Jayson Robarge is an avid bowler. 

What makes this eighth-grader from Anchorage such an avid bowler? Try this. 

Just minutes after getting a cast on his broken left arm he was at a bowling alley. 

You can’t keep the injured down, especially if you have bowling in your blood.  

“He got his first cast on and we drove one block down the road ... and he bowled a game, within 10 minutes of getting the first cast on, to make sure he could do it,” said Jayson’s mother Pam Robarge. “You might say he is a little of an avid bowler.”

That was a month ago, however, Robarge still has his green cast on as he is one of more than 150 youth bowlers from around the state in Kodiak this weekend to compete in the Alaska youth state bowling tournament at Tropic Lanes. 

Robarge competed in a team event Thursday afternoon. He showed no signs of the cast hindering his performance rolling a high-game of 243 in the second of his three games. 

The right-hander said it didn’t take him long to get adjusted to the extra weight on his left arm. 

“It was pretty easy actually,” Robarge said. “I actually bowled really good the first couple of weeks I had it, then I went down and now I am up again. It doesn’t affect my bowling that much, just the balance part.”

Robarge injured his arm while snowboarding in Anchorage on Valentines Day. He went in for an X-ray a week later and the news got worse. His arm healed improperly, so doctors did orthopedic surgery to insert a plate and five screws. 

Was it painful? 

“Just a little,” Robarge chuckled. 

He gets the cast off in five days. He was hoping it would be off for the state tournament. 

“I was trying to convince my mom to take it off before the tournament,” Robarge said. 

Mothers know best and Jayson’s mother is no exception.  

“He is keeping it on until the date,” Pam Robarge said. 

Robarge enters the tournament with a 186 average and is no stranger to bowling in Kodiak. 

His first state bowling tournament was in 2001 — the first and last time Kodiak played host. He had a 31 average, but admitted he was to young to remember his trip to the Emerald Island. 

He started bowling when he was just able to walk. 

“He put holes in his closet doors at the age of 1 with wooden pins,” Pam Robarge said. 

Robarge was raised in a bowling family, so it’s no wonder hi picked up bowling at a young age. His grandfather — Jerry Beltz — was the American Bowling Congress rep for the state of Alaska for 20 years. His uncle owns Center Lanes in Anchorage. His father is a high average bowler and Pam is the president of the state youth association.

Robarge has won more than $1,000 in scholarships for placing in tournaments; his most recent placing was in the Sean Rash Stars of the Future tournament in Anchorage. 

As for how he will do in this tournament, that all depends on how well he adjusts to the lane conditions. 

“They are tough,” Robarge said. “They are easy to get used to, but they are hard to stay consistent.”

Mirror writer Derek Clarkston can be reached via e-mail at sports@kodiakdailymirror.com.