Zane Rahim: The 12-Year-Old Who Didn’t Know He Was Making History
By Matt Stevens
By the seventh frame of his final game, Zane Rahim already knew. Not that he’d broken a record. Not that the bowling world would soon be talking about him. Just that he’d won.
“The first thing that went through my head was – did I really just do that?”
At 12 years old, Zane had just become the youngest winner in the 55-year history of the Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) Junior Masters. He didn’t know that when he was rolling the ball. He found out minutes later when Tournament Director Nathan Stein mentioned it at the presentation. The record wasn’t on his radar. It wasn’t part of the plan.
That instinct, to compete without the weight of expectation, might be exactly what got him there.
The 55th TBA Junior National Masters
The TBA Junior Masters doesn’t hand out titles easily. A multi-stage format on challenging patterns demands consistent adjustment, and consistent nerves. Zane would need both.
Stage 1 saw Zane qualify for the next stage by the skin of his teeth. Finishing in 20th place, Zane received the final spot in the Top 20 second stage. With qualifying pinfall dropping for the next stage, a spot in the field was all that was needed.
Stage two saw Zane bowl six more games to fit under the Top 16 that would advance to the third stage. Zane posted a 1,174 in his six games to finish 9th and advance.
Stage three saw pinfall drop again, and another six games tasked to bowlers to fit inside the Top 8 that would move onto the Bracket Finals. A massive 275 second game in the stage helped provide Zane with confidence early on in the proceedings. Even though he had many competitors breathing down his neck, he once again did enough to advance to the final stages of the event, entering the bracket as the number six seed.
In the Quarter and Semi Finals, he would win his matchups 2 games to 1 in each. Again, doing enough to advance to see what could happen next. He had made the final of the Junior Masters.
Zane’s opponent in the final was Hayden Miller, a good friend, and by his own admission, someone who came in with the upper hand. There was no bravado in how Zane approached it.
“I was thinking that if I win this final it would be great, but if I didn’t, I’d still be happy with the runner-up placing.”
Hayden took the first game with a 214-192 win and looked set to complete the job. In the second game, Zane tried his best to talk himself out of contention. A pocket 7-10 in the second game had him second-guessing. The atmosphere was tense. He felt the nerves through the first half of game one.
But in the second half of that game? A different story and a familiar pattern emerged that Zane continued to showcase – he responded.
Zane won game two 188-181 before winning the decisive third game 224-184 to become the champion. Three consecutive 2-1 wins in the bracket. At 12 years old. Not bad for a kid who’d scraped into the top 20 by a single spot.
How a Bowling Life Begins at Age Two
Zane had his first bowling set before he could read. He was knocking over plastic pins in the lounge room at age two, drawn to the game before he could fully explain why. Just before he turned five, he joined TBA’s Bowl Patrol program at his local centre – Shellharbour Tenpin Bowl – and that was that.
Eight years later, he’s a TBA Junior Masters champion.
His training regime is deliberate but measured. A Doubles League on Monday nights, a Sports Pattern League on Thursday nights, and one additional session most weeks. It’s not excessive. It’s consistent.
The people around him matter just as much. His coach Eric Jang, a TBA Hall of Fame Inductee, has been with him since the early days, regularly making the trip to Shellharbour to work with Zane and his training partner Sam Cooley – a Professional Bowler who has achieved some of the best things a bowler can achieve, who also developed through the same Centre as Zane – Shellharbour Tenpin Bowl.
“Sam and I still regularly train and have practice games together, which is great because we both push each other to be our best. I’m very lucky to have Sam training out of the same Centre as I do and he has taught me so much.”
It’s a tight-knit group. When Zane won, he didn’t have to make many calls – the livestream had done the work and he had his dad, sister and grandparents in attendance to help celebrate. The first two calls he made were to his mum and to Eric.
The Hard Part
Every bowler hits a wall. For Zane, it came last year when he was caught between averages. Too high for graded divisions, not yet ready to compete in Open. He got through it the same way he got through most things – kept showing up, kept training.
The Master’s title is, in some ways, his answer to the problem.
Beyond the Lanes
Outside of bowling, Zane plays cricket. He’s the kind of kid who’s always had sport in his life – basketball and soccer before, but these days it’s the crease and the lanes.
His advice for younger junior bowlers’ cuts to the point: “Keep practicing. Keep doing your drills. The high scores will come.”
A measured response for any 12-year-old who usually crave instant gratification through other avenues at this age.
What Comes Next
Zane’s immediate focus is the Sydney Junior Cup in July. A prestigious event that this year coincidentally is being hosted at his home Centre – Shellharbour Tenpin Bowl.
He wants a 700 series. A 300 game would be a bonus.
The longer view is bigger. When he finishes school, he wants to attend College on a bowling scholarship in the United States of America, inspired by a recent trend of Aussies following this pathway. He has even already picked his chosen University – Wichita State University. So, a bowling scholarship, competing on the PBA Tour, and one day representing Australia internationally is all on the bucket-list for the young star from New South Wales.
“Representing Australia would be a huge honour for me and I would love to compete on an international stage.”
The way he presents his goals comes with a kind of quiet certainty that makes you believe it. After all, not long ago, he wasn’t sure he could compete with the best juniors in the country. Now his name is in the record books.
Did he really just do that? Yeah, he did.
Scraped into the top 20 by a single spot. Told himself runner-up would be fine. Didn’t even know the record existed.
Turns out, not knowing what’s at stake might be the greatest advantage of all.
Remember the name – Zane Rahim.
