One family, two teams: Pak Amiek’s bowling story in Qatar

In BAIQ’s first league season, Pak Amiek and his son Zarif played for different teams. Each wanted to earn points for his teammates. Yet when asked who he would choose for doubles, Dad picked Zarif. After years of practice together, he knows his son’s game.

Pak Amiek started his posting at the Indonesian Embassy in Doha in June 1999. In 2001, he bowled at City Center Mall in a staff tournament celebrating Indonesian Independence Day. He taught himself to play. Five years later, watching Indonesian bowlers compete at the Qatar Bowling Federation during the Doha Asian Games gave him a reason to take the sport further.

When the children started asking to practise

In 2020, bowling became a family weekend activity. Zarif was fourteen and Janeeta was six. Using the balls available at the centre, they learned where to stand, how to hold the ball, and how to swing and release it. They practised together for about a year before their parents bought them bowling balls and shoes of their own.

Soon the children were the ones asking to go back. They had learned a new release and wanted to try it. When embassy commitments allowed, the family made time on weekends for practice and league play. The Filipino community league played on Friday afternoons and BAIQ on Saturday mornings, leaving room for school and homework.

How a family celebrates a strike

The top score in practice might go to any of the three. The celebrations were easier to predict. According to Dad, Zarif gets the most strikes and celebrates them the loudest. Pak Amiek and Janeeta take theirs quietly. A split frustrates Mum, Bu Dewi, the most. Everyone offers advice, even if the person receiving it has a different idea.

When scores dip, Pak Amiek encourages the children to look at their preparation. Did they sleep enough and have breakfast? Can they stay focused on their own target when someone strikes on the next lane? His advice to parents is to follow their children’s interest, support them patiently and keep education a priority.

Asked what bowling means to his family, Pak Amiek answered with one word, “Pride.” For him that includes representing Indonesia at community tournaments in Qatar. It also comes through in his choice of doubles partner, the son he once taught to hold a bowling ball.