A set of Okotoks twins look very similar when the sisters are captured in a frame — especially if that frame is in the alley.
Gemma and Chelsea Oxley, 21, both earned trips to national 10-pin bowling championships in their respective conferences.
Chelsea just returned from Guelph, Ont. where she competed in the Youth Bowling Canada championships on April 23-24.
“It was the greatest experience, I learned so much over that one weekend,” said Chelsea, who recently graduated from SAIT in hospitality management. “I bowled against Canada’s best and had some of the best coaches.”
Oxley had a complication nearly as tough as a 7-10 split — final exams.
“I had to get three exams moved in order to go,” Chelsea said. “But my school was really accommodating — they told me to represent Alberta well… I was happy how I bowled against such tough competition.”
She finished seventh at nationals, bowling a grueling 14-games in two days, in which she averaged 160.21.
Chelsea qualified for the lone Alberta spot at nationals by having the highest five-games total pins in the provincial championships in March at her home lanes, Let’s Bowl in Calgary.
“It was down to the last shot, and I had to spare and then hit well — I spared and strike (for 20) so it was super-close,” Chelsea said. “I was so happy, I went to my coach and said: ‘Did I do it?’
“I had never been to nationals before.”
She set the tone early with a 224 in her first game — the highest among the eight keglers in the senior women’s division.
Gemma is heading to the Canadian Tenpin Federation nationals in Kelowna June 1-4 after winning at provincials in Edmonton last year.
“It was a 10-game total point and it usually comes down to the last three games because it is so tiring,” Gemma said. “You just power through it to get there.”
It will be her fourth trip to nationals — last year, she got silver with Team Alberta.
“It’s just a crazy experience, bowling is just like one big family — you learn so much,” Gemma said.
Her top priority at Kelowna is to help Team Alberta medal again, but she wouldn’t mind coming home with a little hardware herself.
“To come home with two medals, that is my goal,” Gemma said. “Our girls (team) is almost the same team as we had last year, so I think we can medal again, but I would like an individual medal.
“Last year I was in a roll-off with three of us and I lost out by one-pin.”
She said bowling is much harder than non-keglers might think.
“There is a lot that go into it that people don’t realize,” said Gemma, an education major at the University of Lethbridge. “To get certain spares you have to stand in certain places. And the lane conditions can change. For us (competitive bowlers) some lanes might have a longer oil pattern so your ball won’t hook as much, other might have a shorter oil pattern so your ball will hook a lot.
“There are a lot of things that people don’t realize.”
The twins have been bowling since their younger days growing up in England. They were surprised how difficult it was to find 10-pin bowling in Canada — especially when it is so popular in the United States (A bowling lane was installed in the White House for Harry Truman’s birthday. Nixon was nuts for it).
The two Foothills Composite grads won’t be giving the sport up soon.
“I love it too much to not be doing it,” Gemma said.
