Busier schedule suits Shaler bowlers

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, January 24, 2021 | 8:01 AM

Ryan Callahan enjoys the Shaler bowling team having two matches a week.

The pandemic-forced, compact section schedule keeps the Titans sophomore on his toes. In a normal year, Shaler would have one match a week.

So far, the boys are off to a 1-3 start. Shaler’s girls team is 3-1.

“For me, it feels great,” Callahan said. “When you have one match a week, you have a practice on Tuesday, then you wait for a Thursday or Friday for a match. You can forget your entire game. I like the compact schedule. No one is focused on anything else.”

Callahan, who bowls in youth leagues outside the high school season, is eager for another crack at the postseason. Last year at the Western Regionals, Callahan was Shaler’s only male qualifier but was disappointed with his 23rd-place finish.

In the offseason, he sought to improve his approach all-around.

“My big reason I didn’t do so well at regionals was my mental game was off,” Callahan said. “I got frustrated and gave up on myself. I started throwing bad. The main thing was I wanted to fix my mental game and relax myself.”

Titans coach Shawn Pilyih said he thinks Callahan has returned an improved player. Making a deep run in the postseason provided a good opportunity for him to learn.

“I hope he gained the experience last year and uses the experience to grow and handle situations better,” Pilyih said. “Once you experience that stuff, you handle difficult situations better and learn to forget bad shots and push forward.”

Callahan is pleased with how Shaler has been doing as a team. The Titans had struggled with numbers on the boys side for the past few seasons.

“We’ve been doing a lot better this year,” Callahan said. “Last year, we didn’t have good numbers like we do this year. We have freshmen who stepped up to varsity and are playing well. My co-captain, Jonathan Zang, has also stepped up this year.”

Playing with a renewed vigor has Callahan focused on the postseason. His main goal is to finish with an average of 200 or higher.

Right now, he is in the 180s.

“I had a little bowling thing in my youth league (last week) and I shot in the 600s (for a series) and felt good,” Callahan said. “I want to get my physical game up. I know I can get a 200 average still. It will just take a lot of work.”

Tags: Shaler