Carolyn Dorin-Ballard         Bowling

Standing on the approach facing the pins Carolyn Dorin-Ballard is a
study in intensity. When she exchanges the traditional ‘low-five’ with
an opponent before a match she is focused and ready for battle.

One almost expects a referee to tell her to “Touch gloves and come out
bowling at the bell.”

“I’m a very intense person when I bowl,” Dorin-Ballard said.
And that intensity has made her one of the best players of her
generation. In her first 10 seasons on the PWBA tour the 37-year old
won 10 titles and was runnerup for Player of the
Year Honors four times.

But in 2001 Dorin-Ballard took her game to another level, establishing an all-time PWBA record by winning seven titles, including three tititles in a row at one point surpassing the single-season mark set by Lisa Wagner in 1988. Dorin-Ballard also tied Patty Costello's mark for professional wins in a single season. Costello won six titles on tour in 1976 and also captured the BPAA U.S. Women's Open. Dorin-Ballard will have a chance to break Costello's mark next month when the Open is staged in Laughlin, Nev.

The Linden, N.J. native also leads the tour in earnings and average and has established an all-time record for television appearences in a single year.

Her 2001 accomplishments have Dorin-Ballard believing she has crossed a threshold of sorts. “I’ve been in the top five for seven or eight years,” she said, “and everybody would tell me ‘You’re one of the top players’ and I’d say ‘No I’m not.’

“There’s an elite group where I still put the Robin Mossonttes, the Anne Marie Duggans the Lisa Wagners and the Nikki Gianuliass. Those are the women that made women’s bowling. When I look at what I’ve done this year this is probably the first time in my career that I said tomyself ‘You know what? I’m one of the best. Now I feel like maybe my name belongs next to those women. I have such respect for the women that made this tour what it is that now I feel like ‘Wow, maybe I belongwhere they are’ and that’s what I think I take the most pride in.”

It was people like Mossontte (then Robin Romeo) and Wagner that
Dorin-Ballard  watched when she was growing up. She started bowling at the age
of six and was bowling for her high school team when ESPN went on the air and began televising the women’s tour on a regular basis. From her living room Dorin-Ballard was able to study the players and their games, Romeo and Wagner in particular. “Basically because my game was so simple I watched Robin and Lisa,” she said, ‘Because they were straighter players, they were spare shooters. Those were the women that I really watched.”

There was another player who influenced Dorin-Ballard, one of the greatest match play bowlers of all-time, Aleta Sill. “Every time she was on TV she was just so intense,” Dorin-Ballard recalled. I admired that so much about her, I said ‘My God, look at how focused she is.’ So really game-wise it was Robin Romeo and Lisa Wager and intensity-wise it was Aleta Sill.”

Dorin-Ballard went on to bowl for a fine college program at West Texas State where she was a three-time All-American. Fittingly enough when she joined what was then the LPBT in 1991 her first championship came when she teamed with Wagner to win the National Doubles title. She won her first singles event in 1994 in Columbia, Tenn.

As Dorin-Ballard has matured into a veteran player her game has
evolved, but the talent level on tour is higher than ever, forcing her to work even harder to stay ahead of not only the other veterans but  the eager young players eager to leave their own impact on the sport.

“These ladies that have come out from Team USA and the collegiate ranks, they are so much more advanced than I was in college,” Dorin-Ballard said, “and I came from a good college program. They all throw the ball great, they have such experience behind them. They’re a lot more knowledgeable about equipment, about lane conditions. We’re going to see some really great ones out there.”

Which suits Dorin-Ballard just fine. Now in her second year as President of the PWBA Players Association she is a resolute advocate for her sport and is as passionate about promoting bowling off the lanes as she is about bowling well on them.  She would like to see bowling benefit from the growthspurt that sports like soccer and basketball have enjoyed in recent years.

Her efforts to promote her game, on the lanes and off earned Dorin-Ballard  a nomination for Sportswoman of the Year from the Women’s Sports Foundation. It is a safe bet that she will be impacting women’s bowling for many years to come. “We want the publicity,” she said. “We want everyone to watch us. We want people to know that we’re the best kept secret (in women’s sports). I also hope with me being nominated for Sportswoman of the Year this may attract some
outside corporate sponsors because that’s who the Women’s Sports
Foundation is involved with and hopefully I can bring something back
to the sport.”