In the Pocket: Fredenburgh keeps low profile

Although she’s been one of the top women bowlers in the Capital Region for nearly two decades, Robin Fredenburgh’s first priority on the bowling lanes is to have fun.

“I like to fly under the radar,” said the 32-year-old accountant for Morris Ford. “I like being a team player, and I enjoy the team aspect of bowling. I usually don’t know what I’m averaging. It’s just a matter of winning the points and the match, and trying to have a good time while doing it.”

Fredenburgh has been on a tear recently. She rolled her ninth career perfect game and a career-best 817 triple for her first three games in the Boulevard Classic last week. That was her fourth 800 triple. She is averaging 233 at Boulevard.

She also competes in the Towne Bowling Academy Women’s Doubles league, where she is third in average at 221.

“Most of my teammates on Tuesday nights at Boulevard bowl better when they are pumped up. I’m just the opposite,” Fredenburgh said. “I’ve got to stay slow in order to bowl well. When I get too pumped up, I bowl too quickly.”

Fredenburgh describes her game as simple.

“I’m a down-and-in type of bowler with a simple style, but I try to be versatile,” she said. “I’m just average with my speed. I don’t throw it 18 miles an hour like the guys on Tuesdays do, but I don’t throw it 14 miles an hour like some of my friends do over at Towne. I’m somewhere in the middle.

“I try to adapt to the shot. I usually use Storm equipment, but lately, my No Mercy ball has been working great. That’s the ball I’ve been getting all my good scores with lately.”

A Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School graduate, Fredenburgh bowled at Kansas, which she attended for one year.

“We were one of the weaker programs in the conference when I was there, but bowling on a college team was awesome,” she said. “We would bowl with a travel group every week that included Wichita and Nebraska. We even traveled to the nationals in Knoxville with a very good Wichita team, and we had a lot of fun.”

Fredenburgh then came back to the Capital Region and attended Mildred Elley Business School before becoming an accountant at Morris Ford for the last 13 years.

Fredenburgh also enjoys working behind the scenes to keep the sport healthy. She’s been a member of the Schenectady Bowling Association’s board of directors for several years.

“I like giving back to the game,” she said. “So many younger bowlers have no idea of what’s out there, as far as bowling is concerned. They think they can’t be a part of the sport, but really, there’s a league for everyone. They don’t realize that there are some leagues out there, like the NFL leagues, that are a good mix of high average bowlers with low average bowlers. Personally, I don’t care what I bowl, as long as I have a good time. I’ll go open bowling sometimes with an alley ball and shoes. As long as I’m having fun, that’s the key, and that’s what I try to tell the bowlers through my duties with the SBA.”

Fredenburgh said she is concerned about the current state of the game.

“I don’t want the sport to die,” she said. “Some local proprietors are doing everything they can to keep bowling alive, but’s very difficult, especially in this economy.”

A GOOD START

Fredenburgh said she will try to qualify for the upcoming first women’s-only Huck Finn “Capital Region Bowling Show.”

The first qualifier for that show will be Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Sunset Recreation in Albany. There will be another qualifier Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. at Towne Bowling Academy, and two more qualifiers Nov. 30, also at Towne Bowling Academy. The finals will follow, and the show will also be taped that same day at Towne.

“They’ve already got 26 qualifiers for this weekend at Sunset, and they’ve still got three more qualifiers left at Towne,” said Fredenburgh. “I hope they get a very good field for the show.”

STRIKES & SPARES

- The Karl Wolf’s Pro Shop’s U.S. Open Local Qualifier will be held Jan. 10 at 11 a.m. at Uncle Sam Lanes in Troy and on Jan. 11, 5 p.m. at Ballston Spa Tippy Lanes. The top eight from the first eight-game block advance to bowl eight more games of match play the next day. Entry fee will be $85. First place will be worth $1,000, plus an entry into the U.S. Open. If the winner of the qualifier declines the U.S. Open berth, it will go to the next bowler down the line. Call Jeff Segel at 439-7628 for reservations.

- Tom Yadanza, Joe Mazuryk, Ryan Paulsen and Steve Wagoner are the latest qualifiers for the Huck Finn’s/Northeast Bowling Proprietors of New York’s “Capital Region Bowling Show.” The taping will be a Towne Bowling Academy at 4 p.m. on Nov. 30, and it will air Dec. 7 at 11 a.m. on FOX23 WXXA Ch. 8. The next Huck Finn’s men’s scratch qualifier will be Dec. 6 at 3:30 p.m. at Hi-Way Recreation and Dec. 7 at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. at Playdium.

- Town ’n Country in Guilderland will hold a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Shoot, Entry fee is $25. Check-in will be at 9 a.m., followed by bowling at 9:30 a.m. The format will be four games, with the low game thrown out. One in six will cash, and top prize will be $250. Handicap will be 80 percent of 240. There will be side jackpots and brackets available.

- Town ’n Country also will hold a Scotch Doubles tournament Dec. 6. Entry fee is $25, and handicap will be 90 percent of the team’s handicap based on 450.

- Francesca Brown, a 10th grader at Shenendehowa, shot a 1,228 for six games during the Plainsmen’s boys’ varsity bowling tryouts. She came back to shoot a 269-735 in the Spare Time Clifton Park junior league.

- Tom Egan of Towne Bowling Academy rifled a 297-803 in the Senior Boys Western Division of the Joey Schmidt Capital District Junior Pro Scoring League at Hilltop Bowl over the weekend. Steven Black of Alpha Lanes tossed a 257-755 at Town ‘n Country to pace the Senior Boys Eastern Division, and Ariel Yuzenko of Del Lanes ripped a 279-765 in the Girls’ Division at Del Lanes.

- Zach Ladue connected for a 299-770 for Cohoes in a Colonial Council boys’ varsity match against Voorheesville this week.

- Pro bowler Gene Stus, internationally acclaimed author and bowling instructor Tom Kouros and attorney Lowell Rothschild were elected to the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame recently. Stus, 68, won 12 PBA Senior Tour titles along with three ABC titles and an ABC/Brunswick World Team Challenge championship. He was selected the PBA Senior Tour Player of the Year in 1992, the same year he became the first senior tour player to roll a nationally televised 300 game. Kouros, who founded the Institute of Professional Bowling Instruction, wrote a pair of best-selling books: Par Bowling and Par Bowling: The Challenge. He served as a columnist for Bowlers Journal International for more than 30 years, and was a coach to some of the sport’s top starts. Rothschild joined the ABC Board of Directors in the early 1960s and was the ABC’s president in 1977. He named the first ABC Education Committee and was an influential member of the Bowling Hall of Fame Museum and Committee.

- The USBC also announced six men and six women as candidates for the USBC Hall of Fame in the superior performance category. The men on the ballot are Del Ballard Jr., Marshall Holman, Dave Husted, Amleto Monacelli, Johnny Petraglia and Mark Roth. The women on the ballot are Dede Davidson, Shirley Levens, Wendy Macpherson, Jackie Mitskavitch, Michelle Mullen and Cheryl Robinson.

- Junior bowler Michael O’Toole of Schenectady is having a fantastic season in three different youth programs. He is averaging 233 Friday afternoons at Sportsman’s Bowl, 240 Saturday mornings at Sportsman’s and 229 Saturday afternoons at Boulevard Bowl. He doesn’t take a rest on Sundays either. He is currently averaging 230 in the Joey Schmidt Capital District Junior Pro-Scoring League.

- The second annual Towne Bowling Academy Scratch Challenge will be held Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. The general format will be the same as the first event held in September. Bowlers will roll a total of five games, with each game on a different challenging pattern. The oil conditions used will be the Scorpion, 2004-05 U.S. Open, 2005-06 PBA Regional/Senior No. 3, Team USA Short Pattern and Viper. Entries will be limited to the first 60 bowlers. Cash prizes will be awarded on a 1-5 ratio, based on otal pins. Entry fee is $50. First place will be worth $500, based on 30 entries. Call 355-3939 for reservations or for more information.

- The next Western Diner Northern Bowlers Association tournament will be the Stockade Open Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. Entry fee is $50, plus a $10 membership fee. Format will be a five-game sweeper.

- The fourth annual Sunset Recreation Turkey Shoot will be held 9:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. Entry fee is $23 for three games moving pairs. Call 438-6404 for reservations.

- The Red Richards Thanksgiving Tournament will be held Thanksgiving Day at Uncle Sam Lanes in Troy. Entry fee is $25 by Wednesday or $30 on Thanksgiving Day. Check-in is at 8 a.m.

- Green Island Lanes will hold a doubles tournament Wednesday night. Entry fee is $40 per team, with top prize $300, based on 25 teams. Handicap will be 80 percent of 230. Call the lanes for details.