Roundhouse podcast with Aleesha Oden, Olivia Lizzi on Shocker bowling

Let's go back to that bowling family that we mentioned.

Your dad, Jeff.

Your mom, Kathy.

Significant professional bowlers and collegiate bowlers.

Your aunt, Carolyn Doran.

Am I pronouncing that right? Doran Ballard.

And your uncle, Del Ballard, are also successful professional bowlers.

They're in Hall of Fames.

They've won tour events, all that kind of stuff.

How did growing up in that kind of a family influence you and get you to where you are today?

Well, I basically lived in a bowling center my whole life.

I mean, I remember that more than being at my actual house.

But they didn't force it on me.

They always say, like, oh, you were going to be a bowler anyway.

But they really didn't force bowling... forced me to bowl.

We always ran a junior program at our center and I didn't start right away.

And then I started watching and I'm like, I really want to do that.

So I started bowling in our junior league when I was four or five, maybe six, I don't even know.

But I loved it.

And I would always go into my dad's pro shop and I would steal all the wrist braces and I'd steal all the tape out of the pro shop and like put it all over my ball, not knowing like what it did.

And I'd go around the bowling center telling people, like, open bowlers how to bowl because I thought I knew everything.

And then I started bowling competitively in 2021, and I bowled my first tournament in Texas where my Aunt Caroline and Uncle Del lived.

And I remember I started off really good, and then, like, all the wheels fell off right after that.

And I looked at my mom, and I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.

Like, I can't do it.