Amanda Curtiss discovered a pair of new passions when she started at Ewing High School.
The Ewing junior was introduced to the girls bowling team and the opportunity to work with Special Olympics/Unified Sports two years ago. Now they are an integral part of her life, and even intertwine with the chance for her to coach bowling to other Ewing students in the Unified program.
“It’s definitely difficult to help them out, but you just have to be patient with them,” Curtiss said. “Once you’re patient with them, they understand what you’re trying to help them with. And it’s definitely fun to help them with a sport you love to do.”
Curtiss, who also has played field hockey for the Blue Devils since middle school and played softball as a freshman, is part of the bowling team for the third straight season. She was asked to come out for the bowling team by a friend, Sierra Reid, who has since graduated after a solid career.
“It was just going to be a fun sport, nothing major, not a serious thing,” Curtiss said. “By the end of my freshman year, I was saying I think I want to do something with bowling and keep going.”
Curtiss has developed into a reliable member and strong bowler for the Blue Devils. She helped them win their first 10 regular-season matches. Curtiss regularly has been Ewing’s second-highest scorer behind senior Kennedy Jenkins with a 173.20 average through 10 matches with a high game of 225 and high series of 563.
“I think the team has done really well in bowling,” said Curtiss. “We’ve done great so far this year.”
Ewing wasn’t sure exactly how they would do after they graduated last year’s top scorer, Mia Siminitus. But Jenkins has remained consistent in her second year in the program and a strong returning group with seniors Janelis Cedeno and Megan Rosiejka and juniors like Curtiss and Ellie Otto along with newcomers Amber Porter are helping to fill the void left by Siminitus, and the results have eased the nerves of the Blue Devils.
“Mia created an expectation the last couple years that this is the way we want Ewing bowling to be, and now it’s your job to fulfill that expectation,” said Ewing head coach Dave Angebranndt. “Amanda has stepped up really well. I think Kennedy coming in last year kind of added to the success that we were having and now she’s the one kind of driving the force with the success our team is having and Amanda is following very well in her footsteps.
“I think Ellie has stepped up tremendously. Megan and Janelis have also done a very nice job as a group. Again, when you have a leader like Mia was and a person that you look up to, they understand what it’s like to be in that position and Kennedy and Amanda right now understand what it takes to fulfill that spot and the other girls see what needs to be done in order to fill that spot.”
Just as important as their regular-season start has been to their rising expectations is the way that they have bowled in tournaments that are the ideal warm-up for the state tournament that they want to make. Ewing placed sixth out of 22 teams at the Central Jersey Winter Classic on Jan. 13. Ewing is seeded fourth in Central Jersey, Group III by power points that will be used for the state tournament brackets.
“I think the only way for you to gain experience is to expose yourself to that, to either make a name for yourself or put your team out there so other people can recognize the success that you’re having,” Angebranndt said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a first-place finish or a high series or high game. We finished sixth in the Central Jersey Classic out of 22 teams that are going to potentially vie for a state title, and to finish sixth out of 22 teams is extremely successful. And we were in the Roll with the Indians Tournament at Ocean, we were in the Brick tournament which has all these extremely competitive Shore Conference teams like Manchester, Howell, Brick Memorial and Brick Township.
“These are all teams you’re going to see later on in the year, so if you can expose yourself to them throughout the season and get a little more competitive nature like the state tournament is like, it’s going to ease the stress once those tournament matches come.”
Curtiss made a huge jump after her freshman year when she averaged 131.13 as a regular in the lineup. She vaulted to 172.67 the next year and has upped it a little more to start this year. Curtiss knows there are ways she can improve, but she’s been pleased with the start overall, and not being so hard on herself was a major goal she set for this season.
“To be more positive,” Curtiss said. “I wasn’t that positive last year. If I can be more positive this year, I can have a good mindset to do better.”
She carries her positivity into volunteering with the Special Olympics and helping with Unified Sports at Ewing. She aids with bowling and some of the other sports offered in the Unified Sports program at Ewing.
“It started when I was a freshman because I was in a Unified gym class,” Curtiss said. “It was new to me that I could do that. I wanted to try it out and try something new and I really liked it. I figured if I liked it, I should get more involved. I got more involved in other ways.”
Now Curtiss makes time to help whenever she’s not studying or playing her own sports. She looks forward to the chance to help with the Unified program twice per week.
“I have a bowling one and then I do a Unified club thing,” Curtiss said. “I get to help with that a lot. During soccer and track season, they do tournaments and games and I try to go to them as much as possible to be involved with them.”
She also makes time to improve in her own athletic pursuits. She still looks forward to playing field hockey, but she’s also become more dedicated to bowling than she was as a freshman. It has shown up in the way she’s preparing for each season now.
“I do many tournaments outside of school and I do two different leagues,” Curtiss said. “I do summer and a winter league. I definitely do practice more outside of school as well. I try to get as much help as I can to improve overall.”
Angebranndt believes that is consistent with how she approaches everything. He can appreciate the work that she has put in to become more consistent in her third season.
She’s extremely hard on herself in a good way and a bad way,” Angebranndt said. “Sometimes she’s too hard on herself. I have to pull the reins back on her and let her know this is still a game and it’s something you’re doing for fun, and it’s not the end of the world. There are ways you can get better without being so hard on yourself. I think she’s just a gamer.”
Curtiss is trying to make the most of each chance to bowl and improve. She’s already fearful of how quickly the season is passing by to leave her with just one more high school bowling season. That’s also on her mind in wanting to make this year special.
“I want us to be undefeated,” Curtiss said. “That’s definitely a goal – to stay undefeated, and possibly get us into states. I want to do that for the seniors because it’s their last year. I want to try to make their last year the best by getting them into states at least. If we don’t win, we don’t win, but at least we got to states.”
After some early apprehension about how they would fare, the strong start has helped the Blue Devils raise expectations. “I think they’re bowling very well,” Angebranndt said. “They’re creating an environment that’s competitive yet at the same time enjoyable and fun which ultimately is going to continue to get girls out to bowl and continue in the success that the program’s had for years to come.”
