Happy has luck on her side

Happy has luck on her side

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National bowler Happy Soediyono has it all. She has ambition, and
talent, as well as the full support of her family. But most
important, she is on the path to accomplishing her dream to
become a world champion.

Currently, Happy holds top position in the 2003 women's Aviva
Asian Bowling Tour, a prestigious championship organized by ESPN
STAR Sports. She is the first Indonesian woman to break into the
Grand Slam Finals.

She earned the position after finishing second in the
US$25,000 Indonesian leg of the championship held at Jaya Ancol
Bowl in mid-October.

In the women's final, Happy lost to Vanessa Fung of Hong Kong
214-225 in a very tight game.

"Despite the valuable experience I got, I am disappointed that
I failed to win the event when we played as host," she said after
her match.

The victory earned Fung $2,500 and an additional 75 points in
overall rankings, while Happy pocketed $1,400 and 60 ranking
points.

Despite her loss, Happy stays on top with 153 points, with the
final two legs of the tour to be played in Singapore in November
and Hong Kong in December. The preceding competitions were in
Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

The top 16 bowlers in the final rankings are eligible to play
in the Grand Slam finals in Singapore in January 2004.

Happy told The Jakarta Post that she would participate in the
last two legs to ensure her berth in the Grand Slam finals. The
Tour offers total prize money of US$226,000 spread over six
competitions.

She is no newcomer to the bowling lane. Born as Happy Ari
Dewanti Soediyono on Dec. 8, 1975 in Pekanbaru, Riau, she has
been sending the three-holed ball down the bowling lane since she
was in elementary school.

"My parents introduced us to sports very early, especially
tennis, golf, swimming and of course bowling," she said.

Happy said that her family used to play at bowling centers in
Kartika Chandra, Ancol and near the National Monument during the
1980s.

Those three places used to be a very cool place to hang out,
she said smiling.

Originally playing just for fun, she was somehow motivated to
play in a championship when she was in first grade at Sumbangsih
Junior high school in Jakarta.

Only two years later she won her first title as a junior
champion, when she was in third grade.

Since then, she has collected more than a hundred trophies
from numerous local tournaments.

"I was inspired by my fourth brother, Gatot, who became a
national athlete and got to travel a lot," she said.

Gatot Aryo Nugroho, 29, was a national athlete and now works
as the manager of the bowling center at Pondok Indah Mall.

Happy spent her highschool days in SMA1 Balikpapan, East
Kalimantan, where her father was posted as the province's police
chief.

In Balikpapan, she deviated a little from bowling to play golf
because her house was near a golf course. Moreover, she also
spent a great deal of time being a radio announcer at Swara
Balikpapan Indah 101.6FM.

However, bowling seemed to be part of her life, as eventually
she threw strikes again while representing East Kalimantan in the
National Games.

Even when she went to Indonesian Persada University's (UPI
YAI) school of psychology in Jakarta, she still bore the name of
East Kalimantan.

She then officially left East Kalimantan and defended Jakarta
in 2002.

Although she loves Balikpapan, Jakarta is where she sees her
dreams coming true; the gateway to compete in international
tournaments.

"After all these years of bowling, I started competing abroad
only two years ago," she said.

She realized that she has a long way to go in reaching her
goal, therefore she is taking one step at a time.

First off, she aims to win the last two legs in Aviva Asian
tenpin bowling tour and its Grand Slam final in Singapore next
year.

Sponsor Jaya Ancol Bowl (JAB) is helping Happy with coaches
Henry Tan and Ak Yong of Singapore. She has learned better
techniques and under their coaching, Happy feels she has advanced
rapidly.

She trains five days a week, an average of ten games a day.

"I am lucky to have Christina Koo from JAB as my manager," she
said.

According to Happy, Christina can recognize good bowlers and
later approaches them.

"We should have more talent scouts like Christina," she said.

Happy said that the time is ripe for the Indonesian Bowling
Association (PBI) to go searching for new talent, taking
advantage of the recent return of bowling as a cool thing among
youngsters.

Happy has observed great talent among youngsters playing at
new bowling centers in Jakarta, and says it would be a waste if
the association did not take full advantage of bowling's current
popularity.

As a professional athlete, she said that a bowler's challenge
was in maintaining concentration and consistency.

A lack of fitness would lead to losing concentration and
eventually one's consistency, she said.

"Apparently, most of the time how you live your life is
reflected in your game," she said.

She admitted that she was kind of stubborn and at times it
affected her game.

What if she fails to reach her dream after five years? She
said she would still keep on bowling, and maybe she would
practice child psychology.

"Bowling has no age limit. After all, I enjoy it. It's my
hobby," she said.