After a long day of sitting through lectures, Alec Clayton, an undeclared sophomore, needs a break.
“I go to school all day, and sometimes I just want to get away from it,” he said.
So every Wednesday, Clayton8212;and whoever wants to join him8212;abandons the usual worries of college, such as homework and tests, and goes bowling.
Each week, Monday through Thursday, the bowling alley in the Union offers bowling to U students for only $1 per game. That price is just right for Hung Nguyen, a sophomore in chemistry, and Vaughn Coloroso, a sophomore in exercise and sport science, who have been coming to the alley every Wednesday during the school year since Spring Semester.
“(Nguyen) took a bowling class and then challenged me,” Coloroso said about how the tradition started.
Although Nguyen started the weekly ritual, he might be regretting it now. The two have an ongoing competition with each other where the loser, who they said is usually Nguyen, buys the next week’s games.
“He used to have such an awkward throw,” Nguyen said, defending his decision to agree to the bet. “But then he got better, like, the next day.”
A few lanes over from Nguyen and Coloroso, two other bowlers are comparing battle wounds from the alley. One has an achy wrist, and the other is nursing a sore thumb.
In most other sports, the two would likely be scoffed at for complaining about such minor injuries, but, aside from dropping the ball on your foot, a bum thumb is about as bad as bowling boo-boos come.
The alley gets busy most Mondays and Wednesdays around noon, said Tanisha Lang, a senior in health promotion and education and employee of the bowling alley. She said she thinks it’s busiest then because most students are finishing their classes, and bowling is relaxing because doesn’t require a lot physical activity.
“You’d think I’d be better at this with how often I come,” Clayton said when he looked up at his score of 74 after nine frames. “It’s just fun.”