Uella on the news...

Girls strike back
By Kelly Crane, Staff Reporter



Watch out, the ladies are poised to strike - on the bowling alley that is! Tenpin bowling is fast becoming a popular sport and hobby among people of all ages in the UAE. But it's the ladies who seem to be going all-out to make a night of it.

Who needs bars, pubs and clubs when you can throw on your best casuals, order food and drinks from your seat and have hours of fun with your mates?

It's a wonder we're not all doing it.

Tabloid! met up with some of the regulars from the popular Dubai bowling scene.

Gina Smith has lived in the Middle East for 18 years, moving to Dubai four years ago.

The mother of two now says she couldn't imagine her life without bowling and claims it's been her lifeline here in the UAE.

She said: "When I moved to Abu Dhabi I knew absolutely nobody. The first thing I did was join the bowling club and felt I met an almost instant group of friends.

"It started off as a hobby as I had never bowled before but it soon became an addiction.




Competitive

"My technique improved and it wasn't long before I was hooked. I started taking the game a bit more seriously and wanted to get better in order to take part in competitions and tournaments. I am a naturally competitive person and bowling was a great way of feeding my hunger in this respect.
"My two children aged 13 and 15 also bowl and I think they are proud to have a mum who can give them a run for their money on the lanes.

"Bowling for me definitely started out as a way of meeting people but grew into an important part of my life.

"When I moved to Dubai I also made lots of new friends on the lanes at the Dubai Bowling Centre.

"Some of my closest friends I met through bowling and for that I will always be eternally grateful that bowling was ever invented!"

Champion

Uella has been bowling for just two years but has made impressive progress.

The UAE state champion both this year and last, her busy life has been strongly influenced by the Dubai bowling scene.

Uella was first introduced to the game by her mother, Elise, who is also a fan of the sport.

She said: "I had no idea I would ever be good at bowling. My mum used to bowl a lot and so I found myself down at the bowling alley. One day I picked up a ball and thought I'd give it a go.

"A local coach saw me and said I showed potential and the rest, as they say, is history.

"Many of my friends enjoy it and I think it's a really understated sport. It is cheap, fun and anyone can have a go. My friends who don't bowl aren't as easy to get to the bowling centre as they say they don't have a chance of beating me!

Lucky strike

"But that's not really true. There is an amount of skill in the game but I believe there is also an element of luck when it comes to bowling.

Sometimes my mum wins and sometimes I win. It just depends how it goes on the day."

Mother Elise, who is employed by the Dubai Bowling Centre, says she is amazed by the number of female bowlers in Dubai.

She said: "It seems to be very popular among women of all ages. We used to have a ladies night which was very well-attended but with tournaments and competitions it became easier to encourage ladies to bowl any night of the week. We are looking at the possibility of re-introducing the ladies night for beginners. Bowling is an under-rated sport or hobby and I would encourage anyone of any age to pick up a ball and give it a go."

Bowling's German origins

The modern sport of bowling at pins probably originated in ancient Germany, not as a sport but as a religious ceremony.

As early as the third or fourth century AD, in rites held in the cloisters of churches, parishioners may have placed their ever-present club, or Kegel (the implement most Germans carried for sport and, certainly, self-protection), at one end of a runway resembling a modern bowling lane.

The Kegel was said to represent the Heide (heathen). A stone was rolled at the Heide, and those successfully toppling it were believed to have cleansed themselves of sin. Although the peasants' club evolved into pins, the association remained, and even today bowlers are often called keglers.

The passage of time brought an increase in the size of the stone rolled at pins, and eventually the ball came to be made of wood. Many variations of the game developed, some played with three pins, others with as many as 17. A biographer of the 16th-century cleric Martin Luther wrote that Luther built a bowling lane for his children.

Community bowling

Various community bowling clubs have chosen Dubai Bowling Centre as home base for their leagues and tournaments. The biggest groups are the Dubai Filipino Bowling Club, Sharjah Filipino Bowling Club, India Sub-Continent Bowling Club, Singapore Community Bowling Club, and the Emirates Airline Bowling Club.

Aim of the game

Bowling is sometimes called tenpins. It's a game in which a heavy ball is rolled down a long, narrow lane towards a group of objects known as pins, the aim being to knock down more pins than your opponent.

The game is quite different from the sport of bowls, or lawn bowls, in which the aim is to bring the ball to rest near a stationary ball called a jack.

There are many forms of bowling, but tenpins, the most widely played variation, is the principal form in North America, Western Europe, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Its many variations include duckpins, candlepins, fivepins, skittles, and ninepins, with differences within the framework of each of the games.