as well as your teammates. In the sport of bowling, as well as in almost any other sport, an athlete needs to depend on their teammates to accomplish the ultimate goal of winning. Confidence and team bonding can be a hard thing to accomplish, but once it's done, great things will happen. This past weekend, we gained another member to our Lady Hawks Bowling team. Her name is Paula and she came to UMES from the Dominican Republic. Two of members on our team, Martha and Maria, already knew her, but it was a new experience for the rest of us. She is a very outgoing person and will be a great asset to the success of this team. She will help to raise the intensity level and keep everyone's head in the game.

The rest of this week will be spent on practice and getting back into the swing of things. Tuesday night we had our first practice since before winter break. Doug, our assistant coach, was there trying to tweak our games. We bowled scotch doubles and the team had to serve a penalty if a spare was missed. This is a great way to learn discipline within a person and also a great way to get the team to motivate and cheer each other on. That was one of the best practices I think that we have ever had.

Then today we did some community service work at a local school that has grades kindergarten through high school seniors. We sat in with the gym classes and taught them how to bowl. They had five little portable lanes that rolled out with pins and a rubber bowling ball. It was a great way for the team to help out the local community and also give some information out on bowling. We talked to some of the older kids about different colleges and what we thought were the most important things to look for. We are heading back to the school Friday morning to work with some more of the school's gym classes.

Finally, we had another team practice tonight, that was just as good as the one on Tuesday. This time our head coach, Sharon Brummell, and assistant coach, Papa, came to watch and help out. We started off with a couple scotch doubles games and then went into bakers. A baker game is where you have five people on the team bowl one game. The first bowler bowls frames 1 and 6; the second bowler bowls frames 2 and 7, and so on. Those games went really well, and then we just did some spare shooting. The practice was very productive and we bonded even more as a team.

This weekend we head to Bowie, Maryland to bowl the Lady Bulldog Classic. Wish us luck and I'll update you sometime next week!

-Kristina

P.S. Go Hawks!

Since this is my first blog entry, I figured I should introduce myself and the team I'm on. My name is Kristina Frahm and I am a sophomore at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. I am on the Division I Women's Bowling Team and we are the 2008 NCAA Champions!! It was a great honor and experience to be a part of that, especially starting as a freshman. Last year, we had three freshmen starters in the Championship and we are back and ready to defend our title. We also had three All-Americans, Maria (Rodriguez) and I are returning, and I was named NTCA National Rookie of the Year. We had a very successful season last year and are hoping to do the same the rest of this season.

               We take bowling just as serious as any other sport does. Many people think of bowling as just a recreational hobby, but it can take you many places. We are up at six in the morning, three days a week for work-outs, and practice individually five days a week with team practices Tuesday and Thursday nights. We have our set of six lanes located on campus that we can practice on whenever we need to, and we also have Millsboro Lanes located in Delaware that support us every way possible. We have our head coach, Sharon Brummell, who was named Division 1 Coach of the Year, our assistant coach Doug Dukes, who puts in a lot of effort to make us better bowlers, and our other assistant coach Vince "Papa" Brummell, who supports us and takes stats for the team.

                As a team, we strive to perform well on the lanes as well as in the classroom. We are a very diverse group, having members from countries like Colombia and Germany to members from all over the United States. We lost two seniors and one graduating junior last year, so this year has been more of a rebuilding year. We are in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and are currently tied for first with Delaware State. We are very big rivals with them on the lanes, but are the best of friends off the lanes. We continue to work hard as a team concentrating on team-building exercises, academic study halls, community service work, and strengthening our games. We worked very hard the first half of the season and plan on working even harder for the remainder of the year. We have nine tournaments remaining, three of which are the MEAC Championships, ECAC Championships, and the all important NCAA National Championships.  We all have been working hard over break with both our physical and mental games. We get back to school January 14^th and fly out to Arkansas on the 15^th for the Mid-Winter Classic.

                Well I think that's a good introduction to our team and I plan to keep you posted as the season continues!