By BILL SNIER
snieronbowling.com
NORTH CANTON — Cooper Smith predicted to a teammate what he was going to do that night in the Hannon Electric league at Park Centre Lanes.
Then, a little “smirky” look from his brother during the eighth frame of Game 3 gave him the “gut feeling” that he was going to complete a milestone.
Smith, a 24-year-old Massillon right-hander, earned his first career 800 that night on games of 277, 244 and 279. He owns five career 300 games, including shooting one just two weeks prior to this milestone.
“You always feel it in you stomach in a moment like that,” Smith said. “But I knew if I just let the ball come off my hand, I had it. I felt coming off my hand it was there … nothing could go wrong in that moment.”
It came after he and stepfather, Frank Testa of Ten Back Pro Shop, had made changes in his game the previous weekend, just three days before the milestone.
“Frank and I did some work and we shortened my span by half an inch,” said Smith, who threw a Storm Summit Peak, which had 20 games on it, for the milestone. “I was having trouble with the ball clearing my thumb. I had plenty of reverse pitch, but I needed to get the thumb out better.
“I think the span was just a touch too long because my hand changed in the year I’ve been back. The ball came off my hand much cleaner and it was getting into a much better roll.”
That wasn’t the only change the pair made to Smith’s game. He also went to a four-step approach.
“We worked on it on (Saturday following the College Bowl Tournaments event). They were some massive changes,” Smith said.
But it gave him confidence, and he displayed that during a discussion with teammate Jesse Gonzales at Park Centre.
“I told Jesse I was going to shoot 800 on the dot that night,” Smith said. “I said that word for word — and I did it.”
His night began with a pair of strikes before leaving a 2-pin in the third frame. He then struck until leaving a 6-10 on his fill ball in the 10th frame.
His lone open came in Game 2 when he left a 4-6-7 split in the third frame again before stringing strikes into the 10th frame and leaving a 6-10 spare and another nine-count.
But Game 3 was different. Smith ran off the first nine strikes. But it was the look from his brother, Andrew, that clinched it for him in the eighth.
“He just kind of gave me this look … kind of a smirk,” Smith said. “I don’t know why or how, but I just knew then that I had it.”
He struck in the ninth, but then left a 2-pin again on his first ball in the 10th.
“I just threw it a little hard and it really never read the lane,” said Smith, who doesn’t use the arrows as a target area on house shots, preferring to look at the dark boards (range indicators) down lane.
After converting, he was confident on the final shot — even though it was a light mixer.
“I threw the same shot as the first one in the 10th, but this one rode a little longer,” Smith said. “I just had an amazing look all night.”
CHANGING CAREERS
Smith graduated from John Carroll University in June with a major in exercise science and a minor in French. At the time, he was looking at continuing his education and becoming a chiropractor. But after visiting a school in Florida “the numbers just didn’t add up.”
Those plans have changed. He now is in the U.S. Marines officer training program, with his long-term goal of being a pilot.
“Me and Jesse have been doing a lot of work together. I always thought I was too tall and that my eyes were a problem,” said Smith, who also underwent lasik eye surgery. “It’s about 10 weeks of basic training, followed by 26 weeks of officer training and two years in flight school.”
But he also continues to assist Testa at Ten Back Pro Shop’s locations at Park Centre and Triway Lanes.
This all comes after taking nearly four years off of bowling while he was in college in Cleveland.
“I wanted to bowl in college, but John Carroll didn’t have a team and freshmen weren’t allowed to have cars,” said Smith, who bowled at Norton High School. “So I sort of lost interest. But my senior year, one of my fraternity brothers from New York also was a bowler and we put together two teams and bowled at Wickliffe Lanes.
“I got back into it and fell in love with it again.”
But he had to convince Testa to let him come on board at the pro shops.
“I didn’t even know if I could drill a bowling ball, but it was always a dream of mine. I had daily talks with Frank when he decided to do this,” Smith said. “It’s just as much of an art as it is a science. You just don’t realize all the tiny details that matter.”
On the lanes that night Smith moved about 10 boards overall.
“But I had an amazing look,” Smith said. “I just had to move one or two boards every few frames.”
He will leave for Virginia in January to continue his training. But bowling will continue, along with his pro shop work.
“The ball just feels good coming off my hand,” Smith added. “I never dreamed I would be in his position.”