Top college coaches, prospects to converge for PowerStrike 300

The Waubonsie Valley girls bowling team has brought a lot of attention to the sport by winning the last two state championships.

Now the coaches at some of the top college programs in the country are coming to Warriors coach Marty Miller’s fifth annual PowerStrike300 camp to check out the area high school talent.

The three-day camp, to be held June 17-19 at Bowling Green Lanes in West Chicago, has 70 high school boys and girls training in two daily sessions from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Registration is closed for this year, but parents and high school bowlers are invited to come and meet college coaches and watch the action.

The intent, Miller said, is not only to give bowlers top-notch instruction but to bring together high school bowlers and college coaches hoping to mine Chicagoland’s deep well of talent.

“We have flat-out some of the best kids,” Miller said. “I put them in the same place; kids looking for colleges and colleges looking for kids.”

In past years, most of the coaches came from local colleges, but this year’s camp will include the coaches of Nebraska, which won its ninth NCAA title last year, 2014 NCAA champion Sam Houston State and Vanderbilt.

“I invited the colleges to come up to see the kids, not just to coach them up but to maybe get them some exposure and learn how they can get a scholarship,” Miller said. “College coaches come up and watch because they’re looking at these girls as potential recruits.”

In addition to Miller, a former PBA Tour bowler, instructors will include several of his private students who now bowl in college. They will use video analysis as part of the personalized instruction.

On Tuesday, campers will have the opportunity to have lunch with five recent state champions, including recent Waubonsie Valley alum Julia Bond, who won the 2014 IHSA title and will bowl for Nebraska, 2013 champion Giselle Poss (Oswego East, Vanderbilt) and 2012 champ Morgan Flaherty of Lincoln-Way West.

The last two boys state champions – Shane Matejcek of Lockport and Josh Glover of Lincoln-Way West – also will be on hand.

Parents can attend a forum, conducted by the college coaches, where they can ask questions about bowling in college and how to get recruited.

“I just want to get the kids who aren’t on the radar screen to get noticed and the ones who aren’t as good to get inspired,” Miller said. “The kids want to bowl on ESPN and if you go to Nebraska you’re going to end up bowling on ESPN.”

For more information, visit http://www.powerstrike300.com/.