Midland cousin duo win gold at national bowling competition

A cousin duo from Midland took home gold at a national bowling competition last week.

Ryder Ladouceur, 15, and Blake Weicker, 14, represented southern Ontario in the Youth Bowl Canada National Championships in Oshawa from July 10-12.

The pair achieved two gold medals – one in the junior mixed team event and one in the junior boys' doubles event. They won 11 of 12 matches in the double events.

Members of the Midland youth bowling for more than a decade, the duo bowled 17 games over three days.

It was a moment the two will never forget.

"I was pretty excited. I've been trying for a long time since I was three or four," Weicker said.

"I've put about 12 years of my life towards bowling. I started when I was about three or four," Ladouceur said.

The two boys are coached by their grandfather Dennis Brabant.

"It made me so proud to see how they performed and how they carried on," Brabant said.

For the cousins, bowling is in their blood. They have an aunt and uncle who have won a Canadian title, and their family has owned Bayshore Lanes in Midland for nearly four decades.

The family support they received at nationals made their victories even more special.

"I think having your family there really helps you push through the harder moments of the tournaments or huge events like this," Ladouceur said.

"They just encourage you to keep going and to do your best," Weicker said.

Despite the success and the family history, the pressure to perform is felt when stakes are high.

"We've been there before to the provincials, came second a lot, so it was pretty nerve-racking when we went to nationals," Weicker said.

The nerves last week weren't just felt in the duo but the entire family.

"At the start, you're apprehensive like are they going to be so nervous that they can't hit the middle or whatever but right off the bat, strike, strike, strike and away they went," Brabant said.

The boys are looking to add more medals to their collection next season, but they'll have to do it independently as the pair split up and entered new age groups.