Clover bowler making dreams come true

Rising Clover High School senior Breanna Clemmer has scored strikes around the country in her quest to be an elite women’s bowler. This summer, she notched another first when her career took her to Panama.

Breanna, 17, competed in the Pabcon international youth bowling tournament earlier this month in Panama as a member of the eight-person Junior Team USA. The group took home two bronze medals and two silver medals.

“The pace is much faster down there,” said Breanna. “There was no one who spoke English, literally. It was a hard week and an amazing week at the same time.”

Breanna said she grew closer with her Junior Team USA members, a youth team of four girls and four boys. “I was able to learn how to work as a team, not just individually, and I grew a bond with my team members and with other countries,” she said.

Breanna also competed in the Junior Gold Competition in Chicago, which she won last year in the under 20 division. This year, she placed second, and again was named to the Junior USA Team.

“I was trying to repeat what I did last year,” she said. “I wasn’t disappointed in my bowling the whole week. I was just kind of disappointed in myself; I wanted to win. But you can’t win all the time, so you have to take it and go with it.”

Breanna, who lives with her grandparents, Jimmy and Barbara Clemmer of Clover, was 2 years old when she started rolling balls at George Pappas Liberty Lanes in Gastonia, N.C., where Barbara Clemmer works as manager of the snack bar.

Barbara said she and her husband are proud of Breanna’s accomplishments. “She’s had a pretty impressive summer,” she said.

Although didn’t win the Junior Gold Competition in Chicago, Barbara Clemmer said, Breanna bowled well. “She led out there all week,” Barbara said. “She did amazing.”

Breanna will compete in regional tournaments in the Carolinas and Georgia during her senior year in high school.

She also has plans for her college bowling career. Breanna said she has accepted a bowling scholarship at McKendree University, a private liberal arts schools in Lebanon, Ill.

Breanna said she wants to study psychology with a minor in criminal justice. She’d like to get a doctoral degree and become a psychiatric health professional in a hospital.

“It’s just really interesting to me, and I want to be able to help people that have problems,” she said.

Breanna said she’s been lucky to have great support for her bowling career.

“I’m very blessed,” she said. “I’m very lucky to have the coaches I have and the parents and staff I have behind me. It’s a great experience to feel so loved and to know these people are behind you 100 percent.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Clover bowler making dreams come true."