Star Valley High School Sophomore Erin Cazier stepped into the SVI Radio studio during First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday to talk about qualifying for the Junior Gold National tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July. Anyone interested in supporting Cazier can donate to her GoFundMe by clicking here.

(0:00) Joining us live in studio right now is Star Valley High School sophomore Erin (0:05) Cazare, who’s a bowler for the junior bowling league in Star Valley and qualified (0:12) for the Junior Gold National Tournament. Erin, good morning. How are you today? (0:16) I’m good.

Good morning. (0:18) Erin, first off, tell us how you started bowling. How did you first get interested in it? (0:26) After COVID and we were all social distancing, there’s flyers that I found and it was just like, (0:35) oh, I need something to do.

And then it ended up being a really good thing and it ended up being (0:41) really interesting to me. (0:43) So you were pretty young then. (0:45) I was 12, I think.

(0:47) Yeah, I was going to say, were you in middle school, elementary, (0:50) upper elementary, middle school, right? (0:51) Yeah. (0:52) So you gave it a shot, needed something to do. (0:56) Why did you fall in love with it, I guess? Why did you keep wanting to do it? (0:59) I don’t know.

There’s something about the team setting and then being able to (1:03) compete. It just gives me a sense of self and it just ended up being my happy place. (1:10) Very cool.

Very cool. So there’s a junior bowling league that we’ve talked about. (1:14) How does that work? Because it’s not a high school sport, right? It’s something you guys (1:19) do on your own.

And so you have a group of kids that bowl with you, right? (1:24) Yeah. So it’s totally voluntary. Anybody can sign up at all and then you (1:30) pay for it.

And then if you go, they have two different leagues. They have the travel league, (1:35) which is the league that goes around and does all the state tournaments. And then they just have it (1:39) where you can come and bowl on the league just to bowl and be around people who want to bowl with (1:43) you.

And then the travel league goes out and finds sponsors. So they have all their sponsors. (1:52) And I’m assuming you’re on the travel league.

(1:54) I am on the travel league. (1:56) So Erin, how many frames or games do you bowl in a given week? (2:02) A given week? At least 12. And at most, I’ve bowled 16 to 20.

(2:10) And are those competition? (2:13) Games or are those just everything? Practice and everything? (2:15) Every week, I try to do at least 16 to 20. (2:18) Gotcha. And so where do you typically travel when this team goes and competes? (2:24) We go all over the state.

We go to places. We’ve gone to Cheyenne, Gillette, (2:32) Marbleton, which is over by Big Piney. We really just go all over the state.

(2:37) There’s tournaments everywhere. (2:38) You know, what’s kind of interesting to me is (2:42) a bowling alley is sort of kind of the heart of a small town when you think about it that way. (2:47) You’ve seen probably some places that most people don’t in terms of (2:52) just little towns and little places and things about Wyoming that a lot of people don’t see.

(2:57) Would you say that that’s true? (2:59) Yeah, I have. And it’s really interesting to travel all over the state and see it in a different way (3:04) rather than not in like a tourist perspective, but in a, wow, this is where we live. (3:10) So do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite one of those so far? Because you’re (3:15) obviously still very young and you’re still traveling around, but do you have a favorite so (3:20) far? I do.

My favorite is Green River. It has great scenery. It’s got a lot of outdoor activities to do (3:27) and they have really nice places over there.

It just draws your attention. (3:32) Very cool. Very cool.

Speaking with Erin Kazare this morning, (3:36) she is qualified for the Junior Gold National Bowling Tournament. So Erin, (3:40) tell us what that means. How do you qualify for this? (3:42) So you go to tournaments where they have two or three.

So each tournament has like two or three (3:47) junior gold qualifiers. So I competed in Youth Scratch, Wyoming Youth State Scratch and placed (3:55) second. And then I was given an opportunity to accept that spot on junior gold.

And they only (4:03) have like a selected amount of spots. And throughout the year, they take a little bit here, (4:09) a little bit there. It gives a good variety of who qualifies and who doesn’t.

(4:14) Okay. So where are the nationals being held? (4:17) Nationals are being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (4:20) All right.

And it is not a quick drive, right? (4:24) No, it is not. (4:25) It is probably not a cheap trip, I guess is what I am trying to say, right? (4:28) No, it is not a cheap trip. From the people I have talked to, it is around, (4:33) he said to save around $4,000 to be able to afford to get there and (4:41) pay for tournaments and the things included.

(4:45) Yeah, the whole package, right? So you are trying to raise a little money (4:48) to help get you out there to compete. So tell us about the fundraiser you are doing. (4:51) I have a GoFundMe that I am doing.

And then I am doing (4:54) crafts fairs where I am going to sell baked goods and some artwork that I have that I have done (5:00) to try and raise some money. (5:03) And so where can people find these crafts and goods? (5:08) Tell me where these baked goods may be found. (5:11) I am going to the, I can’t remember the name of it.

It is an Alpine on Valentine’s Day. (5:18) It is a Valentine’s themed fundraiser. (5:21) That I had the opportunity to enter to be able to raise a little bit of money.

(5:26) So how long do you have to, I mean, how long do you have to raise the funds? (5:32) And so what is your time frame? (5:33) July. (5:34) Okay. (5:34) So we have to go in July.

(5:36) Gotcha, gotcha. Well, I did find the GoFundMe very quickly. So that was nice.

(5:41) So you just search for Aaron Kazarian, it pops right up. An opportunity of a lifetime, (5:45) Junior Gold, July 2026. And trying to get a few bucks to head out there.

(5:51) So Aaron Kazarian’s studio this morning. So you are doing that with Alpine. You are doing (5:55) the GoFundMe.

Any other way people can donate if they like to just find you in those ways? (6:01) I have also done a few little things here and there to raise a little money, like for (6:06) friends, family, friends, or people that want me to like do a job or raise a little bit of (6:11) money here and there, so. (6:13) Excellent. (6:14) So Aaron, if someone wanted to eventually be a Junior Gold Nationals bowler like you, (6:20) what does it take? I mean, how do you get to the level that you’ve accomplished? (6:24) It takes a lot of practice and a lot of like (6:29) ambition because you have to be willing to like learn new things about it.

So you can (6:33) learn the techniques that you feel like you need to learn. And then you just, you got to get out (6:41) there. You got to put yourself out there.

(6:43) Consistency, right? (6:44) Yeah. (6:45) Like you just said, you’re bowling every day, right? (6:47) Yeah, you got to get consistent. (6:48) Or almost every day.

(6:50) Okay. (6:50) All right. What’s your top score? (6:53) 258.

(6:54) I think I hit 161. (6:57) So your highest isn’t 258? (6:59) No, not even close to that. I’ve never sniffed 200 before.

(7:03) I’m actually quite proud of this. I bowled a 221 once. (7:06) Really? (7:07) That was a long time ago.

(7:11) Love it. (7:12) 258. Wow.

Have you ever been close to the mythical 300? Have you been close to that? (7:17) No. 258 is the closest I’ve gotten. (7:20) Well, that’s pretty close, personally.

I just wanted to, if you were like, (7:25) it’s like, oh my gosh, I’ve rolled strikes the first six frames, you know? (7:30) Yeah, I’ve done that. And then, you know, then you fumble. (7:33) Right.

(7:34) And get too proud of yourself. (7:35) Pressure starts to build a little bit. Yeah.

(7:37) Erin, how many other bowlers are in Star Valley that compete with you in this league? (7:42) On the Travel League, I think there’s three teams. (7:46) So there’s about 10 to 12 kids that bowl on Travel League. (7:50) And then on the whole league, there’s about 20 kids.

(7:53) Wow. So quite a bit. How does someone get involved? How do they do that? (7:56) You contact the coach.

You go to the bowling alley. You can talk to them. They can help.

(8:03) Generally, they try to do it back in September. Get you started back in September. (8:08) So that you start at the beginning of the season, not in the middle, but.

(8:12) All right. And are you aware of age requirements? How old do you have to be? Do you know? (8:18) You have to be able to walk. (8:20) Okay.

(8:20) Like old enough to walk. And then you can’t be older than 18 to be on the Youth League. (8:27) Okay.

Awesome. So quit trying to get on the league. (8:29) I know, I’m too old.

I can walk, but I’m a little too old. (8:33) Better than me. (8:36) Erin Cazare in studio.

Again, if you’d like to support Erin and help get her out to (8:39) Junior Gold Nationals this July, you can support her in Alpine at the Valentine’s event, (8:45) or you can just search for Erin Cazare. That’s E-R-I-N Cazare on GoFundMe, (8:50) and you can find it right there as well. (8:52) Erin, anything else we missed that you think is worth mentioning? (8:54) I don’t think so.

(8:55) Awesome. Well, thanks again for coming in on a non-school day. (8:58) Of course.

(8:58) We really appreciate you waking up to that. (9:00) Erin Cazare. It’s all part of First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday on the SBI Radio Network.