You do not have to look far into Samantha Mighty to see how she has helped the lady rattlers bowling team jump to number one in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division.
The second-year business student from Brooklyn, N.Y. has used hard work as a pillar to her success in this sport.
Whether it is being the only African American on the team, or the team’s only female, her work ethic has enabled her to let go of the pressures around her and focus on her only goal; championships.
Mighty has been around bowling her entire life. Practice was never too far away because her father owned a bowling pro shop. This is where she started honing her skills from the age five. Preparation has become the most important part of her game.
Mighty’s first experience playing in tournaments came during her sophomore year at James Madison high school. She was one of only two girls on the team, and was also the only African-American member. The team was made up of mostly white and Chinese males. With this combination of players their team took home top honors in the city league championship.
The next two years would not be as glorious.
For the duration of high school, Mighty would now be the team’s only African American as well as its only female athlete.
“Being the teams only black person wasn’t that hard since the school was multicultural. Being the only girl was just odd,” said Mighty of the experience.
The major losses of personnel, due to graduation and eligibility problems, caused the team to not do as well in her final years of high school.
“Our team was talented my senior year. People just could not get their acts together to stay eligible and we could not win like that,” Mighty said.
Mighty graduated high school feeling as though she had not completed her goal urging her to continue her bowling career at Florida A&M.
After only a year of collegiate bowling, Mighty has steadily worked her way into the anchor role of this year’s team. The anchor bowls the fifth and tenth frame of the game in the baker style bowling that our team uses.
Using this past Christmas break as time to train harder, Mighty has come back on a mission to help this team achieve goals that are already set.
“My dad and I practiced five hours a day over the entire break to help me gain more control. He has been watching my game develop longer than anyone, so he can find flaws I cannot.”
In the team’s first tournament back from the break, the Frederick E. Underwood lady bulldog classic, Mighty was named to the all classic team and also brought home tournament MVP honors. With an average of 215.40 pins per game and a total of 1,077 pins, Mighty started a trend that she can hopefully carry through the rest of this season.
“It would be nice to leave here with a national championship under my belt. I am going to do my part and I have faith that my new teammates will be doing the same.”