While the bowling program at FMCC has only been in existence for three years, so much has already been accomplished. In the 2018-19 season, both the Men's and Women's teams captured their respective Mountain Valley Conference Championship titles.  As the program continues to grow, the ongoing search for dedicated student athletes remains a top priority.

Head Coach Tom Rathbun stated, "We are always looking for bowlers who understand that academics come first, bowling comes second. We have several educational aide programs that are designed to help students that might struggle with their academics and we continue to monitor their progress throughout the school year and do everything we can to help them succeed in the classroom."

To provide a basic understanding on the timeframe of the bowling season, the following will give you a good idea of the time involved.  Bowling tryouts usually start in mid to late October.

"In the past, we would try to practice twice a week, generally after classes on Tuesday and Thursday for 90 minutes to 2 hours. Based on experience and with input from our bowlers, it has been decided to practice once a week on Sunday evenings, probably from 5-8. It was always difficult to get everyone to both practices each week because of conflicts with classes, usually labs, and conflicts with their after school work schedules. We decided to move to Sunday evenings to accommodate students so they can continue to work and still participate. We have also worked out an agreement with our practice sites that bowlers can come in on their own free time during the week and practice if they wish," noted Coach Rathbun.

 The FM program has two sites available for practice. "We practice at two sites. If we are going to a tournament that have synthetic lanes, we practice at Starlite Lanes in Gloversville, if the site has wood, we practice at Perry Lanes in Johnstown." Practice will be once a week until the first week of December and then the program essentially shuts down so that students can concentrate on finals. Winter break usually last about six weeks and the bowling program starts up again in mid-January. League play begins in late January. February is usually the busy month with conference matches and weekend tournaments.

"We try to bowl in 4 to 5 weekend tournaments, 3 in the fall and a couple more during second semester.  In the fall we go to a 2-day tournament in Syracuse. In the spring we ALWAYS go to the NJCAA National 3-day tournament in Buffalo.  We go to Nationals regardless of how we finish in Conference play, not all schools in our Region do that." The National Tournament is always the first weekend in March which marks the end of the season.

There are a few differences between the FMCC Bowling Program and programs at other schools. "At FM, student athletes NEVER pay a dime of their money to participate. There is no participation fee, equipment fee, uniform fee, nothing like that. Meals are always provided at away matches. We also participate in the USBC Collegiate Pricing Program. This program allows students to buy bowling balls and other equipment at a fraction of the retail price. FM runs an early bird tournament in the fall which allows us to purchase new uniforms, jackets, and t-shirts with the funds raised from the tournament."

While most schools have a constant turnover in their coaching staff, the coaches at FM have been the same since the program started. Head Coach Tom Rathbun of Little Falls started the program in 2015. The following year, Assistant Coach Dave Hayward joined the program.

"Coach Hayward is the technical expert; he can spot a flaw in someone's swing in seconds and offers tips to correct those flaws. He is a Pepsi certified Silver Coach and we are lucky to have him," said Coach Rathbun. Coach Rathbun was named Men's Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 season and was also name Women's Coach of the Year for the same time period.

"We are building something special here at FMCC and always look to change and improve the program.  Any successful program is ultimately built on student athletes that want to succeed in the classroom and at the alleys. The search for those dedicated athletes is a year-round effort", concluded Coach Rathbun.        

If you think you may be interested or require futher inormation, please fill out a "Recruit Me" form or email Coach Rathbun at trathbun@fmcc.edu.