White County senior Gage Jordan said he did not grow up dreaming of bowling titles. His journey began simply, as a casual summer outing with friends before he ever enrolled at White County High School. That carefree afternoon soon turned into something more.
Jordan began his journey bowling the summer before joining White County High School. Jordan went to bowl with some of his friends for fun. That fun would soon turn into a commitment for Jordan, who soon got his own bowling ball and began to go to the bowling lanes more often. Jordan said he started taking it more seriously once he joined the bowling team during his freshman year.
By the time Jordan joined the White County bowling team as a freshman, the sport had become a serious commitment. What followed was a four-year progression that transformed him from a newcomer still finding his footing into a two-year team captain.
“Since I’ve been bowling, the coaches around me, they’ve been more than coaches to me,” Jordan said. “They’ve been role models that I can look up to. And while I’ve been bowling in high school, [it has] kind of been somewhere for me to step up, take responsibility and, to me it’s very important [facet] of life is communicate with others and also being a role model to others.”
Jordan said his early years were not easy. As a freshman, he struggled internally with the realization that he was not as advanced as some of the bowlers he competed against. Rather than letting that discourage him, Jordan turned it into motivation.
After his first season ended, Jordan committed himself to improvement in an unconventional way.
“What I did was I would go home and I would watch YouTube videos every night,” Jordan said. “And I would just learn from watching people better than me, taking all the skills that I could get, watch YouTube videos to help me on my form, everything else, and then I would go to the bowling alley and I would practice it in my free time.”
Much of that practice came at Bowling World in Cookeville, the primary site for White County’s matches and tournaments. For Jordan, the venue stood out because of the nuances that separate bowling at different locations.
“There are some major differences,” Jordan said. “Depending on the panels that the bowling alleys have, just, all the lanes are different. There’s a topography of the lanes, the oil patterns, there’s a major difference between bowling alleys.”
That attention to detail paid off. Over the years, Jordan competed in tournaments across Tennessee, steadily refining his approach. One of his most recent outings showcased just how far he had come, as Jordan rolled a 297 out of 300, striking in all but one frame.
Jordan finished his final season earlier in December. Jordan said despite his White County career finishing, he hopes to bowl in high school tournaments for youth, as well as get a scholarship in college. Jordan said he is looking at Tennessee Wesleyan and Cumberland University as possible in-state colleges he hopes to bowl at.
