Next month, Brad Aasen will compete at the Canadian Open 5-Pin Championships for the third time.
The Athabasca native, who started bowling at a young age, qualified for the national event with a mixed team (three men, three women) at zones in Edmonton and then at provincials in Lloydminster.
The events marked Aasen’s triumphant return to the sport after having not played since 2007.
“It’s pretty exciting to come back after five years off and go to national’s,” he said, noting that in the intervening period he had simply decided to focus on work and step away from the game. But a number of his bowling friends finally convinced him to get back in the lanes, and it didn’t take long before he picked up right where he had left off.
Aasen won at nationals in 2005 and earned silver in 2006, so the skills were there. He just needed to find them again. He knew that would be the case, but he was surprised by how quickly he was able to do it.
After his first day of zone competition, he was in 22nd place, but he came roaring back the next day to finish eighth.
“The intensity wasn’t there (on the first day) but it came back. I got that winning feeling back, I guess,” he said.
It’s a feeling he started honing back in Colinton, where he started his bowling career at the age of five.
“I played a lot of sports, but bowling was one of those sports I went to the next level with,” he said, noting that he competed at a number of provincial tournaments as a kid. But it was only when he was attending university in Camrose that he started bowling consistently as an adult, and he started making an impact at big events.
“Like any other sport, it’s repetition, throwing that ball over and over again,” he said.
Aasen and his team (all but one member of which has been to nationals) will travel to Gatineau, Quebec for the big event May 30-June 2.
