The TV finalists for the PWBA Lexington Open, left to right and in order from first to fourth: Kelly Kulick, Bryanna Cote, Shannon Pluhowsky and Shannon O'Keefe. Photo by Professional Women's Bowling Association.
Part of being a professional athlete is competing in pain.
While outsiders can joke all they want about bowlers being athletes and bowling being a sport, the reality is that being a top level bowler means you will compete in pain at times: Swinging a 16-, 15- or 14-pound ball dozens to hundreds of times a day for days on end is hard on the body, and injuries to fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, backs, hips and knees are inevitable.
Kelly Kulick has for some time been battling an...