Bowling: Perfection comes easily for Selk
Often, things get easier the second time you do them — even bowling 300 games.
Julie Selk of West Seneca bowled a perfect game on Saturday in a 753 series in the Embroid Me Travel League at Recckio's Lanes in South Buffalo. Two days later she did it again, bowling in a 713 series in the Selk Insurance Trios League at Abbott Lanes.
The perfectas were the fifth and sixth in the career of the 37-year-old mother of three.
"Saturday, I was nervous on the 10th ball," Selk said. "I thought if I get the 10th I'm going to get it. I got it and after that I wasn't nervous. On Monday, there was no pressure because I was real comfortable at Abbott. That's where I bowled my 800 [actually 290, 266, 278 for 834 in 2005] and two of my 300s."
Selk loves bowling so much she says she took hardly any time off when she gave birth to two daughters (ages 13 years and 19 months) and a son (6).
"I bowled right up to when I had them and I came back as soon as I could after," she said.
Despite her prowess — she averaged 220, 215 and 208 as a full-time participant in three leagues in the 2008-09 season — Selk has been mostly a league bowler. She did enter in the last Western New York Queens Tournament and the Greater Buffalo USBC Association Women's Championship but her appearances in tournaments has been rare.
Even with her own ability, she admits to being a little bit in awe of the area's top women bowlers such as Liz Johnson, Michelle Sterner and others. That's why she calls the 300 game she bowled to win the 2008 GBUSBC Kickoff Tournament at Wimbledon Lanes "the highlight of my career."
"There was no money involved but it was special because it was the biggest stage I've ever bowled on," she said. "It gave me the confidence that I could bowl in that level of competition."
She's never bowled in national or state tournaments, although she has been invited to bowl on a team for the next New York State Women's Championship next spring in Syracuse.
"I don't have a lot of lady bowler friends to team up with because I usually bowl with men," she said. "I bowl in three leagues with my husband."
Terry Selk, who has run his own insurance agency in West Seneca for the last seven years, sponsors the Selk Insurance Trio League at Abbott and also sponsors a team in the Thursday Major B League at Transit Lanes. The Selks bowl with Steve Pyrkos in the Abbott League.
Julie Selk first was exposed to the sport when she tagged along with her mom for league bowling at Airport Lanes, which is also where her grandmother, Dorothy Sturm, worked the lunch counter for many years.
Bowling alongside Terry has helped Julie improve and stay on her game, she says.
"I feel Terry has helped me a lot," she said. "He's so familiar with my game that when he sees me doing something wrong he can tell me the adjustment to make real quick."
Keeping up with the latest equipment is another reason Julie feels she is at the top of her game. The ball she used to bowl her two 300s was a new Mutant Cell by RotoGrip she purchased only a week ago Thursday from Jack Jurek's Bowlers Choice Pro Shop in Transit Lanes.
"It's one Jack used when he won that $25,000 tournament [PBA Shark Championship in Michigan in September]. "You're going to love it,' he told me. And I do," she said.
Although Julie Selk often outbowls her husband in leagues they participate in together, Terry isn't uncomfortable with it at all.
"I'm not a bad bowler myself so I can take it," he said with a laugh.
Pin chasers
• The paid entry deadline has been extended to next Wednesday for the GBUSBC Association Youth Family Tournament at Broadway Sports Center on Nov. 21-22 and 28-29. Walk-in entries will be accepted.
• Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga was among the 13 bowlers (six women and seven men) to lead Team USA into international competition in 2010. Stefanie Nation, Shannon O'Keefe, Shannon Pluhowsky, Kelly Kulick and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard make up the women's roster. Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes, Wes Malott, Tommy Jones, Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and Bill O'Neill were selected on the men's side.
All but Kulick were were members of Team USA in 2009. The top three men and top three women finishers at the Team USA Trials, to be held in Las Vegas Dec. 14-18, will earn automatic spots on the team and the National Selection Committee will pick two additional men and two additional women to join the team.
• Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga will be one of the four bowlers featured Sunday in ESPN's taped telecast of the PBA World Series of Bowling Cheetah Championship bowled in September. Ciminelli, Derek Sapp, Stevie Weber and Norm Duke are the four finalists. Ciminelli will face Sapp in one semifinal and then take on Duke in the final on the show, which is presented in a documentary-style format.
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