“In summer, the parking lot at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waterloo becomes one of the area’s last havens for swing bowling — a game in which the ball isn’t rolled, but swung on a tether like a wrecking ball.

July 11, 2009

Mirko Petricevic
Mercury News Services

One of the Tuesday night rituals at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waterloo isn’t focused on the Almighty.

Sure, some of the 30 men congregating in the parking lot might be saying a few prayers. But instead of searching for salvation, they’re gunning for high scores.

Every Tuesday in the summer, the church parking lot pulsates with the crash of bowling pins and peals of laughter.

Earlier this week, five teams of six men each squared off in rousing old-fashioned games of swing bowling.

A throwback to the time when TV had just a couple of channels and minor soccer wasn’t a major concern with local parents, swing bowling involves wielding a 10-pin bowling ball that dangles from a telephone pole by a steel cable.

Like its more famous indoor cousin, the object of the game is to knock down 10 pins standing in a triangle formation. But instead of rolling the ball down a hardwood lane, a player hurls the tethered ball around a post, 20 paces in front of him, trying to hit the pins on the back swing.

The game was once popular in Lutheran churchyards throughout the region, but St. John’s is one of the few remaining playgrounds for pin-bashers.

Frank Schatz, who was president of the swing bowling league for about eight years, said a couple of decades ago, the men’s league at St. John’s (women play on Monday nights) used to have eight teams.

‘Years ago there was nothing else to do,’ Schatz said.

There’s a definite rhythm and ritual to the game.

Three or four men gather in a scrum and set up the 10 pins. One man swings the ball (twice, if needed) and knocks some pins down. Onlookers make wisecracks or compliments, depending on the shot.

Laugh and repeat.

The only time the parking lot is quiet is when both teams hurl their bowling balls at the same time and everyone waits for the crash of scattering pins.

Despite the game’s easygoing rhythm and good-natured ribbing, bowlers do have a serious side.

Games are scored and statistics for individual players are recorded. The top five performers at the end of the season will become team captains next year.

And don’t go thinking you can daydream during a game. The swinging ball and flying pins pack a wallop.

‘It keeps you awake and it keeps you hopping,’ said Larry Miller of Kitchener.”