So when his team qualified for the state tournament, he used an idea from former NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano to find a way to celebrate success each day as it comes.
“When you’ve got a program that hasn’t had the success like we have this year, you have to celebrate the little things,” Cooper said. “And going to state is a big deal.”
Shawnee will make the trip to Columbus to compete in the D-II state tournament at 10:45 a.m. Friday at HP Lanes. They’ll be joined by another Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division squad in Northwestern, which finished second at the district meet with a pin total of 4,175.
Shawnee’s Storm Fuller-Givens became the first female bowler in school history to advance to the state meet, shooting a 611 series for a fourth-place finish at districts. The Kenton Ridge, Urbana and Mechanicsburg girls squads also qualified for the state tournament, which will be held Saturday at HP Lanes.
Shawnee senior Craig Ruf made it as an individual a year ago. This time he gets to compete alongside fellow seniors Eric Walters and Dorian Green, and juniors Elijah Vince and Zayne Green. All five averaged at least 194 this season on one of the Central Buckeye Conference’s best groups.
“I was super nervous going by myself, and this year I got a good squad behind me,” Ruf said. “I feel like we’re going to do something great.”
Holding the belief they will bowl well prior to each match this season has been key to the team’s success, according to both Cooper and Ruf.
Cooper said practicing being in the moment, involving both forgetting about what just happened and also not dwelling about what may occur in the future, helps keep the focus on immediate goals. And building on those goals, as well as celebrating achieving them, allows confidence to come naturally.
“Last year our season was 8-9 and this year we’re 15-3, so I’m going to let the numbers do the talking,” Ruf said. “But on a serious note, this definitely has helped knowing walking into the bowling alley, feeling like you’re gonna win every single time is a great feeling.”
Shawnee qualified for state with a 4,035 total. The Braves finished two pins ahead of Clinton-Massie thanks to a frantic comeback.
The team sat in seventh place entering the Baker games and lost more ground to all of its nearest competitors after the first set of frames. Shawnee steadied the ship but still found themselves 74 pins behind for the final qualifying spot.
A 247 game in the sixth Baker game was the second best score of any team during the tournament and helped propel them past three opponents.
“Anybody misses a spare or does anything else in those games and we don’t get through by two pins,” Cooper said. “But at the same time, the philosophy of shooting the next shot, what it really comes down to is nobody was keeping score and didn’t care what any other school was doing in the place except us.”
And Cooper said no one had any idea until he handed in the scoresheet and began hearing from other coaches they had eclipsed them, but he kept it from his bowlers so they could hear their accomplishment for themselves as final results were announced. He said he still tears up watching a video taken of the bowlers hearing they made it.
“When we qualified, I called [Shawnee athletic director Steve Tincher] and told him to have everything ready for when we cut down the nets,” he said.
What could happen if Shawnee wins state?
“Maybe after we win state we’ll tear down the goal posts,” Cooper said.
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