“Carley’s love for bowling and his willingness to sacrifice his free time to reach his goals is what sets him apart from other bowlers,” CHHS bowling coach Jeff Crady said. “His skills have been elevated to a different level than many kids his age because he was willing to put the work in.”

Central Hardin junior Carley Shrader has been bowling for seven years and counting. Shrader started bowling competitively at just ten years old, excelling in the sport ever since.

“I started with my current coach’s son, who moved to South Dakota for college. I got taken under their wings; I owe a lot of my success to them,” Shrader said. “But I’ve definitely got to give a lot of thanks to the high school coaches, Coach Crady and Coach Epperson.”

Some of his achievements include top male bowler of the 2022 Youth Sport League at Dixie Lanes, high individual game and high individual series at Indiana/Kentucky All-Stars, winning the Youth KY Open, medaling at the Storm Youth Championships, and bowling a perfect 300 last season.

“Watching Carley bowl a 300 in competition at Fort Knox last year will be a memory I will never forget,” Crady said. “The amount of nerve and concentration he showed in that game is something special that doesn’t happen very often at the high school level.”

While he has not made a college commitment yet, Schrader does have strong desires and intent to play at the collegiate level.

“I’ve already been looking at a lot of colleges and taking some visits,” Shrader shared.

By the looks of it, Marion University of Indiana and Lindenwood University of Missouri are right up Shrader’s alley, ultimately being his top two prospects as of right now.

In the meantime, Shrader is preparing for the region tournament to come in the next few months.

“We all want Carley to win the singles in the region and lead the team to a team title. He knows that he is capable of it, and he works every day towards that goal,” Crady said.

The passion for bowling runs in the Shrader family as his eldest older brother had a role in inspiring his drive for the game.

“My brother started his senior year bowling. He didn’t have a lot of the opportunities that I had, so to see him bowl at the collegiate level and have some success, it’s just pretty inspiring. I owe it all to him,” Shrader shared.

This goes to show it’s never too late to try something new. Shrader’s advice for beginner bowlers is simply to never give up.

“I really struggled freshman year with mental health and everything. I kinda just wanted to give up, but you just gotta keep fighting through it even on those down days,” Shrader said. “You just gotta keep going.”

In the history of bowling itself, many have debated whether it’s a “true” sport and questioned the athletic nature of the event. Bowling has actually made appearances at the 1988 and 1996 Olympics, but has not survived recent rounds of voting for future Olympic Games.

“If you just go out and do it for fun, it’s something completely different. It’s just like any other sport I feel like, just because it can get really competitive at any given moment,” Shrader expressed.

Listed below if the bowling schedule for the remainder of the season in which you can cheer on Schrader and the Bruins:

(12/16) CHHS vs. Taylor County @ B&B Lanes 4:00 p.m.
(12/17) CHHS vs. John Hardin/Thomas Nelson @ B&B Lanes 11:00 a.m.
(1/7) PRP Tournament @ Dixie Lanes TBD
(1/9) CHHS vs. John Hardin @ B&B Lanes 4:00 p.m.
(1/21) Pre-Region Tournament @ B&B Lanes TBD