In most Vikings sports, the boys and girls teams are completely separate entities, with each team holding its own practices and having separate schedules.  However, this is not the case with the boys and girls bowling teams, varsity and junior varsity alike.

However, even though the boys and girls teams share the same schedule and both practice and hold meets at Herrill Lanes, alongside one another, there is still a distinction between the boys and girls teams, in place of one larger team.

In an ideal world, it would make sense for the teams to become one larger team with no gender distinction; bowling is different from many other sports insofar that its professional league contains both male and female bowlers.

But due to the current state of each team, it seems impractical to combine these teams for several reasons.

“I think it makes more sense how it is now.  I just think that it makes more sense to have the teams split.  Especially because if it were not split, around three fourths of the girls who are on the team would have been cut,” said junior and top-seeded male bowler John Gallagher.

Having separate teams is a positive for many bowlers who would not have had a chance to play otherwise.

“I think Schreiber has two teams to give more students a chance to bowl and participate in team sports,” said junior captain Vera Puglisi.  “The way it is now gives more students an opportunity to succeed, and since the teams are smaller it creates a more intimate environment, allowing for teammates to become closer with each other and more confident.  With larger teams, less people would be able to play in matches, and fewer people would therefore be able to show off their improvements.  Combining sounds like a nice idea but it’s very unpractical.”

Based on this general consensus between the two teams, along with Nassau County regulations distinguishing between genders for bowlers in the area, it seems unlikely that there will be one larger bowling team in the near future.

Unless all the local teams discussed logistics for a large move like this, the two teams will likely be split for the long run.

Unlike these teams, there are other sports that do not differentiate between boys and girls.  For example, Schreiber’s golf team, a perennial contender for many years, does not restrict by gender.

However, it is rare that even one girl plays on the team because of the lack of female golfers at Schreiber.

“In theory it would be more fair, but the reality is that with the current level of talent on both teams, usually measured by average scores, the team would be almost entirely boys,” said senior Nicholas D’Alonzo.