Bowling, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Bryce Harper
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Finishing third at the states singles championship.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Throwing a gutter and 5 count in the team stepladder finals.
Music on your playlist: Country
Future plans: Attend college
Words to live by: “Never let the fear of failing keep you from living life to the fullest.”
One goal before turning 30: Go on a cruise.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m ambidextrous.
By Craig Ostroff
In Game 2 on the first day of his senior season, Colin Poremba opened with a strike. Then a second strike. Then a third. In all, Poremba started off with 12 consecutive strikes.
Had he been in the batter’s box on the baseball diamond, that would have been a disastrous start.
But on the bowling lanes, 12 consecutive strikes is literally the best start Poremba could have hoped for. A perfect game.
“It was my first 300, and to open the season with a 745 at the end of that day - it was very memorable,” Poremba said. “I put in a lot of time and a lot of work in the offseason. I wanted to go out there and make a name for myself, make sure the season got off to the best start possible.”
The Harry S Truman senior proved to be a key piece in the Tigers’ bowling team’s Suburban One League team title and appearances at Regionals and States, where they finished fifth. Poremba also qualified for the Singles Stepladder Finals tournament. Entering as the fifth seed in the tournament, Poremba won his first two matches and finished third in the state.
Tigers’ bowling coach Jim Ryan had no doubts that Poremba could achieve what he did this year.
“Colin is a true leader, he’s my anchor bowler, the one I lean on when the game is close, the one who knows what needs to be done to win the game,” Ryan said. “He has that winning mentality, and he always tries to keep the team in the game.”
Between his clutch play and his nontraditional two-handed delivery, Poremba has a way of garnering attention on the lanes. It’s the same way in practice, where he’s looked up to as a two-year captain and a mentor for the younger bowlers.
It’s a role he embraces and takes very seriously. For as individual a sport as bowling can be, there’s no success without teamwork.
“It was important to me to be able to get the guys to come together,” Poremba said. “If we don’t come together as a team, we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we accomplished. It was important for me to be able to build a relationship with every one of them. I think that helped a lot on the lanes and builds confidence that helps you push through adversity.
“At the beginning of the season, you work to build your trust with everyone. You want them to trust you and you want to know you can trust them. I know once I’m done at Truman, I can pass the torch on to talented, respectable bowlers and good people.”
He’s put in a lot of work to get to where he is now. Poremba said he’s seen his spare shooting improve the most during his high school years, and it resulted in his average jumping 15 pins from freshman to sophomore year, as well as a 10-pin jump from junior to senior year, where he carried a 225 average.
And he’s always a calm, collected presence on the lanes, whether he’s competing in the first match of the season or competing in the state finals.
“I always try to stay level-headed, always try to make sure I’m composed,” he said. “You just have to worry about yourself, not who’s in the field, not the numbers. Thinking on the approach is the worst thing you can do, so you just have to be in the right state of mind when you’re on the lanes.”
His results speak for themselves. There are plenty of seasoned bowlers out there with twice the years of experience who have never recorded a perfect game. Not only has Poremba done so, but the circumstances of the event, and those who were there to witness it, made the moment … pretty much perfect.
“Getting a 300 out the gate was very memorable,” Poremba said. “There were a couple hundred people watching it. My coach, who is someone I look up to, who’s always been there for me, for him to be the first person to congratulate me after I shot 300 was a very special moment. It brought tears to my eyes.”
•••
While Poremba is most passionate about bowling, he is a two-sport athlete at Truman. Once he’s done on the lanes, Poremba is an outfielder on the Tigers’ baseball team that is looking to make some noise in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive Patriot Division.
“I’m hopefully looking to make a playoff appearance, not just for myself, for the other guys,” Poremba said. “We’ve struggled making the playoffs my four years, but to be able to make it and give the other guys a chance to play in a playoff atmosphere, that’s what I’m hoping for.”
Poremba will be a big part of that. A left-handed bat in a league loaded with right-handed pitchers, Poremba will be counted on to get key hits as well as providing a veteran presence in the outfield.
“My goal for him is to bring us some consistent power from the left side,” said Truman baseball coach Brian Sinkiewicz. “Colin is a good outfielder, he adds a lefty arm in the field and at the plate.”
Poremba admits his season hasn’t gotten off the way he’d originally envisioned. His success in bowling meant his winter season was extended, and it cut into prep time for baseball season.
“Honestly, it’s been very difficult,” he said. “Focusing on bowling the way I was, I’m probably not the same baseball player I was a couple years ago. It’s been very difficult getting back into form for baseball. I’m just trying to work hard every day at practice and in games to shake off the rust and just grind it out.”
Sinkiewicz has no doubts that Poremba will get back into form.
“Going as far as he did in bowling took away a bit in preparing for baseball, especially when you make it as far as he did,” Sinkiewicz said. “Colin is one of those kids that’s going to keep plugging away. He’s an athlete, he’s one of those kids driven to figure it out. I’m looking forward to seeing what the season brings for him.”
•••
Next year, Poremba and teammate Bradley Allen will head to Kentucky, where they will attend Midway University and continue their respective bowling careers at the collegiate level. It’s fitting that the two are taking the next step together, since it was Allen who helped Poremba take his first step into the world of bowling when he was still in elementary school.
“When I was real young, he would take me with when he went bowling. His whole family was a bowling family,” Poremba said. “I grew up with baseball, football, basketball. But I wanted to try it. I started bowling, met great people in the alley. After the first couple times going to Open Bowling, I joined the junior league. I was always in the bowling alley, and being there 5 days a week, my passion for the sport really grew.”
Poremba and Allen will be reunited at Midway with Jackson Ryan, a 2021 Truman grad and former Tiger teammate as well as coach Ryan’s son. Poremba liked what he heard from the school and the team, and the knowledge that there would be numerous familiar faces there made the decision an easy one.
“Once I talked to the coach at Midway, he made it feel like it’s a family,” said Poremba, who is considering a major either in criminal justice or nursing. “It’s very family oriented there, and that’s really a big thing for me. Being able to go with Bradley, and to be able to bowl at that level, it means a lot. It’s a great opportunity to build character, meet new people, learn different things, learn from another coach, and just gain another outlook on life from the people around me.”
Whatever his future may hold at Midway and beyond, there is no doubt as to what Poremba is leaving behind. His legacy as a leader, a mentor, and a top-notch bowler are secure at Truman.
“Colin knows next year he won’t be at Truman, and part of his job this year was to help secure the legacy of the team,” Ryan said. “The past six or eight years, Truman bowling team has been a force in Suburban One, and Colin knew when he leaves, someone else has to step into that position. I could always say to Colin, ‘Can you work with this guy?’ ‘Yes, Coach, I know I won’t be here next year, and this kid has to develop this.’ He knew what I was asking of him and what we needed, and he never told me no.
“To find a youth bowler that can do what you ask him to do and not be selfish about it is very rare. A lot of kids worry about what they’re doing, but it has to be about the team, not you. Colin knew how to differentiate that.”
And while it may be difficult to fill Poremba’s bowling shoes, he’ll be impossible to replace as a person.
“It’s not easy to replace someone like Colin,” Ryan said. “I really wish I had him for another year, it’s going to be really tough to figure out who I’m going to replace him with.
“Colin is a special kid to me. He’s more than a bowler. Colin is really good friends with my son, so he spent a lot of time outside of bowling at my house. There have been kids on the team over the years, they grow into sons to me. I have a couple coming behind Colin that are going into that role, they’re not just a bowler on the team, they’re like family to me. It’s going to be tough without Colin, but I’m proud of him. He’s got a great future ahead of him.”
