Terry Bigham USBC Communications

Shane Simmons of Cushing, Okla., bowls in two leagues during the fall/winter season and a Sport league during the summer. But it was the purchase of a Storm Byte bowling ball that could help Simmons improve his game.

Simmons’ purchase led him to learn about the Storm Byte bowling ball promotional contest and he recently was selected as the contest winner. On Friday, he was at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington to receive his prize, a half-day lesson from the ITRC staff.

Simmons said he heard about the contest from Derek Degroff, the pro shop manager at Frontier Bowl.

“He convinced me to buy a Storm Byte ball,” Simmons, 37, said, “and I am glad I did.”

The contest was conducted in February to promote the Storm Byte ball; people also could submit their name to Storm by mail to enter, and more than 400 entries were received.

Simmons said he bowled some when he was a kid, but started bowling competitively around 1997 and has steadily improved. He rolled his first 300 game and an 802 series last year.

He never had a lesson from a professional coach – until he worked with Team USA assistant coach Kim Terrell-Kearney at the ITRC – and hopes from the session at the ITRC that he can learn how to be more consistent and find the keys to developing an overall better game.

“I feel like I’m getting a lot out of this,” Simmons said during his lesson. “I’m working on some things that need to be worked on.”

Go to BowlingITRC.com to learn more about the ITRC training facility and how to schedule a lesson. Go to StormBowling.com to learn more about bowling balls and other products available from Storm Bowling.