Skalacki alters mechanics, sets record

A slight tweak in Matt Skalacki's mechanics led to a slight tweak in Suffolk County's record book.

"It wasn't a complete transformation," Skalacki insisted, "just little tweaks here and there that helped a lot."

Those "little tweaks" helped Skalacki, a senior on the Middle Country bowling team, improve his average from a 210.86 as a junior to a 232.72 as a senior, setting the record for the highest average by a Suffolk high school bowler. Skalacki edged out the 232.64 average by Bay Shore's Jon Trzcinski in 2008.

It would appear, however, that a 22-pin jump to a record-breaking average suggests total transformation rather than a little tweak. When Skalacki lists the changes he made, it seems there was little left of his mechanics that wasn't tweaked. Adjustments were made to his hand positioning, his approach, his backswing, his slide and his line of play, which accounts for nearly every element of his delivery.

Perhaps Skalacki, who had a five-game average of 209 in Saturday's county championships and will go to the state tournament in Syracuse as an all-star, didn't need a complete transformation, but he was certainly in need of some form of tweaking.

In his first year on the Middle Country bowling team, he finished the season with a 204 average . . . as a seventh-grader. His average climbed to 217 in his sophomore year, 12th best in the county, before he took an unexpected dip of seven pins as a junior.

"I wasn't too happy about dropping," Skalacki said. "It was really frustrating knowing what my potential was. That kind of got me a little flustered, so I worked extra hard and here I am now."

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk and Nassau bowling championships

Skalacki rededicated himself to the game, spending seven days a week perfecting his altered mechanics and set a goal to finish his senior season with a 220 average. When he exceeded that by better than 12 pins en route to a spot in the record book, Middle Country coach Mike Messana began fielding questions about whether Skalacki - who said he wants to be an earth science teacher - intends to turn pro.

"It's a nice boost of morale for the team to know that you have the best bowler in Suffolk County leading off every match for you," Messana said. "People were walking by us at the divisional tournament, just stopping and waiting to watch him bowl and then leaving. People were coming out of the woodwork to watch him."

Knowing that there was a time when he was the one trying to get a glimpse of the upper-echelon bowlers, Skalacki laughed when asked about the crowds he attracts. "It's funny because I used to do that with the older kids that were very good, also," Skalacki said. "Now I know what it feels like."

Once a curious spectator drawn to elite bowlers, Skalacki is now an elite bowler who draws curious spectators. Tweak or transformation?