Bowling in SEAG bet Posadas bloodline

Bowler Lara Posadas will compete in her third Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia and her goal is to bring home at least a gold medal. There are 11 events in the sport which will be played at the Sunway Mega Lanes of the Sunway Pyramid Mall in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on Aug. 20-25. The bowling hub features 48 Brunswick computerized lanes and welcomed pinbusters at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Posadas is one of 12 bowlers on the Philippine team aiming to surpass the lean harvest of only two bronze medals in the previous edition in Singapore in 2015. Posadas figured in claiming those two bronzes in the women’s team of five and trios. With six-time world champion Paeng Nepomuceno now as head coach, the six men and six women bowlers are hoping to relive the Golden Age when Filipino bowlers used to dominate the SEA Games.

Posadas, 27, lives and breathes bowling. The youngest of three, she has been downing pins for nearly 17 years. Her brother Jeremy and sister Apple were former national bowlers. In 2011, the three siblings were on the Philippine squad that bowled at the SEA Games in Indonesia. In that edition, Jeremy bagged a pair of silvers in the men’s team of five and singles.

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The Posadas siblings started out bowling as a family affair with their parents Demy and Leonor. Demy, 64, no longer bowls but Leonor, 62, still burns the alleys. “It used to be just a hobby where the whole family played together,” said Posadas. “When my brother and sister began to train with a coach, I got jealous and wanted to play with them, too. For me, it was all about having fun and making new friends. But when one of the coaches saw me, he said I had natural talent and I could go a long way if I take bowling seriously. Ever since then, I started competing in local and youth competitions which turned my hobby into something more.”

As a youth bowler, Posadas was guided by coach Boy Florencio for about 10 years. Then, coach Sixto Singson polished her skills until coach Johnson Cheng took over in 2005. Cheng was the national bowling coach in 2015 and Posadas said she owes her development as a competitive kegler to him. 

“I became part of the national youth team in 2007 where I first represented our country with Apple at the Asian Youth Bowling Championships in Beijing,” said Posadas. “After a few years, I qualified for the national team to play at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. At the SEA Games in 2011, I competed with Apple and Jeremy. My brother won two silvers but unfortunately, Apple and I just finished fourth in doubles and missed the bronze by one mark. I’ve won around 10 local and three international titles. My latest major championship was when I won the Philippine International Open this year. It was memorable because I bowled my fifth career perfect game during the qualifying round.”

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Posadas said her life revolves around bowling. “I studied at Assumption Antipolo from kinder to high school and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do after that,” she said. “One of the things I’m passionate about, other than bowling, is food so I decided to study Hotel Restaurant and Institution Management, major in Culinary Arts, at La Salle Benilde. Those were the years where I spent doing two things I love the most, cooking and bowling. After graduation, I was lost and couldn’t decide if I’d go abroad to work as a chef or stay in the Philippines to bowl and continue to be part of the national team. My passion for bowling was what made me decide to stay here. I looked for jobs where I could work but still pursue my passion. After a couple of jobs, I finally found a company and a boss who understood and supported my bowling career. I’m currently working part-time at Dale Carnegie as a training consultant and also working part-time for my dad at Steel Building Systems and Technologies.”