Right Up Your (Bowling) Alley: An Interview with Samuel Fang

Samuel Fang, a junior on the Stuyvesant boys’ varsity bowling team, secured a spot at the PSAL Borough Individual Championships by being one of the top-scoring players in Manhattan’s PSAL league, eventually winning first overall and even advancing to the PSAL City Individual Championships.

In the 15 games bowled during the regular season, he averaged 161.4 points with a high of 253. In three playoff games, he averaged 183 points with a high of 222. He consistently averaged around 170 points as one of the team leaders.

Name: Samuel Fang
Grade: 11
Height: 5’10”
Hair color: Black
Eye color:
BlackDOB: 1/7/02

1. How did you start bowling?

Around the end of eighth grade, one of my friends invited me to go bowling with him for fun, and after playing a few games, I was able to reach a high game of 168. This showed me that I had a bit of skill in the sport, and my goal was just to try to beat that. When I found out that Stuy had a team for it, I really started to practice and see it as a competitive sport, which made me enjoy it a lot more.

2. How do you secure a spot in the PSAL Borough Championships?

During the season, there are 10 team games that we play against other schools, and the top-scoring players in the borough are put into the Borough Individual Championship. I happened to be one of those chosen players, and from the team games, I placed third. During the championships, however, the lane conditions definitely favored my bowling style over those of my other competitors, and I was able to get first with about a 170 average.

3. What do you mean by the lane conditions favoring your bowling style?

The lane conditions refer to the amount of oil on the lane, which not only protects the wood’s surface, but also changes how much a ball spins. The strategy for getting strikes is curving into the middle rather than hitting the ball directly straight, because this gives much more pin action in the “domino effect” and gives more strikes. The lane conditions favored me in that there was less oil on the lane, which helped my ball spin a bit more to get many more strikes. For many others with higher spin than me, the little oil made their balls spin too much and their shots more uncontrollable.

4. By placing first in the borough championships, you also qualified for the City Individual Championship. How did you do?

The best players from all the boroughs were present. This competition was definitely much harder, as there were many more skilled bowlers, and many of them were better than me in terms of skill. However, since I bowled league at those lanes every week, I knew the lanes pretty well, which gave me a bit of an advantage. I was lucky enough to place 11th with about a 200 average. That was probably my biggest accomplishment this season—being able to do pretty well among the best bowlers in the city.

5. How have your teammates at Stuyvesant impacted your performance and the way you train?

When I was a freshman, the seniors of the team definitely helped me build my skills and work on my weaknesses. They also got me into practicing weekly at a league, which I still go to. The team in general is very encouraging and definitely helped my performance.

6. What league do you practice in? When do you find time to go?

I usually practice at Jib Lanes on Saturday mornings.

7. Do you have advice for people who want to practice competitively and balance their schoolwork?

For people who want to balance sports and school, my best advice is to manage time wisely and not procrastinate, as doing so would allow more time for both sports and school.

8. How do you constantly try to improve yourself?

Beating my highest score is usually my motivation to keep practicing. Otherwise, watching people who are better than me also makes me want to improve.

9. What’s your favorite thing about the Stuyvesant team?

My favorite thing about the team is our teamwork during the games and how well we’re able to perform even under pressure.

10. What’s something you’ll be looking forward to next season?

I'll definitely be looking forward to improving my scores and making a better contribution to the team.

Choice drink: Water
Favorite food: Chinese Food
Motto to live by: Forget the past and look forward to the future.
Fun fact: I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in six seconds.