By Jackson Van Roekel
Published November 24, 2022 in The Burg
Casey Folger is beginning her first season as the head Varsity Girls Bowling Coach for Galesburg High School.
A former Silver Streak herself, Folger graduated from GHS in 2021. Coming from a bowling family, both of her parents and brother also bowl. After spending a year on the Bowling team at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Folger is currently a student-athlete at Carl Sandburg College on the softball team. She is pursuing two associate degrees: applied science in business management and general studies.
Folger had substantial success during her time at GHS, as some of her favorite memories as a Silver Streak were winning the conference championships for the 2019 and 2021 bowling seasons. Additionally, she made it to state her junior year. When asked about how she deals with pressure to perform, Folger said “Pressure is a motivator, not something that crushes you down. Feel like there’s no pressure, just go out and have fun. If something goes wrong, you have to forget about it and move on to the next ball.”
In addition to Folger, Chole Day is another former Silver Streak competing at the collegiate level. Day is a student-athlete at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she is a part of their developmental team this year. Some differences between the competition in high school and college bowling are the skill level, oil patterns that are used on the bowling lanes, and the play style called bakers. The Baker format usually has teams of five bowlers, who rotate each frame in a game.
Out of the whole bowling season, there’s a specific competition that will mean more than the rest. The Big Six Conference Tournament will determine who wins the conference, all in one day. This also determines who wins all-conference awards, so it will be the most important competition of the season.
Looking forward to the upcoming season, there are newcomers and experienced athletes returning for the Silver Streaks. Mataya Caldwell, is the only senior for this year's team. Ashley Yoder, Angel Spears, Iris Brechbueler, and Alissa Schultz are all returners looking to build off last season. Madisyn Fowler and Kaidence Schultz are both freshmen who “have IESA bowling experience and bring a lot of positives to our team.” said Folger. “We have 2 other students that are entirely new to the sport this year, Dorothy Long and Alexandria Rohr, that are eager to learn the game.” Folger is excited to be coaching this year, and says she has a great group to be working with.
When asked what’s the biggest difference between being a player and a coach, Folger said that she, “can’t control the game- I’m trying to instill as much knowledge and experience onto these girls so that they can go out there and perform as well as possible.” Her goal is for each player to grow and develop this season, regardless of their individual experience and skill level. Their first match was November 26th at Rock Island. Good luck this season, Silver Streaks!