MUSKEGON TWP. - Bianca Kammers and Brenna Ackerman have been best friends since the third grade.
Now they're both seniors at Reeths-Puffer High School, Kammers is the best player on the girls bowling team and Ackerman is the second best.
That means they must have developed their bowling skills together as they grew up, right?
Not exactly.
Kammers was born into a bowling family, so the sport came naturally to her. Her parents have been among the better bowlers in the area for years, so Bianca was rolling a ball down the lanes pretty much from the time she could walk.
Ackerman, on the other hand, was never interested in bowling at all, and had to be literally dragged into the sport before she discovered that she liked it.
The story goes back to the start of the high school bowling season in 2020, when Kammers and Ackerman were both freshmen.
R-P bowling standouts Bianca Kammers (left) and Brenna Ackerman.
The R-P girls team reportedly needed another bowler to fill out its lineup, and no obvious candidates were coming forward.
So Kammers turned to Ackerman and asked her to come out for the team, despite her complete lack of experience.
“I knew we only had two returning bowlers, so I kind of forced her into joining,” Kammers said with a smile.
Ackerman, who always stuck to soccer as her one sport, said it took more than coaxing from her best friend to get her into bowling.
She said Kammers’ dad (R-P bowling coach Dan Kammers) also played a role, and her own parents were in on the conspiracy.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “I just got manipulated into it. Bianca twisted my arm, my parents twisted my arm, and (Coach Kammers) twisted my arm.”
Ackerman resisted as long as she could, but finally caved in to the pressure and joined the team, but was not happy with her decision at first.
She said she had always been very shy, and the thought of being around a group of kids she didn’t know very well, in a sport she had never played, made her miserable.
Kammers, who has been an All-Conference bowler all four years of high school.
It upset her so much that she cried the night before her first practice with the bowling team.
“It was just intimidating,” Ackerman said. “I have always been really introverted, so to be thrown into a group of people I didn’t know very well was tough, especially since they were older. Except for Bianca, they were all juniors or seniors.”
Even now, the question about how much Ackerman was really needed on the team that first year still remains in dispute.
Coach Kammers said without her, there wouldn’t have been enough girls, and they would have been forced to join the boys team.
Ackerman suggests otherwise, saying “Come to find out, they could have bowled without me."
One-two punch for the Rcckets
Whatever the case may be, the story has a happy ending. Kammers has been a standout throughout her varsity career and Ackerman’s game has really come along.
Kammers, who rolled her first 200 game when she was only nine, has finished in the top five in the O-K Green conference individual standings for the past three years, and is expected to do so again this season.
She has been a medalist (top 10) at all but two varsity tournaments she competed in over the past four seasons.
Kammers is a three-time All-Conference bowler who currently leads the Rockets this season with a 174 average.
Ackerman caught on quickly and started finding her groove in her sophomore season, earning honorable mention All-Conference honors. She really hit her stride last year as a junior, joining Kammers as a first-team All-Conference selection.
This year she is second on the R-P roster with a 153 average.
Kammers and Ackerman really started becoming a one-two punch against top local and conference competition last season.
Ackerman, who is an All-Conference bowler who never bowled before high school.
At last year’s O-K Green postseason tournament, Kammers and Ackerman finished second and seventh, respectively, while teammate Brook Buchan (a year behind them in school) finished eighth.
At last year’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tournament, Kammers finished in second place, Ackerman was fourth and Buchan was sixth.
The 2024 editions of those two local tournaments are coming up this week, with the GMAA tournament on Wednesday and the conference postseason tournament on Friday. All three top Rockets are expected to do very well again.
So how has Kammers continued to improve for four great years, and how did Ackerman get so good so quickly, with no history in bowling?
Both girls credit Coach Kammers for being a great teacher and mentor on the lanes.
But the coach says the girls have done it mostly on their own by being ferocious competitors.
“If they want it, they will beat themselves into the ground until they get it,” Dan Kammers said. “They are cut from the same cloth. If they are determined to accomplish something, they will both lose sleep until they get it.
R-P's Brook Buchan, who has the third highest average on the team this year.
“They have worked on things together, beyond me coaching them, and Brianna has become quite a good bowler.”
Kammers and Ackerman also have goals that go beyond local success, and this is their last crack at it.
Last year at regionals, both narrowly missed qualifying for the Division 1 state finals by just a few pins. For Kammers that was old news, because she also came close but missed out as a freshman and sophomore.
Both girls are planning to address that issue at regionals on Feb. 23-24 at Sherman Bowling Center in Muskegon.
But even more than qualifying for state as individuals, Kammers and Ackerman would very much like to go with their entire team.
The Rockets failed to qualify for state as a team last season by a single pin. They finished fourth out of 14 teams at regionals and only the top three go to state.
R-P's Hailey Johnsen, who has the team's fourth highest average.
The R-P girls have a real chance to make it as a team this season, and both Kammers and Ackerman say a group trip to the finals would be a lot more fun.
“That’s extremely important,” Kammers said. “I want us to be all together, especially since it’s our senior year.”
Kammers and Ackerman both plan on attending Muskegon Community College next year, and MCC has a women’s bowling team.
When asked if they are both going to try out for the team, Kammers quickly said yes.
Ackerman just rolled her eyes and smiled.
“I like how she just said yes before I got an opportunity to answer,” she said.
