onefrombills
08-17-2009, 11:27 PM
Ryan Ciminelli packed his bags and headed to Detroit this summer with one aim in mind: "get exempt." Just two weeks into the Professional Bowlers Association World Series of Bowling, Ciminelli is quickly proving that he plans to leave Detroit with that exemption in hand. The 23-year-old former All-American with Erie Community College already enjoys a comfortable lead on the non-exempt players points list with two TQR victories and consecutive finals appearances in both the Cheetah and Viper Championships. A powerful young lefty who likes to fire the ball up the extreme outside portion of the lane and runs out key shots with a pumped right fist that is quickly becoming his trademark, Ciminelli added Hall of Famer Brian Voss to his growing list of victims on his way to a title match against Norm Duke for the Cheetah Championship last week and, more recently, ousted reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott in match play at the Viper Championship. Fresh off of his title match against Norm Duke at the Cheetah Championship, Ciminelli spoke with BOWL.com about lessons learned in a difficult Tour Trials experience, defeating Parker Bohn "at least ten times" for a title in his dreams, how he is handling the increased attention that accompanies quick success, and much more.
You have made quite a mark already in the WSOB winning 2 of 3 TQRs and vanquishing Hall of Famers like Brian Voss on your way to a championship match with Norm Duke. What is it like to be experiencing so much success in so little time up in Detroit?
RC: Well, back at trials in this building I figured out everything not to do. I succeeded on Cheetah, I bowled good and I almost expect to bowl well on that pattern because I have become so used to playing outside like that even though I grew up playing deep and hooking the lane. But I have really become accustomed to playing out there and I expect to bowl well on it now. But on the Viper and Chameleon at trials, I tended to make moves that a righty would make because I was taught by righties growing up, and you can't make moves that a righty would make when you're bowling on the left side of the lane. I find myself trying to inch towards the middle of the lane and in that building there is a lot of hook in the middle of the lane and it's hard to get the ball through the front of the lane. And when you do, the ball won't recover. At trials, for the first five games on those patterns, I was doing really bad and it just ate me up. I ended up going way back left and trying to keep the ball from going around boards and I saw that that worked very well. So after that I went home and got comfortable outside of five and lucky enough it has really been the right choice.
It's interesting to hear that you make moves from a righty's perspective even though you're a lefty because lefties did not do well at the Cheetah Championship this year. Is there anything about your game that you think gave you an advantage over other lefties on that pattern?
RC: It seemed like the wet/dry was really a factor and as soon as they got on top of it enough their ball was over-hooking. You can't go around the ball at all. There is just so much over-under, and I really believe that switching to a urethane ball allowed me to go farther left. Rhino got way out there with the same ball as me later on but he's got a lot more side roll. I mean, he makes great shots, but his carry just wasn't what mine was. I just maybe have a little more power and higher rev rate, so it was a good combination for me.
You resorted to a urethane ball throughout much of the Cheetah Championship. Many people insist that you just can't get any carry using urethane on today's oil patterns but that was not a problem for you in that tournament. How were you able to avoid any carry problems that might accompany a switch to urethane equipment?
RC: Well, as long as you can stay towards the gutter with it and get the ball to break early enough the carry is really OK. It was just a matter of changing tiny things. Like say on one pair I had to stand a little further into the dry while on other pairs I would have to move in and really get a handful. But I didn't really have a problem until that title match against Duke.
It's not like anyone on tour can just say 'OK, I'm going to use a urethane ball because the pattern is hooking. You have to have revs and some power to be able to survive with urethane equipment, correct?
RC: Absolutely. Mainly because you're using urethane because there is a lot of friction and when there is a lot of friction the scores are high and you're going to need to throw strikes. So it's really going to have to suit your game.
What was going through your mind in your match against Brian Voss, knowing you're bowling against a Hall of Famer who has been there so many times before and have a sizable experience advantage over you?
RC: Well, all I could do was break the lanes down on my side and try to open them up the way I wanted to because I knew he would throw numbers at me. The only thing I was hoping was the fact that he was throwing a reactive ball and that when his spot broke down he would have to take that 3 or 4 frames to get lined up again and throwing that many strikes you can't give away 3 or 4 frames, and those were the games I would jump on. I was fortunate enough to out-strike him one game and that's why I beat him 4 to 2. That 180-game he shot was his search game and because I had won the one big score game I was able to finish him off there, and I am very glad for that because I worry that if I hadn't won that game and it got tied up he would definitely get lined up again and throw a big number.
Yes, Voss had a tough break leaving a 9-pin in the tenth frame of game 5 that seemed to take the wind out of his sails a bit. In a way the whole match seemed to hinge on that shot.
RC: Yeah, he was trying to make a run there and I don't think I was up much at all and I had just gotten tapped two frames previous. Then he went high flush and tripped the four and he went high flush again the next frame and left the 9 and you could definitely tell by his body actions that he was in trouble.
What do you do to not let the stature of a guy like Voss intimidate you or get into your head?
RC: You know what, the way I see it, I am not supposed to win in many people's eyes. And having that edge of having nothing to lose, I go in there saying 'You know what, everyone expects me to lose anyway so just give it your best shot and so be it if you lose. If you lose, no one is going to say 'Oh, I can't believe he lost.' No one is going to say 'I can't believe he lost to a Hall of Famer.' I just go in there and say 'Just have fun, and if you win, great. You'll get some respect. If not, well, it's a win-win from my point of view.'
Give me a sense of what it is like to be 23 and be on such a big competitive stage, thinking to yourself "Here I am bowling against guys I grew up watching on TV."
RC: I try not to think about my age too much, but growing up watching them on TV, it's been 15 years at least of me just dreaming of bowling them on national television. And in my eyes having it already been 15 years of living that dream in my mind, it's almost like I am finally here, even though I am at such a young age. When you get something in your mind like that for such a long time, a decade and a half, you know, that's a long period of time.
So you've bowled Norm Duke for the title many times in your mind already, eh?
RC: Oh, absolutely! I have beaten Parker ten times for the title, you know. I have literally had real dreams about being on national television winning titles.
Well, there you were bowling Norm Duke for the title in real life at the Cheetah Championship. Obviously the title match of a telecast is such familiar territory to a guy like Duke that you might as well be bowling him in his living room. What was it like to be on that stage with a guy of Norm Duke's caliber?
RC: He is such a great guy and he is actually good friends with the guy who backs me now and we kind of joked around and the fans were great and people just relaxed me and the setting that we were in, I was really comfortable in that atmosphere. I really surprised myself, I thought it was going to take me a game or two to get settled in and I thought my anxiety would get the best of me, but last year in Chicago me and Jason Couch were bowling in the position round for the show and I had him down 30 or 40 pins with three games to go and I noticed I was going to make the show and my anxiety got the best of me. This week I refused to let that happen again, I just stayed in my own mind, stayed composed and I went out there and made good shots from the get-go and it was really a fun time. I had about as much fun as you can have losing.
Switching gears to your college career, Ryan, in what ways do you think your collegiate bowling career at Erie Community College prepared you for competition in the World Series of bowling?
RC: bowling on a team is way more frightening than bowling in any singles event. You know, when you are that anchor and you're supposed to be that guy for your team that is supposed to make that shot when your team needs it knowing that you have four or five guys behind you expecting you to strike, you have that pressure times five. If you miss you have to turn around and look at these five guys like 'I'm sorry guys, I tried.' But if it's just you, you can go out there and let it all hang out and you only have yourself to look at or blame, and that's a lot easier than breaking everybody's heart.
You've proven your versatility already by surviving TQRs on two diff patterns recently-what do you think is the one thing about your Game that is most responsible for your versatility?
You have made quite a mark already in the WSOB winning 2 of 3 TQRs and vanquishing Hall of Famers like Brian Voss on your way to a championship match with Norm Duke. What is it like to be experiencing so much success in so little time up in Detroit?
RC: Well, back at trials in this building I figured out everything not to do. I succeeded on Cheetah, I bowled good and I almost expect to bowl well on that pattern because I have become so used to playing outside like that even though I grew up playing deep and hooking the lane. But I have really become accustomed to playing out there and I expect to bowl well on it now. But on the Viper and Chameleon at trials, I tended to make moves that a righty would make because I was taught by righties growing up, and you can't make moves that a righty would make when you're bowling on the left side of the lane. I find myself trying to inch towards the middle of the lane and in that building there is a lot of hook in the middle of the lane and it's hard to get the ball through the front of the lane. And when you do, the ball won't recover. At trials, for the first five games on those patterns, I was doing really bad and it just ate me up. I ended up going way back left and trying to keep the ball from going around boards and I saw that that worked very well. So after that I went home and got comfortable outside of five and lucky enough it has really been the right choice.
It's interesting to hear that you make moves from a righty's perspective even though you're a lefty because lefties did not do well at the Cheetah Championship this year. Is there anything about your game that you think gave you an advantage over other lefties on that pattern?
RC: It seemed like the wet/dry was really a factor and as soon as they got on top of it enough their ball was over-hooking. You can't go around the ball at all. There is just so much over-under, and I really believe that switching to a urethane ball allowed me to go farther left. Rhino got way out there with the same ball as me later on but he's got a lot more side roll. I mean, he makes great shots, but his carry just wasn't what mine was. I just maybe have a little more power and higher rev rate, so it was a good combination for me.
You resorted to a urethane ball throughout much of the Cheetah Championship. Many people insist that you just can't get any carry using urethane on today's oil patterns but that was not a problem for you in that tournament. How were you able to avoid any carry problems that might accompany a switch to urethane equipment?
RC: Well, as long as you can stay towards the gutter with it and get the ball to break early enough the carry is really OK. It was just a matter of changing tiny things. Like say on one pair I had to stand a little further into the dry while on other pairs I would have to move in and really get a handful. But I didn't really have a problem until that title match against Duke.
It's not like anyone on tour can just say 'OK, I'm going to use a urethane ball because the pattern is hooking. You have to have revs and some power to be able to survive with urethane equipment, correct?
RC: Absolutely. Mainly because you're using urethane because there is a lot of friction and when there is a lot of friction the scores are high and you're going to need to throw strikes. So it's really going to have to suit your game.
What was going through your mind in your match against Brian Voss, knowing you're bowling against a Hall of Famer who has been there so many times before and have a sizable experience advantage over you?
RC: Well, all I could do was break the lanes down on my side and try to open them up the way I wanted to because I knew he would throw numbers at me. The only thing I was hoping was the fact that he was throwing a reactive ball and that when his spot broke down he would have to take that 3 or 4 frames to get lined up again and throwing that many strikes you can't give away 3 or 4 frames, and those were the games I would jump on. I was fortunate enough to out-strike him one game and that's why I beat him 4 to 2. That 180-game he shot was his search game and because I had won the one big score game I was able to finish him off there, and I am very glad for that because I worry that if I hadn't won that game and it got tied up he would definitely get lined up again and throw a big number.
Yes, Voss had a tough break leaving a 9-pin in the tenth frame of game 5 that seemed to take the wind out of his sails a bit. In a way the whole match seemed to hinge on that shot.
RC: Yeah, he was trying to make a run there and I don't think I was up much at all and I had just gotten tapped two frames previous. Then he went high flush and tripped the four and he went high flush again the next frame and left the 9 and you could definitely tell by his body actions that he was in trouble.
What do you do to not let the stature of a guy like Voss intimidate you or get into your head?
RC: You know what, the way I see it, I am not supposed to win in many people's eyes. And having that edge of having nothing to lose, I go in there saying 'You know what, everyone expects me to lose anyway so just give it your best shot and so be it if you lose. If you lose, no one is going to say 'Oh, I can't believe he lost.' No one is going to say 'I can't believe he lost to a Hall of Famer.' I just go in there and say 'Just have fun, and if you win, great. You'll get some respect. If not, well, it's a win-win from my point of view.'
Give me a sense of what it is like to be 23 and be on such a big competitive stage, thinking to yourself "Here I am bowling against guys I grew up watching on TV."
RC: I try not to think about my age too much, but growing up watching them on TV, it's been 15 years at least of me just dreaming of bowling them on national television. And in my eyes having it already been 15 years of living that dream in my mind, it's almost like I am finally here, even though I am at such a young age. When you get something in your mind like that for such a long time, a decade and a half, you know, that's a long period of time.
So you've bowled Norm Duke for the title many times in your mind already, eh?
RC: Oh, absolutely! I have beaten Parker ten times for the title, you know. I have literally had real dreams about being on national television winning titles.
Well, there you were bowling Norm Duke for the title in real life at the Cheetah Championship. Obviously the title match of a telecast is such familiar territory to a guy like Duke that you might as well be bowling him in his living room. What was it like to be on that stage with a guy of Norm Duke's caliber?
RC: He is such a great guy and he is actually good friends with the guy who backs me now and we kind of joked around and the fans were great and people just relaxed me and the setting that we were in, I was really comfortable in that atmosphere. I really surprised myself, I thought it was going to take me a game or two to get settled in and I thought my anxiety would get the best of me, but last year in Chicago me and Jason Couch were bowling in the position round for the show and I had him down 30 or 40 pins with three games to go and I noticed I was going to make the show and my anxiety got the best of me. This week I refused to let that happen again, I just stayed in my own mind, stayed composed and I went out there and made good shots from the get-go and it was really a fun time. I had about as much fun as you can have losing.
Switching gears to your college career, Ryan, in what ways do you think your collegiate bowling career at Erie Community College prepared you for competition in the World Series of bowling?
RC: bowling on a team is way more frightening than bowling in any singles event. You know, when you are that anchor and you're supposed to be that guy for your team that is supposed to make that shot when your team needs it knowing that you have four or five guys behind you expecting you to strike, you have that pressure times five. If you miss you have to turn around and look at these five guys like 'I'm sorry guys, I tried.' But if it's just you, you can go out there and let it all hang out and you only have yourself to look at or blame, and that's a lot easier than breaking everybody's heart.
You've proven your versatility already by surviving TQRs on two diff patterns recently-what do you think is the one thing about your Game that is most responsible for your versatility?