Four-time PBA champion Ronnie Russell has experienced tremendous pressure on the lanes, but one of his biggest gigs recently left him a bit nervous. And it had nothing to do with bowling.

Russell joined with fellow bowler Marissa Thomas to play guitar and sing during the opening ceremony of the Junior Gold Championships last month in front of thousands of people at the American Airlines Center, home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

With nearly 4,000 of the best youth bowlers in the country and their parents, friends and family in attendance, Russell and Thomas performed The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert.

“Walking out on a stage in front of that many people to do music was awesome; it was quite an experience,” Russell said. “I was a little nervous going on, but as soon as I got on stage, grabbed my guitar and plugged it in, I calmed down quite a bit.”

Russell will put the guitar away this weekend, however, when he hits the lanes for the PBA Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic in Coldwater, Ohio. The event will be broadcast live on FloBowling.

Growing up, Russell said he has fond memories of his grandparents playing guitar at family gatherings and that provided some inspiration to take up playing guitar for himself. He actually started performing in front of crowds about eight years ago as part of a local band.

“My grandma and grandpa used to play all the time when we would come over for family functions,” Russell said. “One of my really good memories of my grandma was her playing quite a bit and everyone in the family being around that.”

In addition to music, bowling has also been a cornerstone in Russell’s life, and the 38-year-old has plenty of success on the lanes to show for it. He’s won four PBA titles, one each from 2013 to 2016.

His last title came in 2016 as part of the PBA Team Challenge, while his last singles title was in 2015 when he won the PBA Badger Open.

So far this season, Russell has put together a bit of an up-and-down season. He kicked off his 2018 campaign with a seventh-place finish at the PBA Tournament of Champions and followed it up with a ninth-place finish at the Go Bowling! PBA 60^th Anniversary Classic and 14^th at the Barbasol PBA Players Championship.

Russell admits there hasn’t been much to bowl over the summer. He spent a lot of time working trade shows and clinics for his sponsors, but he hopes to generate some momentum this week to close out the 2018 season.

“I’d still like to squeeze out a TV show or two and obviously win,” Russell said. “We all try to win every tournament, but we know the percentages don’t add up with that. I want to be out there, and if I can go through the rest of the year and make sure that I’m 100 percent committed and focused on what I’m doing I think that would be really, really good.”

In the meantime, Russell plans to keep fine tuning his guitar skills with hopes of being invited to next year’s Junior Gold Championships to perform again in front of the young stars of bowling.