Brothers and Homewood alumni Eric and Ryan Hepp are halfway through coaching their first season of high school bowling together and are loving every minute.
The pair are no strangers to navigating the world of sports together, particularly in soccer. Most notably, they participated in the 2023 Pan American Maccabi Games, an international tournament for athletes of Jewish descent.
This year, the Hepp brothers have decided to take on a new challenge: coaching the boys and girls bowling teams.
“I grew up going to the bowling alley with my mother’s friend’s kids,” Eric said. “We’ve, funnily enough, been in and out of the bowling alley for 15 years now. I’ve always liked it, but I’ve never been out on my own.”
Eric Hepp works outside of the Homewood school system but travels to Vestavia Bowl in the afternoons to coach the team at their practices. On weekends, he can be found playing soccer with a local Sunday league.
Ryan Hepp, two years the elder of Eric, teaches finite math along with coaching bowling and junior varsity girls soccer at HHS. He is in his fourth year of teaching and coaching and feels proud to shine a light on the underrepresented sport with his brother.
“I think we’ve always been pretty close,” Ryan said. “We’re very aligned in our goals…We kind of smash together to create one perfect coach.”
Each brother plays a unique role in giving the team instruction while keeping overall morale high.
“I like to joke that he’s the technical expert and I’m more of the man manager,” Ryan said. “What really works well is he can get into the details of stuff and I add more for motivation and focus.”
To maintain a healthy work-life balance, the brothers constantly look for new ways to refine their coaching styles together and enjoy each other’s company.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to just catch up with each other,” Eric said. “We openly talk about bowling probably everytime we’re together. It has become so mainstream in our lives that it is brought up in our conversations on the daily.”
After a hiatus for winter break, the Patriot bowling teams aim to qualify for the regional tournament held Jan. 23-24. Qualifying allows them to bowl for the state championship hosted in Mobile on Jan. 30-31.
