For Mike Mele, Seaford bowling has come full circle

Mike Mele has been bowling competitively since he was 5-years-old. The 17-year-old Seaford senior also played soccer, baseball, ran track and did karate growing up, but none of them captivated him in the way bowling did.

When Mele became eligible to participate in a school sport in seventh grade, there was no bowling program offered at Seaford. Once Mele graduated Seaford middle school and entered high school in 2014, the Vikings still remained without a program, and that is when frustration set in.

“I told my mom that I kind of felt left out,” Mele said. “I knew there were a lot of sports offered at Seaford, but I didn’t understand why there wasn’t a bowling program.”

Sensing her son’s disappointment, Mike’s mother Maureen, decided that enough was enough.

“I felt compelled to tackle this issue because I knew so many children, starting with my own, who wanted to bowl,” Maureen said. “I knew they had the talent and the drive, but weren’t being given the opportunity to represent their school in a sport they love.”

Heading into the 2014-15 school year, Seaford was only one of five districts in Nassau that didn’t offer a bowling program, according to Nassau girls bowling coordinator Eileen Shultis.

“I researched the budget and asked many questions, either at Board of Education meetings or via email,” Maureen said. “I also called and visited local bowling alleys and transportation companies to get accurate pricing details. Once I had all of this information, I created a packet for each administrator and BOE member, filled with facts, figures, studies and charts.”

Additionally, Seaford parents helped get a petition signed with more than 400 signatures requesting that the board add the team, according to Maureen.

“We reviewed Ms. Mele’s packet and we spoke about it with our administrators, superintendent, assistant superintendent and our building principal,” Seaford school board President Bruce Kahn said. “There was a strong feeling that we would get kids who would not normally participate in sports such as football, baseball, field hockey or basketball, who may decide to join the bowling team, and we figured it was worth taking a shot at.”

According to Kahn, the board believed that adding bowling as a sport was a good idea back in 2014, but for financial reasons, it wasn’t until the 2016-17 school year that the board was able to budget for the coach and cost of lanes (approximately $10,000).

The process took about a year-and-a-half, but the parents got their wish in the end. As part of the 2016-17 budget, the board voted to approve bowling as a sport in April 2016.

“When we finally found out we were going to be competing against other schools, it was a victory that I never felt before,” Mike said.

Speaking of victories, the Vikings earned plenty of them in their first two seasons. The girls did not lose a regular-season match and combined for an overall record of 24-0. The boys went 10-2 in both seasons.

Before the start of this season, the state created a separate small school division in both boys and girls bowling for the first time. This allowed schools with lower enrollment the opportunity to compete against schools their size.

On Feb. 3, 2018 at Garden City Lanes, the girls and boys each captured the Nassau small school team championship to earn a spot in the state championships.

Mike, the Seaford boys captain, rolled a 205 in Game 3 and a 213 in Game 4 of the six-game series. Chris Pupa bowled a 219 in Game 3 and Jonathan Saloman rolled a 220 in Game 2.

Sophomore girls bowling captain Paige Donovan, who finished second in Nassau this season with a 188.39 average, rolled the high game at the county tournament for Seaford with a 223 in Game 3. Caitlin Chavatte opened Game 1 with a 162 and Hailey Galison added a 160 in the same game.

The Vikings will head to The OnCenter in Syracuse, March 10-11, where the boys and girls will each compete against eight of the best small schools in the state.

“I’ve definitely seen improvement,” Donovan said. “Walking into the first open bowl before actual practices started, I was a little bit nervous about how the team would be, but then I saw that everyone was really good.”

“It proves that bringing a bowling team to Seaford was the right thing to do,” Seaford coach Berto Cerasi said. “Not only because of the success of winning titles, but because of the amount of kids who have been able to be a part of something special.”

Seaford has increased its program participation from 18 to 30 in the last two years.

In the 2017-18 regular season, the girls finished third in average in Nassau (608), and the boys were 11th (737.8).

“It’s so amazing to see how fast we’ve been able to progress as a team,” said Marissa Mele, Mike’s younger sister. “It’s really nice to see the way everyone bowls together and see the program become stronger as time goes on.”

Marissa, a freshman who was a starter for the Seaford girls last season as an eighth-grader, bowled her season-high game with a 255 on Dec. 14 and in the lane next to her, Mike bowled his season-high with a 258.

“I completed my game and I looked over and saw that my little sister was doing the same thing as me, and it was amazing,” Mike said.

Marissa added: “It’s always like a competition. It’s motivation. When I look over at him, it gives me the extra push to try and beat him.”

Marissa finished 14th in Nassau with a 160.9 average and Mike finished 23rd with a 200.1.

“It is very fulfilling to see Michael and Marissa bowling together on the team. They support each other but also have a friendly competitive nature,” Maureen said. “They each have been bowling since they were 5, but in the atmosphere of representing Seaford together, doing something they love, it’s a special experience. They were the first inspiration for my work fighting for the team. The whole experience has been very rewarding, both for myself and, I think, for everyone involved.”