Beat the Champs: Powering into sectionals

Divale Roberson is moving on to sectionals of Beat The Champions.

Seems apt all around, even if the Northern Illinois senior is not your typical bowler.

He is majoring in kinesiology, the study of movement, with hopes and plans to be a conditioning coach for young athletes.

Roberson will be bowling in what is his home center, Four Seasons Sports Center, in the Fox Valley sectional on Sunday. He advanced from the Wednesday night league and said he averages around 171.

Sectionals begin Saturday for BTC, the charity bowling event cosponsored for 54 years by the Sun-Times and the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association. League bowlers advancing to sectionals should have been notified by the CBPA.

Roberson knows something about being a champion. He is a powerlifting champion and is looking forward to the 2015 UPA Powerlifting & Bench Press National Championship in April in Dubuque, Iowa.

Roberson knows athletics. He played baseball for legendary coach Leroy Franklin at Simeon.

As to whether bowling and lifting mix, Roberson said, “It messes up my flexibility, but it doesn’t bother me too much.’’

Apparently not.

“I pick up spares pretty well,’’ said Roberson, who learned bowling from a class at NIU. “When I strike, I strike in bunches. I don’t strike a lot, but when they come, they come in bunches.’’

He knows what is at stake: a chance at a car in the finals. Thirty-two men and 32 women will advance from sectionals to the finals in March, where a 2015 Ford Fiesta from Local Ford Stores is the top prize for both the men’s and woman’s champion.

The long-term value of BTC is charity. In the first 53 years of BTC more than 5.7 million entries raised $2,793,600.36 for charity, including $34,451.32 in 2013-14.

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