‘A positive influence on everybody’: Green, Furukawa lead Big Walnut bowlers into postseason
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
By Scott Gerfen
sgerfen@cbussports.com
Aidan Furukawa of Big Walnut releases a practice shot Feb. 6 at Columbus Square Bowling Palace. Photo: John Hulkenberg
When Nick Green began bowling competitively five years ago, he knew repetition would help improve his game. He didn’t need to be at the bowling alley.
“I went to my basement and made a little backstop with a bunch of pillows and set up a couple pins,” Green said. “It was less about trying to hit the pins and more about teaching myself the correct way to throw the ball.”
Defending Division I district champion Aidan Furukawa, on the other hand, could barely walk when his grandfather and father introduced him to the game at age 3.
The two seniors have been strong anchors this season for the Big Walnut boys bowling team, which begins its postseason quest Feb. 21 at the Division I sectional tournament at HP Lanes.
The duo finished the regular season among the top five individual leaders in the Central Ohio High School Bowling Conference, with Green (224.7 average) runner-up to Reynoldsburg’s Quinn Dean (229.3) and Furukawa fifth (214.7).
Last season, both Green and Furukawa helped the Golden Eagles place third at district and 14th at state.
“They’ve definitely been the key selling points to our team, and they’ve had a positive influence on everybody,” said Big Walnut’s first-year coach Conner Leidtke, a 2015 graduate and assistant under former coach Scott Morrison, who now leads Ohio State’s Buckeye Bowling Club.
That inspiration also has impacted newcomer and senior Garrett Irvine, who finished 10th (209.1) among the COHSBC individual leaders this season.
Nick Green of Big Walnut releases a practice shot Feb. 6 at Columbus Square Bowling Palace. Photo: John Hulkenberg
“The summer before his junior year, Garrett taught himself how to bowl two-handed by watching YouTube videos for about six months,” Leidtke said. “And, he has definitely gotten progressively better by being around Nick and Aidan and getting tips from them because they both bowl two-handed.”
Green, whose parents were “big bowlers,” upped his average 20 points this season after working with coach Jeff Robinson.
“We’ve changed my form a lot compared to how I used to throw,” Green said. “I would kind of dip my head down a lot and put a lot of speed on it. Jeff has taught me to be more upright and to take some speed off the ball. I’m getting more pure shots. It’s good to see all the work that I have put in starting to show up.”
Furukawa has watched his accuracy get better during his four years at Big Walnut, noting that physically “everything is a little (smoother) and more fluent” this season.
After winning district and tying for 29th at state last season, he scored the biggest achievement of his bowling career, winning the U18 title at the 2023 Junior Gold Championships at Royal Pin Western in Indianapolis last July, securing a sport on Junior Team USA.
“Winning state would be nice to add,” Furukawa said. “It’s the one thing I’m missing so far.”
Sixteen teams from the sectional tournament move on to district competition on Feb. 27. The top four teams at district advance to state.
Green expects Big Walnut to be among the four.
“I’m really proud of our team,” he said. “I think we’ve come a long way since we all first started, and I’m just really happy to see us being successful.”