Reflections Magazine Issue #74 - Spring 2011 | Page 11

Athletics Feature

Saints Complete First
Season of Bowling

C

harles Cain has got things rolling at SHU.

The first-year bowling coach fielded the first intercollegiate men’s and women’s teams in school history
this winter, and is looking forward to building the
Saints into a formidable sporting program for SHU.
“It’s been a long process,” said Cain, who was hired in
March 2010 after Siena Heights announced it would
add bowling as an intercollegiate sport. “When I was
hired, they weren’t even expecting a team this year,
let alone two teams (men and women). It’s been a
large learning curve. The good news, by the end of
the season here, is that there has been improvement.
As a coach, that’s what you look for.”
Cain has six men and six women in his new program,
which competed in several tournaments around the
Midwest earlier this year. Because bowling is considered an “emerging” sport by the NAIA, meaning
it does not yet have championship status, the Saints
were a member of the American Heartland Intercollegiate Bowling Conference.
Cain brought impressive coaching credentials to Siena Heights. He is a USBC Silver Level Certified Instructor. Before arriving at SHU, he coached the University
of Michigan’s men’s bowling club team to their first
intercollegiate team sectionals appearance in school
history. He also has extensive experience coaching
youth bowlers in metro Detroit, and was selected as
the Metro Detroit Coach of the Year in 2008-09.
“I eat and drink this sport,” he said. “I love it. Seeing
these bowlers get better and improve and learn
things that they didn’t know before, that’s the biggest thing for me.”
Sophomore Michael Burman of Britton, Mich., who
bowled in recreational leagues before coming to
Siena Heights, said collegiate competition is literally
a whole different type of game.
“It’s a whole new learning process,” said Burman, who
wants t