By BILL SNIER
CANTON — Bowlers each have different ways of using the summer months to work on their games.
Some do it strictly for fun. Some do it to bowl with friends they normally don’t bowl with in leagues. Still others do it to bowl on sport shots they normally don’t see to sharpen their games.
Then there is the “fun” approach that Perry Township right-hander Brett McCourry takes.
Since he has a stockpile of old bowling equipment, he has decided to use all of it this summer.
In fact, the owner-operator of McCarry Property and Lawn Care, who recently celebrated his 32nd birthday will take three different balls each week to Eastbury Bowing Center for the Tuesday Night Trio league.
That means 12 weeks, 36 total bowling balls.
“It was just something I wanted to do,” said McCourry, who bowled in three leagues during the fall-winter season including the Northeast Ohio Traveling League.
One special week in June, McCourry took out his Roto Grip Haywire (a ball he threw in high school at Canton McKinley) and a three-year-old Roto Grip Hyped Hybrid.
He never got to the third ball.
McCourry had games of 299, 246 and 266 for 811, giving him “over 40” career 800 series.
He started with the Haywire and ran off the first 11 strikes in a row before leaving a “putt” 10-pin.
“At least it wasn’t a 5-pin,” he said laughing.
He switched balls in the middle of Game 2 to the Hyped Hybrid and ran off the final six strikes before starting the next game with the first seven.
His streak ended with a 4-9 split in the eighth frame of Game 3 — his only open of the night.
“This season was really hard. Travel league was hard because the houses were getting harder,” McCourry said about the fall-winter season, “and Fridays were hard (at Eastbury because there was always someone out there to beat me.
“It was a grind. I just wanted to use the summer to have fun … just enjoy it and take a break from everything.”
But there still is a purpose to his madness with the equipment.
“I just want to keep doing the reps so I can be ready when we do come back in the fall,” McCourry added.
Shooting 800 can help do that.