THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: April 4, 2014
Paula Phelps has bowled her way to national and regional tournaments throughout her 10-year professional bowling career. She has brought that knowledge and experience to her current job as a bowling instructor at North Idaho College.
PHELPS HAS been an instructor at NIC since 2009, when the 1983 Coeur d'Alene High grad's sister, Mikki Stevens, had to give up teaching the course, due to deciding to also teach culinary arts and speech classes at NIC.
She has brought her professional bowling experience, from her days on the Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour from 1994-2004, to her class that currently has 24 students learning the nuances of the sport. An NIC graduate in 2005, Phelps teaches two classes, in successive fashion, every Wednesday at Sunset Bowling Center. The first class begins at 1 p.m. and the second begins at 3:30 p.m.
"There's more to bowling than just throwing a ball," Phelps said. "There are actually some mathematical formulas to it, physics to the sport. I compare it to golf clubs, because like them, bowling balls are made differently. There are weight blocks, or the mass inside a ball. Some are shaped like a light bulb, or like an anchor. It's where it stores its energy. There are also different ways to read oil patterns and things like that. That's what makes it fun."
Phelps, a part-time instructor, was recommended by Stevens to Paul Manzardo, the former NIC baseball coach, who is now the division chairman of the Physical Education department at NIC.
DURING THE past few years, Phelps has provided video analysis to students, so they can see firsthand how they are doing, either right or wrong, or just to see where they need to improve.
"There's an iPad app called CoachMyVideo," Phelps said. "It shows them what they just did in real time. It makes a big difference, because before this technology was invented, my students couldn't see it. They just went off of what an instructor told them. Now they're like, 'Now I see it.'
Phelps has also brought the mental edge to her "classroom" at Sunset Bowl. Her students look to improve their scores, compete against each other, or simply relax and have fun.
"It's a non-stressful class," Phelps said. "For some of my students, it's about letting go of anger, visualizing what they're about to do. One of my students, for example, said 'I hate that pin'. So we teach them to instead say 'I get another chance (to knock that pin down).' We cover a variety of subjects, taking the correct approach to the game."
And Phelps has noticed the improvement this year and in previous years.
"I'd say 75 percent get better in their overall scores," Phelps said. "It can range from two or three pins to 20 pins or more. Some people just take it for a P.E. class credit, some have bowled for quite a while, but I'd say about 75 percent of my class have only bowled recreationally, like going out bowling with their families, just for fun."
PHELPS COMPETED as an amateur in the Professional Women's Bowlers Association's U.S. Open in Wichita, Kan., as a 29-year-old back in 1996. She has also competed in Seattle in the PWBA Northwest Regional, in also competed in places like Reno, Nev. and Pocatello.
With bowling titles won in Spokane and several other places, she considered herself a regional pro bowler, as women at the national level have to travel across the country.
Phelps said her game average is a 220 and she has bowled a perfect game of 300 before. She currently has the high score of 280, listed among the all-time highest scores at Sunset Bowling Center.
"It was cool, because I got to bowl against the best," Phelps said of competing at the U.S. Open. "It's always nice to know that it's about the relationships."
PHELPS MET her husband, Chuck Phelps, at - where else? - a bowling alley in 2002. She has worked for Time Warner Cable as a technical operations coordinator for 28 years and Chuck works as a supervisor for Costco's produce department and he likes to go elk hunting. Both of them were born and raised in good ol' Coeur d'Alene.
"We met at Sunset Bowling Center," Paula Phelps said. "I saw him subbing as part of a team. I thought he'd be a good partner and three years later, we were married."
And Paula Phelps has taken her love of bowling to help college students develop a love of their own.
Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, or via email at bbourquin@cdapress.com Follow him on Twitter @bourq25