From UWS (University of Western Sydney) to WSU, this freshman from Blackbutt, New South Wales, Australia, brings much more to the Shocker men’s bowling team than just an Aussie accent.

Stephen Cowland brings to WSU 13 years of bowling experience and a gold medal from the 2006 World Youth Bowling Championship in Germany. That year, the four-man team from Australia won, said Cowland.

“That’s a phenomenal feeling. There is nothing as good as that,” he said. “Being up on a podium in front of the whole world representing your country is amazing.”

Since the age of 8, Cowland has bowled. It was his mother who got him bowling when she joined a bowling league. She was the first in their family to join one. “I’ve been bowling ever since,” he said.

Cowland is the youngest of three. His father emigrated from England to Australia for employment. It is there that his parents met and remain to this day.

His brother recently completed a nursing degree in Australia and his sister lives and works in Vancouver.

Cowland loves being part of the Shocker men’s bowling team. In fact, the WSU bowling program is what brought him to WSU.

Recently, Cowland was one of several Shockers that competed in a Professional Bowling Association World Championship tournament held in Wichita.

“The first two days were okay, but the second day wasn’t very good,” he said. “You learn from your mistakes.”

Bowling’s biggest challenge is that you never know the obstacles in front of you. The hardest thing about the game is the oil on the lanes that can change the direction of the ball, he said.

“It’s not like golf where you can see the fairway in front of you, you can see the rough, and you know where not to put the ball.”

“In bowling, the only way to find out is to put the ball there and see if it does what you want it to do,” he said. “There are a lot of variables in the game that you have to consider.”

The 21-year-old arrived in Wichita in August of this year. Since then, he has had to make several adjustments, including, getting used to driving on the right side of the street and the steering wheel being on the left side of the car. Otherwise, Cowland has adjusted well to his new surroundings.

Australian culture is not that different from American culture, he said.

“We are very westernized, and we get all of your TV shows and movies.”

In Wichita, when Cowland isn’t in class, bowling, following European football or playing Nintendo Wii, he’s enjoying his favorite food – steak! His favorite restaurant is Texas Roadhouse Grill.

Cowland said the biggest misconception people have about Australians is that they go around saying “G’day mate.” No one he knows says that. You won’t find any kangaroos in Sydney either, he said.

This year, the best part of Christmas for Cowland is that he will leave winter in Wichita and return home to Australia, where it will be summer. Cowland is not a big fan of cold weather.

In his future, Cowland sees bowling and a career in business, but not necessarily in that order.