Samantha Davis had a heavy heart with her grandfather on her mind, but she used her grief to motivate her.
Davis, a 19-year-old Corner Brook native, will represent Newfoundland and Labrador in the senior girls singles bracket at the 2017 national Youth Bowling Canada (YBC) championships being held in May in Regina.
She claimed gold at the YBC provincial championships at the Corner Brook Centre Bowl last weekend with a five-game total of 1,279 to earn her fifth appearance on the national stage — her trip to Regina the fourth for YBC nationals and the other appearance was for the national Youth Challenge.
Two weeks before she was ready to go for gold, she had to deal with the loss of her grandfather, Dennis Byrne. It was a tough time for her and her family, but the 19-year-old sophomore student at Grenfell Campus remained committed to making the most out of her last year of YBC eligibility, so she put it all on the line.
“I really wanted that win for him because our family was kind of down and it meant a lot to us,” Davis said.
She has two bronze medals to show for her YBC career — one coming as a competitor in the bantam girls singles event and the other coming in the senior girls team division.
She would love to finish her YBC career with a bang. She knows this is her last year to win a gold medal, so she hopes things will go her way when she competes against the best bowlers from coast to coast in her age bracket.
“Oh my God, it would mean the world to me,” she said. “I’ve come so close to a gold medal like four times now and I’m dying to have one.
“This is the best opportunity for me to show what I can do, I guess.”
Samantha Davis’s road to the title
Game 1 — 261
Game 2 — 262
Game 3 — 233
Game 4 — 283
Game 5 — 240
Five-game total — 1,279
