42 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023
J
N
SPORTS
S
enior moments don’t always
have a negative connotation.
They sometimes can describe
athletic achievements.
Here are three recent examples of
local Jewish athletes:
Rick Woolman, 66, bowled a 300
game in the Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson B’nai B’rith League.
Jim Berk, 68, won three gold medals
and a silver medal in swimming at the
Michigan Senior Olympics.
Steve Matz, 71, won two gold medals
and a bronze medal in swimming at the
Michigan Senior Olympics.
These are their stories.
RICK WOOLMAN
Woolman bowled a perfect game on his
birthday (Oct. 16) at Country Lanes in
Farmington Hills. The 300 came on his
first game of the night. His series was
300-214-185 — 699.
It was the Waterford resident’s second
lifetime 300 game. Both have been
bowled in the Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson league. The first was more
than eight years ago, on March 23, 2015.
Woolman had only one moment of
concern during his most recent 300.
After starting the 10th frame with a
strike, his next shot was slightly off
target.
“After that happened, I thought I got
a bad shot out of the way and I won’t do
that again,” he said.
Even though several years had passed
since his first 300 game, Woolman said
the memories from that night helped
his mental approach last month as he
got closer and closer to perfection.
“I was much more relaxed,” he said. “I
remember the first time I bowled a 300,
I could feel my knees shaking during
the final frames. I was nervous. It was
a surreal scene. It was so quiet because
everybody had stopped bowling to
watch me.
“This time was different. This
wasn’t my first 300 I was going for,
so I thought if I got it or I didn’t get
it, it would be fine. Also, I tuned out
everything. I don’t know if it was quiet
or not. It probably was. I just focused
on each shot.”
A split late in his third game cost
Woodman a 700 series, but that
disappointment didn’t cast a cloud on
his 300.
The chiropractor was averaging
214 in the weekly Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson league through competition
Oct. 30.
That was his average at the end of
the last league season. The 214 was his
highest end-of-season league average
since joining the league in 1985, taking
a five-year break, then returning in the
2014-15 season, when he bowled his
STEVE MATZ
Rick Woolman, Jim Berk and Steve Matz
prove that in sports, age is just a number.
Three for Three
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rick Woolman (right) and his 600
Club teammates Mike Lieberman,
Rob Greenfield and Hassan Fatouhi.
GARY KLINGER
Jim Berk won four swimming medals
— three gold and one silver — at the
Michigan Senior Olympics.
JIM BERK
Steve Matz won two gold medals in swim-
ming at the Michigan Senior Olympics.