Solon High School (SHS) Senior Camden Loeschen said he faces high school stereotypes from being on the bowling team. Loeschen is an athletic guy who used to play football and is on the Varsity Baseball team. Loeschen is very outgoing and loves to socialize, so some students would never expect Loeschen to be a bowler.

“Most of the kids on the bowling team are smart kids, but they are not really as social as I am,” Loeschen said. “I am a lot more cocky and extroverted.”

Loeschen has been bowling since the age of five. He started to bowl competitively at the age of six, but it hasn’t been a smooth ride.

“The hardest challenge is like taking stuff at school, [because] people are annoying about it,” Loeschen said. “They will just be like ‘there is a bowling team?’ or ‘you bowl?’”

Although it hasn’t been easy for Loeschen he doesn’t let the hard comments affect his performance. Loeschen is a very strong bowler and keeps practicing to improve his skill. He is a fast bowler, bowling at a speed of 16-18 mph, which is a good speed to  have control. On Feb. 4, 2019 Loeschen scored a perfect score of 300 during practice, and it was his first time ever doing so.

“I was really nervous, but I was relieved because I have been waiting to do that forever,” said Loeschen.

SHS Junior Andy Ebenstein met Loeschen on the bowling team.

“He is very competitive, and when he bowls well, the team bowls well,” said Ebenstein. “He actually really likes to teach to help improve someone’s skills.”

Loeschen is able to perform so well from self-motivation and support from friends. Tyler Markowitz, Loeschen’s longtime friend, loves to watch Loeschen bowl.

“He is a really good bowler. There is definitely some clout with it,” Markowitz said. “I like watching my friends succeed.”

Loeschen scored a 621 at districts and will be moving on to states in Columbus, Ohio- which is on Feb. 9, 2019. Loeschen is having mixed feelings about making it to states.

“I’m a little nervous as well as a little happy,” said Loeschen.

Adding to Loeschens success, Loeschen loves talking to everyone. His favorite part of high school is seeing all his classmates and being around different people, but he realizes his identity can be off-putting for some people.

“I would say I am friends with most people,” Loeschen said. “I am the type of person when you hear my name people think a certain thing, but if you are actually friends with me you view it a little different. My personality pushes some people away because some people don’t like certain characteristics, sometimes people mistake confidence for cockiness.”

Loeschen said people think that he is overconfident and he faces animosity because of it, but Markowitz sees him differently.

“He is definitely misunderstood,” Markowitz said. “A lot of people think he is very arrogant and stuff which he can be at times, but he is a very emotional human being, he is sensitive.”

Emma Riley, a good friend of Loeschen, said before she met Loeschen she would never expect him to be on the bowling team because she found him egotistical, but since she has gotten to know him, her perception has changed.

“You wouldn’t look at him and think he is a sensitive [person], but really he is very sensitive,” Riley said.

Despite what people say about Loeschen, he still goes out and participates in bowling and continues to be self-confident 

Loeschen does not want to continue bowling for his future school of Ohio University or Miami University, but he may do it on the side for money with an adult league like an extracurricular activity.

Riley thinks that Loeschen being on the bowling team will have an impact on students to encourage them to join the team, even though he won’t pursue bowling in college.

“[Yes] absolutely 100 percent he is facing all the stereotypes that is, ‘you are popular you can not be on the bowling team,’ but you know what, he is doing both,” Riley said.