Mike Marks, a retired Navy interior communications electrician and currently an associate customer technical representative with the Center for Information Warfare Training's N9 directorate, regularly volunteers his time to help mentor and coach youth through the sport of bowling.

Marks has been competitively bowling roughly 23 years and first started sharing his wisdom and skills of the sport with youth onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1997.

"Throughout my adult life, I've always enjoyed helping mold and inspire youth," shared Marks. "It's known that bowling is a great sport for recreation, meeting people and building camaraderie. However, learning bowling fundamentals also helps shape life skills - discipline, mental fortitude, commitment, and responsibility."

Elijah Alexander, age 10, has been coached and mentored by Marks each Tuesday and Thursday evening the last seven weeks at the Corry Bowling Center onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station.

"I've really enjoyed learning from Mr. Marks, and he has taught me a lot about bowling," said Elijah. "I truly appreciate his time training and mentoring me to become better."

Alexander's grandfather, Eric Alexander, has been to every session with Elijah and is impressed with his improvement and development.

"Elijah has been bowling since he was only 3, and it's amazing to see how far he's come along in this short time with Mike," said Eric Alexander, Elijah's grandfather. "It's exciting to witness Elijah's growth, confidence and excitement under Mike's tutelage, and I greatly appreciate what he's done for him."

Center for Information Warfare Training delivers trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services, enabling optimal performance of information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training organization, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/cid/, http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ciwt/, http://www.facebook.com/NavyCIWT, or http://www.twitter.com/NavyCIWT.


For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training, visit www.navy.mil/.