Kiski Area’s Flanagan captures Pennsylvania Junior Gold Pin Club tournament title

By: Antonio Rossetti
Monday, January 2, 2023 | 1:42 PM

Veronica Flanagan went into the Pennsylvania Junior Gold Pin tournament determined to take home the trophy. After finishing second in the tournament on three straight attempts, the Kiski Area sophomore knew what needed to be done.

“My mindset was to walk out of there as the winner,” Flanagan said. “I was determined to come home with the trophy.”

Flanagan, 16, did just that, taking home first place at the event Dec. 11 at Dubois Lanes. Flanagan racked up a 648 series in the U18 standings at the tournament. The victory took years of dedication to the sport and inspiration by her father, Jim, to bowl.

“When I was younger, my dad was in a league, and so I just wanted to try it out,” Flanagan said. “I joined Junior League, and then it took off from there.”

Bowling built a bond she shares with her father and led to time spent with her family. She doesn’t take that for granted.

“It’s something that I get to share with my dad, and it’s something that I’ve been really good at,” Flanagan said. “All the trips we’ve taken with family have been really special. And there are some great memories and a lot of memories last year with the team, so it’s just been really fun.”

As for her strategy when bowling, Flanagan said she tries to stay as calm as possible and tries to keep it simple. Her strategy has been successful as she won a state championship when she was 10 and also took 14th out of 134 bowlers at a national tournament in Detroit when she was 12.

She has a personal high score of 279 for a single game and 733 for a three-game series.

Her average this year is 203.17 for Kiski Area and 202 in league play. Flanagan, one of two sophomores on the team, along with Alyssa Leya, holds the anchor position for Kiski Area. Her average is good for second in section behind Deer Lakes’ Kaylee Lipp (215.17).

Although Flanagan has built quite the resume so far, she said bowling also has its challenges.

“When you’re bowling good, then, obviously, you’re in a good mindset, but it’s hard because there’s so many easier versus tougher oil patterns,” Flanagan said. “Most of the time, you don’t know that in advance of tournaments. Sometimes you figure it out there. Sometimes you honestly never know what the pattern is.”

Flanagan added how she keeps her focus if the pins don’t fall in her favor.

“It’s a bunch of pins bouncing off of each other, so you could throw the best ball and leave a split or leave a pin and you could throw a ball that looks really ugly going down the lane and you could get a strike,” Flanagan said. “It’s honestly just focusing on the abilities and what you know you can do and try and keep your head up.”

Flanagan and the Kiski Area bowling team strives to persevere despite having a smaller roster of just six girls and three boys.

Despite the limited personnel, Kiski Area won its first-ever match last year and went 9-1 in the section, placing 10th at the WPIBL regionals. The team also earned second place in the Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament.

This season, the girls are off to a 1-3 start in Section 9 North.

Flanagan mentioned that her coaches, Stefani and Duggie Belles, and her teammates play a role in the team’s recent success.

“The coaches help us keep our mental health, on the mental side of it, good,” Flanagan said. “They help us make changes, and my teammates have honestly just become some of my best friends over the years. We’re all there for each other, and it’s great just having fun at tournaments.”

Jim Flanagan, Veronica’s father, said he is proud of the coaches and players of the team. Flanagan is a volunteer coach for the Kiski bowling team.

“We thought it was better than anybody had imagined,” he said. “And I just think that when the team is young as they are — they have just a couple of sophomores, a few juniors and one senior — I think that they can really continue to build on what they did last year, and it’s going to be exciting to see how far they can go.”

He added he is proud of his daughter’s persistence and effort, rolling six games every Saturday for the junior league and then heading straight to Kiski Area’s practice.

“She will put in the work needed to help herself get better,” Jim Flanagan said. “She’s done that throughout her career, and she’s done that at every level. She’ll stay after high school practice. She’ll stay after junior league practice. She’ll have a tournament and put in extra practice and stay and help her teammates work on their games.”

He added that her willingness to improve leads to her success.

“She knows what it takes to get to the next level, and she’s just willing to put the work in and make the sacrifices,” Jim Flanagan said. “If she needs new equipment, if she needs more practice, if she needs help, she’ll ask the coaches for help if things aren’t going her way. She’s willing to take coaching, she’s willing to listen and she’s willing to put that into practice.”

Tags: Kiski Area