Jennifer Guitard grew up in a bowling family and newer grew out of it.
Guitard is the longest severing employee at the bowling alley Rev’s, on 119th Avenue in downtown Maple Ridge. She been there 21 years, starting as a server, while in high school, and now, as a mother of three girls, doing a bit of everything.
But a large part of what she does is take care of the youth bowling league, and much on her own time, from entering scores and taking care of all the milestone awards.
For her efforts, a youth bowling sportsmanship award has been created in her name and will be given out for the first time this season.
The plaque will be displayed at the bowling alley.
Guitard is modest about the award. But it embodies much of who she is.
She grew up in Burnaby and started bowling when she five years old, along with her sister, two years her junior. Their parents bowled in mixed leagues.
The sisters mostly bowled at Varsity Ridge in Vancouver, before it closed, then at Grandview Lanes.
“I loved bowling,” Guitard said.
She appreciated how it was both an individual and team sport and enjoyed the camaraderie. She had great coaches, who she said were “very encouraging.”
She loved most going to tournaments, the atmosphere, all the cheering.
“You meet new people, go to banquets, there are dances and games.”
While she was a good bowler who competed at provincials, she enjoyed the social aspect of the game as much or more.
Her sister was more driven to succeed.
Guitard’s high score is 386. Her sister has a couple of 400 games to her credit, and two provincial singles titles.
“My sister was the all-star bowler.”
Guitard loved that at provincials she got to be billeted. Once she stayed with a family in Kelowna who she knew from Varsity Lanes before they moved.
“So it was like catch-up.”
Guitard has boxes of trophies and programs from all of her tournaments. She moved to Maple Ridge in 1993 and won two provincial high school five-pin team titles while competing for Thomas Haney secondary.
“That was really fun.”
All five of the girls on that team competed with and against each other at the lanes in Maple Ridge.
Guitard got a job at the local bowling alley in 1997.
She is 38 now. All three of her daughters – Kaylee, 16, Sydney, 11, and Taylor, 9 – grew up around the bowling alley. She would bring them to the office if she had more work to do. Bowlers in the various leagues know them. One of the ladies in the Club 55 program, which Guitard also runs, always asks about them.
All of her girls dance and two still compete in the youth league. The eldest also now works at the alley.
Guitard took over the Youth Bowling Canada program at Rev’s in 2001, and it takes up so much of her time that she stopped competing herself eight years ago.
“I would love to get back into it, but for now I’m just happy working here,” she said.
“I am here a lot.”
She’s there five to six days a week, running the leagues and keeping records, doing inventory, bartending.
For the youth league, she tracks all the scores and makes sure all the bowlers get recognition for their progress and achievements, creating the “swag tags.”
She used to have to glue all their milestones on banners that are handed out at the year-end banquet: “Bowler of the year”; “High single”; “I beat my average”: “I beat my coach.”
But now the tags are just fixed to lanyards.
Guitard also runs the YBC four-step program, making sure all the information and registrations are taken care of for the various tournaments, from zones to provincials.
She is also a proponent of fair and team play.
She does it all because she loves bowling.
And because she loves watching young bowlers grow.
“To see the joy on their faces when they achieve something now – a personal best, their first strike.”
Many start out throwing gutter balls. But that’s OK, Guitard said.
“I’ve thrown a few in my lifetime.”
Bowling can be difficult and discouraging for children, she added. But after about three months, with some coaching and encouragement, Guitard said most start to figure things out.
And maybe they will grow to love bowling as much as she does.
“After all these years, I still love the game,” Guitard said.
