Matt Martin is a standout bowler - and football player and pole-vaulter - for Garden Spot. - (Submitted photo)
NEW HOLLAND - Bowling, football and pole-vaulting.
These are the three sports that Garden Spot senior Matt Martin plays over the course of one school year.
Pretty impressive, huh? Yep, Martin is truly a jack-of-all-trades, competing in all three of these totally unrelated sports, and proving to be a contender at that. He manages to remain active virtually all year-round with each of these three varied commitments, throughout fall, winter and spring.
When asked which sport was his favorite to play, however, he answered quite honestly, “Actually, I don’t have a favorite. My favorite would be whatever is in season.”
While Martin may pose a threat in each of these three realms, he is
undoubtedly a formidable opponent in the bowling alley.
“He was a 220, almost 221average last year,” Spartans' bowling coach Harry Charleson said.
Charleson’s been coaching Martin for about seven years now – all throughout high school and long before that in several junior leagues.
Charleson also recalled, “Matt had a 300 game last year, a couple 700’s (series),” and the list goes on and on.
For those readers who are unfamiliar with the in’s and out’s of bowling, here’s a quick lesson:
A 300 is a perfect game, and in order to roll a 700, a bowler must leave no pin standing throughout all 10 frames, over the course of three whole games.
At some point, though, you have to wonder how a person could have so much
talent.
Where did he get it from? The answer is quite simple really:
“It just seems to run in the blood,” said Coach Charleson. “He comes from a very good bowling family – his dad is one of the best bowlers in the county, and his mom’s one of the better women's bowlers in the county.”
“I started before I was two,” Martin said.
His parents have been bowling all his life, so they got him started young.
Everyone in his family bowls – aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins – it’s truly a long-standing tradition.
“I am third generation on both sides of my family,” Martin said.
Even his younger brother and sister, who are both in high school with him, are on the bowling team too, so surely the Martin name won’t be lost throughout the bowling community anytime soon.
As he looks to the future, however, Martin doesn’t see much bowling happening
during his college years.
“Guys’ college bowling isn’t very popular,” he said. “I can’t really get a college scholarship for bowling.”
So Martin will definitely keep bowling as a hobby in the future, keeping the tradition going in his family. And for the rest of the bowling community, they’d better keep an eye out. As long as there’s a Martin around, you better watch your back.
DENA PAFFAS is a West Chester native and is a senior Speech and Communications major at Millersville University.