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.