For Mililani High junior Wayne Miyashiro, bowling is in his bloodlines.

"I was raised in the bowling alley," he said, recalling times when his parents bowled at the old Kam Bowl in Kalihi as part of a family team playing in local leagues.

And the family fingerprints are all over Miyashiro’s success.

When Miyashiro started to take the sport seriously in the sixth grade, his grandfather, Edward Lapinid, would drive him to the Schofield Barracks alley to bowl.

"He was my first coach, actually," Miyashiro said. "He taught me how to throw, and when to throw."

His mother, Cynthia, and his father, whose name is Waynne with two N’s — "I guess that’s how his mother wanted it spelled" — gave young Miyashiro much encouragement, regularly saying things like: "Do you want to practice?" and "Do you need a new ball?"

And Miyashiro’s younger brother, Ryan, a sophomore, is also on the Mililani varsity boys bowling squad.

Now in his third season as a member of the Mililani team, the 16-year-old Miyashiro is considered to be one of the best prep bowlers in the state. Last season, he won the Oahu Interscholastic Association title and was runner-up in the state to Jaron Goto, who has graduated from Hawaii Baptist Academy.

The OIA bowling finals begin on Oct. 14. The Hawaii High School Athletic Association state bowling tournament will be Oct. 27-29 on Kauai.

In addition to honing his bowling skills, Miyashiro has also developed into a team leader," says his coach, Kellen Inafuku. "He brings a lot to the team, controlling the mood. He’s good at pulling people out of bad moods. He’s not a team captain, but he’s a leader," Inafuku said, noting that only seniors serve as co-captains on the Mililani bowling team.

Miyashiro’s philosophy: "If you have a problem, you have to learn how to adjust. If things are not going good, you don’t want to keep thinking about it. If I mess up, I put it behind me. You can’t change the past."

And for Miyashiro, there is the importance of practice and competitive desire.

Practice and more practice mean improvement in your game, he said. When he began bowling seriously, his average was a sickly 80. A year later, it has nearly doubled.

After his ninth-grade varsity season, Miyashiro bowled a 300 game while playing with his younger brother and friends. It was a Wednesday night in April, he recalled. After his first 10 strikes, some bowlers in an adult league playing nearby came over to watch. It was a magical moment that he would like to duplicate in varsity or junior league play.

Miyashiro says he has a "friendly competition" with his younger brother. "It’s a try and top this kind of thing," he says. And he always feels pushed by his Mililani teammates because they are all part of a program with a record of achievement.

Given his record of success and his desire to accomplish more, Miyashiro acknowledges he can be a role model for other students, even those in other fields.

Paraphrasing the Michael Jordan slogan, Miyashiro said with a smile, "Be like Wayne."