Like Mother, Like Son - bowling star/bowling instructor Virginia Norton has taught her young son to bowl

Bowling Digest, Oct, 2000 by Paul Kreins

"Bowling has always given a lot to me, and teaching was a way I could give something back to the sport," Norton says. Today, she is one of the country's few full-time bowling instructors. She makes her living giving private lessons at Brunswick's Rossmoor Bowl in Seal Beach.

For Norton, however, the greatest benefit of being self-employed is the flexibility and freedom she enjoys that allows her to pursue her true current passion: traveling with, watching, and helping Scott develop into one of the nation's stellar youth bowlers.

Scott Norton appears destined to carry on the family name in the bowling world. He was selected as the 2000 YABA Chuck Hall Star of Tomorrow, the 2000 California State Star of Tomorrow, and was the co-recipient of the PBA's John Jowdy Scholarship award. Coincidentally, the other co-recipient of the John Jowdy Scholarship was another second-generation bowler, Robbie Spigner, son of PBA champion and longtime BOWLING DIGEST contributing editor Bill Spigner.

One would assume having thoroughbred bloodlines and a Hall-of-Famer as a coach would be a tremendous advantage, but Norton feels her son's greatest asset has always been his love for the game. Even as a toddler using a plastic bowling ball and pins, Scott would imitate the styles of his favorite pro bowlers.

7"Scott would go down and practice until his thumb was bloody, then he'd want to bowl some more," she says. "He worked very hard on his own on his form." Norton always told her son she would not offer him advice unless he asked for it, and it wasn't until he became a teenager that he sought Mom's help. To this day, she only gives advice when he specifically asks for it.

She may be overly modest, but Norton feels Scott's exposure to the top bowlers in the sport was as important to his early development as anything she may have done for him. "I think it makes a major difference when you see the proper bowling form as opposed to seeing just average league bowlers," she says. Of course, the bowler Scott watched most often was his superstar mother, who has one of the most fundamentally perfect styles in all of bowling.

Scott, who also earned a President's Scholar academic award, will attend Cal State-Fullerton this fall. In addition to being close to home, Fullerton's excellent bowling program was a major factor in his choice of schools.

Norton's plans for the future include traveling and coaching Scott as much as he wants her to, and helping her youngest son, 11-year-old Bryan, with his bowling and life goals. "There are no expectations that Bryan will go as far in bowling as Scott did," Norton says, "but he's a very competitive person, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him try to excel in the same way."

IN A CAREER that has spanned three decades, the 48-year old Norton has seen many changes in the sport. She sympathizes with the pro shop operators who are forced to stock all the new bowling balls, and appreciates the difficult choices bowlers must make concerning their investment in equipment. As for teaching the game, she says the only area that may have changed significantly is how she teaches the release. Otherwise, she still teaches the basic fundamentals, body motion, and proper shot-making. She points to Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Norm Duke as players who have proved you can still be successful in bowling while throwing the ball relatively straight. "The key," she says, "is to stay within your own game."