Community Corner
Wii Bowling at Brookfield Library Provides Physical, Social Outlet
The second Friday of every month, the Brookfield Library community center transforms into a virtual bowling alley that a foursome of senior women use for a social and recreational rendezvous.
Some people choose to get together over a cup of coffee or in a book club. Others choose a much less conventional setting. Four women from Brookfield have found a unique way to bond.
The second Friday of every month from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., you can hear the pins flying as Kathie Jensen, Doloris Grinyard, Judy Boddie, and Rosemary Menting hit the lanes at the Brookfield Library — virtual lanes that is.
Nintendo Wii bowling is a video game that requires participants to mimic the sport's motions while holding a controller. A sensor reads the controller's movements and translates them to strikes, spares and gutter balls.
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The Brookfield Library has hosted Wii bowling for adults for eight years. Grinyard and Menting first came in to try their hands at Wii bowling after reading about it at one of the local senior centers
“We started in 2008. Rosemary and I have been here for five years,” Grinyard said. These two laid the groundwork for Jensen and Boddie.
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“I’ve only lived in Brookfield now since November, so this is only my fourth time,” Boddie said. “I found out about it through some publication. When I got here, Doloris and Rosemary were here, and I’ve seen them almost every second Friday of the month since.”
Nan Champ has worked at the library for the last year and a half and finds that most of the ladies who attend the bowling have a good time in the hour they are allowed to bowl, but bowling isn't the only attraction
“They always bowl but there is also a lot of chit-chat,” Champ said. “It's also a social event. It's also nice that it’s a scheduled event that happens the same day every month.”
Since there is usually the same general group of women, they get in plenty of frames but at the same time, Grinyard said she wouldn’t mind seeing more people.
This once a month “social event,” as Champ said, is a chance for these ladies to send pins flying and get together with one another. With nothing but smiles on the ladies' faces, unless they throw the very rare gutter ball, there was only one complaint.
“I just wish they did it more frequently,” Grinyard said as all the other ladies nodded their heads in agreement.
Until that happens you can find these four at the Brookfield library getting in their monthly bowling along with a healthy dose of chit-chat. If bowling and chit-chat seems like something for you, these women are more than happy to welcome you on to one of their teams.
