Bowling camp perfect for Clementz

Rachel Clementz is one of Geneseo’s top bowlers for the high school club team, but she found a whole new understanding of the sport at the Shockers Bowling Camp.

Clementz attended the camp held on the campus of Wichita State

University, in Wichita, Kan., and through classroom instruction and video analysis gained a new perspective on the game during the four day camp.

“They covered so much,” Clementz said. “It’s crazy how much detail there is involved in this sport that I had no idea. There were a lot of ‘ah-ha’ moments when they were talking to me directly.”

A senior-to-be, Clementz has looked at potentially going to Wichita State for college and loved her on campus experience staying at one of Wichita State’s newest dorms, Shocker Hall.

“It was probably one of the best experiences of my life,” Clementz said. “I learned so much. Not just about bowling but about what college is going to be like.”

The campers were broken up into groups of five or six with private instruction from the WSU coaching staff which boasts a record 20 men’s and women’s national titles.

Clementz said the coaches talked to her about her about little things like balance, approach and arm swing, but overall the coaches liked her form.

Clementz believes her biggest takeaway from the camp was a one-on-one video analysis with WSU Coach Gordon Vadakin.

“He talked to us specifically about what we wanted to do and what we needed to work on,” Clementz said. “Then we got to keep the video of him instructing us on what to do. It’s something that means a lot. It’s something that I will keep forever.”

Clementz says the WSU coaches talked about how people don’t realize the amount a school can offer with a bowling scholarship.

At the Geneseo bowling clubs’ end-of-the-year banquet, St. Ambrose University bowling Coach Eric Littig, Assistant Coach Jeff Griebel and SAU bowler Matt Henry came and spoke with the team about bowling at college.

Last season, Clementz had the Geneseo club team’s best six-game series at the regional meet with a 1051 series, and Clementz medaled at the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference meet.

Clementz would like to go back in the future and said her roommate, Jade Klinefelter, was attending for the third time and had learned something new every year.