Young bowler making steady progress on the lanes, just missing out on first 300 game
Johnny Campos
Journal Star
For the past 10 years or so, Kenny Shockency has been grooming his son, Zayne, to become his eventual doubles partner in the not-so-distant future.
It appears the younger Shockency might be a little ahead of schedule.
Last weekend, 12-year-old Zayne Shockency came within three pins of rolling his first career 300 game. His final ball came up light in the pocket, leaving the 2-4-5 pins and he had to settle for a 297 at Linn Lanes in Canton.
Had Zayne completed the trey, he would have matched Vince Pollard Jr. as the youngest 300 shooter in the area.
Rather than feeling total disappointment, he was happy with his new high game.
"I was focused, but I really didn't care," Zayne said. "I was nervous. I fell off my last shot, and kind of pushed it down the lane."
So, he is still not out of the starting blocks as far as catching his dad in career 300s. But Kenny doesn't think his son will have to wait much longer.
"He's going to start sooner than I did," he said. "I have 65 of them, but I was 18 when I had my first one."
And the elder Shockency expects to team up with his son in doubles events in a few years.
"In about seven or eight years, that's my doubles partner," he said. "We're going to practice a little first and we're going to win some tournaments."
Besides chasing his dad in career treys, Zayne, a seventh-grader at Ingersoll Middle School in Canton, also wants to bowl collegiately for the powerhouse team at Wichita State.
Those are lofty goals, but the youngster has been working on improving his game ever since he first picked up a ball when he was about 2. Like many young bowlers, Zayne started using both hands to get the ball down the lane, and is still using that style of delivery.
"That's what he did when he first started, and I just kind of fine-tuned it over the years," Kenny said. "There were many times when he was 6 that he was throwing my 15-pound balls down the lane."
Naturally, that means that many of Zayne's favorite bowlers on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour use the two-handed delivery.
"My favorite bowlers are Belmo (Jason Belmonte), Kyle Troup, Sean Rash, most of the two-handed bowlers, Kyle Sherman, Brad Miller, and Darren Tang," he said.
Zayne has not attended a PBA event yet, but did get to meet Belmonte at a youth tournament in the Chicago area last year.
It was at the Junior Battle Royale at Stardust Lanes in Addison, one of the events that Zayne is using to build his resume.
He is already averaging 190 with a high three-game series of 726, and has been putting in the work on the lanes to reach his goals.
"I usually practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then I bowl on Saturday," Zayne said.
He is also participating in many of the regional and national tournaments, such as the Teen Masters and Junior Gold.
"We're trying to go to as much stuff as we can," Kenny Shockency said. "We've got to get his name out there. We're just trying to create a resume, because that's what a lot of colleges want to see."
They probably will be hearing a lot more about Zayne Shockency in the not-so-distant future.
There are several special deals for bowling fans going on right now that could make some excellent stocking stuffers for Christmas.
The first is a subscription for BowlTV, which has expanded its tournament offerings for 2021. The streaming service will be showing 90 events and more than 1,600 hours of bowing coverage.
The annual subscription is usually $79.95, but is on sale for $49.95 if you sign up by December 31 on bowl.com.
Another special offer that's good until the end of the year is a subscription to Bowlers Journal International, the top bowling magazine in the industry. A three-year subscription currently costs just $36 on bowlersjournal.com.
A third suggestion would be getting someone a PBA Pinsiders membership, being offered by the PBA. For $49.95 a year, members will receive some PBA swag, exclusive discounts and some exclusive content from the PBA. For more information, go to pba.com/join.
Johnny Campos is the Journal Star bowling columnist. He can be reached at 686-3214 or jcampos@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnnyCampos59.
Peoria-area bowling scores
Perfect Angle/Bill Mastronardi Masters (second third, After Week 4): 1 Johnson Accounting 141-159; 2 T-Shirt House 126-174; 3 Striketown 120-80; 4 Linn Lanes 112-88; 5 T&D Windshield 108-92; 6 Plaza Lanes 104-96; 7 Landmark Lanes 92-108; 8 (tie) Bullpen & Mt. Hawley Bowl 86-114; 10 Sunset Lanes 82-118; 11 Wingstop 75-125; 12 Potter's Alley 68-132.
Last week's results: Johnson def. T&D 26-24; Bullpen def. Plaza 32-18; Mt. Hawley def. Striketown 36-14; Sunset def. Wingstop 36-14; T-Shirt def. Landmark 34-16; Linn def. Potter's 40-10.
High series: Kenny Shockency (Linn) 804, Benny Barnwell (T-Shirt) 774, Adam Johnson (Mt. Hawley) 757, Corey Gray 749, Travis Anderson (Landmark) 746, Dan Rogers (T&D) 743, Luke Morris (Johnson) 742, Chad Barnes (Mt. Hawley) 737, Kevin Tockes (Bullpen) 726, Dan Lee 711, Mark Stenger 708, Brian Davis (Linn) 704.
High games: B. Davis 289, Brad Moore (Wingstop) 289, A. Johnson 279 & 256, Barnes 279, Shockency 278, 268 & 258, Rogers 277 & 256, Morris 277 & 254, Anderson 277, Gray 276, Tockes 274 & 255, B. Barnwell 268 & 265, Bob Ogle (Sunset) 266, Stenger 257, David Colburn (T-Shirt) 257, Yuma Scott (Plaza) 257, Gary Strait (Johnson) 253.
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