TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — Rebecca Dodson’s accomplishment was five years in the making.
That is, if you ignore her parents’ own ‘achievement’ nearly a decade and a half ago.
Dodson, a 14-year-old student at Everitt Middle School, bowled a pristine score of 300 in the Northwest Florida Youth Scholarship Tournament held April 5 and 6 at Bowlarama Lanes. Dodson tallied the perfect game during the first day of the tournament and ultimately qualified for the North Pointe Junior Gold Survivor Tournament scheduled for mid-July in Buffalo, N.Y.
“After I looked up at the sixth strike I stopped looking at my score and just kept doing the same thing I’ve always done,” Dodson said. “I stuck with my routine. I stayed relaxed.”
After rolling nine strikes in her first nine balls, Dodson still needed three more strikes in the 10th frame to close out the perfect game. Her first roll curled perfectly to knock down all 10 pins. The next throw made her heart jump into her throat.
“The 11th ball, I thought I had put it out too far and didn’t think it would come back,” Dodson said. “Then it did.”
Dodson capped the game with another strike to post her perfect score — to her own delight and that of other competitors and onlookers present.
“The closer she got to it, it kind of quieted down, and that’s when the pressure gets to you,” said Dodson’s father, Ted, who is retired military but serves as an instructor at Tyndall Air Force Base. “Throwing the first ball in the 10th frame, your adrenaline starts rushing more and more. … For most of us, and I can tell you from experience as someone not hitting 300, your arm, knees, legs, everything just start shaking.
“Then you release it, the ball goes down, the pins drop and everybody goes, ‘Yay!’ It was a climactic finish. The emotions hit. When she got it she was bawling. It was just that pressure and emotion.”
Dodson’s mother, Chong, was the first woman ever to roll a 300 locally and was inducted into the United States Bowling Congress Panama City Association’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Dodson, who competes in tournaments throughout the year and practices twice a week at Raptor Lanes, said her mom’s tutelage has been invaluable during her development as a bowler.
“She tells me what I need to do and to relax, and she tells me how to pick up certain spares and where I need to move,” Dodson said. “She’s a really big help to me.”
Ted Dodson said he met his wife while stationed in her native home of South Korea and introduced her to the sport.
“She got addicted to it,” he said. “When we first met she bowled with a six-pound house ball. Now she has a 16-pound ball fitted just for her. Needless to say, she took to it. Even when she was pregnant with our three girls she continued to bowl.”
Bowling since has become a family affair.
“It’s something we can all do together,” Ted Dodson said, noting his daughter began bowling competitively at 9 years old. “Now it gives us a chance to spend time together. It’s an opportunity to teach our daughter discipline and teach her to be able to maintain her focus. That helps in school and in everything else.”
The younger Dodson, who has been compiling scholarship money for college as part of her winnings at various tournaments, said she intends to continue bowling into college and beyond. Her average currently is sitting at 194, and she wants to push it north of 200 soon.
“It’s just a matter of practice and always trying my best,” she said.