By Gary Curreri
Despite bowling a perfect game in qualifying, Pompano Beach’s Zach Griffin said he didn’t bring his “A” game to the Broward County (USBC) Top 8 Tournament at AMF Davie Lanes.
What he did bring was good enough as he captured his second consecutive junior boys championship with a 219-202 victory over Miami’s Cody Stevens in the final.
“I have been busy with work and getting ready for school so I haven’t been able to find the time and, when I do have the time, I sleep,” said Griffin, who works at Strikers Family Sportscenter and recently graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School.
“When I am done with my nine-hour shift, I am exhausted and just want to go home,” added Griffin, who admitted he hadn’t practiced in 2-1/2 months.
He is headed to Springhill College in Mobile, AL on a bowling scholarship. “It is probably the last tournament I am going to bowl before college, so my dad (Greg) seeing me shoot 300 and win was nice. He really wanted to see that.”
The Top 8 bowlers in each division each bowled four games with the Top 4, with the highest pin fall after that moving on to a step ladder final with the fourth place bowler taking on the third place bowler, and the winner moving on to bowl against the second seed, and that winner taking on the highest seeded player.
The 300-game was the fifth sanctioned game of Griffin’s career.
“That was nice,” said Griffin, whose last sanctioned 300-game was in a winter league four months ago. “It was weird because I had just come off my worst game in qualifying which was a 202. I had trouble finding my line. I just moved in and started fi ring it 18-miles-an-hour at the 10-board and clearly it worked. It was really nice, too, because, the last couple of shots, I didn’t know if they were going to carry, but they did.”
“I’m happy with how I did,” Griffin said. “It is a good repeat too. If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t.”
Griffin is looking forward to bowling in college where he will bowl upwards of four times a week.
“It’s nice,” he said. “I always wanted to bowl in college when I heard that a couple of my older friends went. It is a really nice atmosphere, was something I was looking for when I was looking at schools.”
Two weeks remain at Simply Soccer
There are two weeks left at the popular Simply Soccer Camp in nearby Coral Springs.
Simply Soccer, which has boys and girls, ages 5-14 of all skill levels, has attracted a record number of children from throughout Broward County for its 27th annual summer camp series at Mullins Park in Coral Springs.
The camp, featured during a live broadcast by CBS4 the day following the United States’ 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, is down to its final two weeks of the summer beginning Monday. They are August 10-14 and 17-21.
There are three sessions, ranging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and a Tiny Tot program from 9 a.m. to noon. Players will be taught a variety of soccer skills from dribbling to shooting.
It is the longest running soccer camp offered by the city.
Campers must bring a soccer ball, swimsuit, shin guards, water bottle and lunch. For information, call 954-345-2200.
