CLINTON — As one might expect, the first Vicksburg High School bowling team is a wide array of styles and athletes.

Senior Nick Murrell glides to the foul line before releasing the ball, just like the namesake on his Air Jordan headband. Andreya McGee, who has never played a sport before this year, tiptoes there before stopping and swinging her arm in a short arc. DeCorius Barnes is somewhere in between, confidently stepping into his motion before breaking down for his release.

What they all seem to have in common is a desire for fun, to try something new and to be a part of history.

“Growing up, that’s all we did for fun with our family. About once a month we’d go bowling. So I just enjoyed it and decided to go out for the team,” Murrell said. “I was real fired up. The first day I heard they were having it, I went home and told my mama and she was like, ‘I know you’re trying out.’”

The Gators earned the first victory in the program’s history last week, as the boys’ team beat Raymond 5-1 and the girls completed the sweep 4-2. Murrell finished with a three-game score of 326, Jonathan Boyd had 363 and Barnes 217. Murrell and Boyd both had their season-best games within the set, with a 131 and 144, respectively.

For the girls, Jayla Jackson bowled a 298 set and Jasmine Freeman a 282.

None of the scores will qualify the Gators as top amateurs any time soon, but for a young high school team that has had limited practice time and is fighting an uphill battle against logistics, it’s not a bad start.

A brand new bowling alley is under construction in the Vicksburg Mall and is expected to serve as the home of both the Vicksburg High and Warren Central teams. The new alley, however, will not be completed before the end of the high school season in January. So for this inaugural season, both Vicksburg and Warren Central are making Indian Lanes in Clinton their temporary home.

The 30-minute bus ride isn’t a big deal for most of the players. For some, it’s even a perk. Because of the bus ride, they get out of class early on practice and match days.

“I like the trips,” McGee laughed, a bit sheepishly.

The bigger impact of not having a home alley is the lack of practice time. The program’s budget only allows for two bus trips each week, typically on Monday for practice and once later in the week for a match in Clinton or Jackson.

“It’s a work in progress. The more we bowl, the better we get. If we had our own facility, they would be much better. But as it goes right now, we’re at the hand of the transportation system,” VHS coach Stacey Banks said. “It’s tough in that it’s not allowing us to get that practice in. It’s costing them money to ship us over here, so we can only do one day a week and the other day is a match.”

There are drills that bowlers can do away from the lanes, but those require certain things — a lighter set of practice balls and pins, and a suitable wood surface — that they don’t currently have.

The heavier bowling balls used for play would quickly damage the surfaces that are available and used for other activities.

“The only place we could simulate at is in the auditorium on the stage, but that’s a wood stage. We can’t go in the gym because we’re not fixing to mess that floor up,” Banks said. ���If we could get that practice set, that would help us. Right now, as it stands, we don’t have a way to do it unless I just put a piece of tape on the floor and say, ‘Let’s make like we have a ball in our hand.’ We can’t throw these balls in the auditorium. It’ll tear it up.”

So, in the meantime, the bowling Gators are trying their best to work out the first-year kinks and lay a foundation for the future. Most of the bowlers are underclassmen, which should give Banks time to work with them in the years to come.

Sixteen students are on this year’s team, and 12 are needed to compete in a match. Banks said a lot of schools are at or near the minimum number required, and often loan players to opponents to fill the roster if they can. She’s hopeful that the relaxed nature of bowling and the fact that less athletic children can participate in it will help raise the numbers in the future.

“It’s something to do and it was new. That was it for some of them,” Banks said of what drew most of this year’s roster out for tryouts. “Most kids that are not athletic in something else, they come out because it gives them something else to do besides just being at school. You can find bowlers in smart kids or kids that are not that competitive doing other sports. This will be a good outlet for them.”

Murrell, for one, agreed. He said he enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere. About a half-dozen friends and family filtered into Indian Lanes for the match against Raymond, as compared to the hundreds that pack football stadiums every Friday night.

“I think it’s a little bit more relaxed, because we’re just having fun. That’s how we look at it,” Murrell said. “Some other sports might have bigger crowds. We only have a couple of people here so I don’t have too many people to impress.”

This year only, there’s also the rare chance for them to be proud of getting in on the ground floor of something.

“I heard there’s going to be some kind of trophy for the first bowling team at Vicksburg High School, so I’m excited about that,” Murrell said. “We’re making history.”