By BILL SNIER
HARTVILLE — Jeff Mowls has an idea of what he wants to do in his new position as head bowling coach at Lake High School.
“I just want to be able to say that the kids are coming out because they want to bowl and they want to win,” the 57-year-old Plain Township resident said.
Mowls, who previously served as an assistant coach at both GlenOak and Perry high schools before moving to Lake four seasons ago, takes over for 12-year head coach Patrick King, who resigned due to increased responsibilities with his job.
Mowls, who is employed as shipping manager at Paarlo Plastics, helped guide the Blue Streaks girls team to the first OHSAA State Bowling Championships appearance in school history last season.
“I’m still coaching so I might as well take over the reins and build a program,” said Mowls, who was hired for the position Aug. 18. “I’m going to try to get these kids to understand that by putting in the hard work and dedicating themselves to what they are doing, good things will happen.
“We want to see more state championship appearances and maybe win the Federal League, which would be a first.”
Mowls will guide the boys this season, taking over for King. The Blue Streaks lost only one player to graduation, but return all-conference first-team pick Zachary Abbott along with two honorable-mention picks in Logan Hamrick and Brady Tompot.
Former Perry player Cassidy Smith, who served as Mowls’ assistant last year with the girls, will take over as head coach of that team. The Streaks have just one player (Madison Paxton) returning from the state-qualifying squad.
“With what we have returning, we expect the boys to go further into the postseason, if not make it to state,” said Mowls, who was recently inducted into the Stark County United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame. “We only have one girl back so we will be building on that side.”
Ken Wolfe will continue on the staff, but Mowls still needs one assistant.
“We will discuss later how this will all work out,” said Mowls, who has no one in mind for the other spot. “It depends on who we get and their level of bowling experience.”
One item Mowls made clear is that the Blue Streaks will participate in as many tournaments as possible outside of Stark County.
“The first year I was here, we only did the two at Park Centre,” Mowls said. “Last year, we added the MLK tournament in Akron, and the Muskingum and Eastbury tournaments. It’s important that we widen our schedule and give these kids the opportunities to bowl on different oil patterns that they will see on the next level.”
Mowls admittedly has adopted some of the program guidelines developed during his time at Perry and working with head coach Joe Altimore III during its run of state appearances.
“We put together a highlights CD to show to middle school kids to get them interested in bowling and the program,” Mowls said. “If we can get to them early, they have three or four years to get to our open gyms and learn what we do. They can see what it’s all about and go from there.”
But Mowls knows what will get Lake athletes interested: a winning program.
“That’s how you build a program. That’s what I learned at Perry,” Mowls said. “By winning, more kids will be interested and the kids will come out. The proof is in the pudding.”
And it’s the type of attitude Mowls wants to instill in the Blue Streaks when they begin their open gyms at Park Centre in September.
“We have to see how many kids show up for those. We can’t start coaching them until Nov. 1, and our first match is Nov. 15 so there won’t be a lot of time,” Mowls said. “But that’s the way it always is and we will work with it.”
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