Pathway to Success
By Emily Rennes
Starting your bowling pathway, at any point in life, can bring it’s fair share of challenges and rewards! For our Bowl Patrollers, we put extra effort in to ensuring their participation sets them up for a lifelong enjoyment of the sport.
In addition to being a developmentally appropriate and flexible program, Bowl Patrol offers our youngest bowlers the chance to learn correct technique as well as developing their own unique bowling style. Whether it’s one-hand or two, several steps or standing; how you bowl and where your bowling can take you varies for every body. They also meet their first coach, the Lane Ranger, and start to enjoy bowling with others making friends and meeting new people.
So what’s the pathway to success? Apart from practice, practice and more practice… setting goals and targets and progressing through these can help keep us on track. Learning about the sport and ourselves as we grow through life on and off the lanes.
Here’s a guide to bowling through the years.
3-5 Years
Before school age, kids enjoy having fun with ramps and watching pins fall. Using bumpers to avoid gutter balls, they’ll need help from parents, and particularly enjoy cheering and being encouraged.
6-12 Years
Primary school aged, doing school holiday, Sporting Schools or birthday party bowling. Some modifications such as lighter ball, shorter lanes and bumpers only occasionally.
Bowl Patrol Learn to Bowl
– White band: scores 30+ on 9m carpet
– Yellow band: scores 30+ on 6m carpet
– Orange band: scores 30+ on 3m carpet
– Green band: scores 30+ on full lanes
– Blue band: scores 60+ on full lanes
– Black band: scores 80+ on full lanes
After Bowl Patrol is complete (a number of terms), it’s recommend regular/weekly games follows for at least a year or two.
13-18 Years
High school years, likes to go bowling socially, with friends. May attend with school. Can play 1 or 2 ten-frame games easily. Uses a ball fitted to their hand.
Understands scoring and sets goals such as score targets. Might be competitive, may join a local league and look at playing in competitions or alongside parents.
At this age junior state and national championships might also be an option.
Adults
By adulthood, assuming the pathway is somewhat similar to the above, more regular practice is on the cards. In addition one or more leagues are played weekly.
Many try-out for representative teams, at the pinnacle international competition might be an option. Some enjoy passing on knowledge through the coaching pathway.
A professional career in bowling is possible, for example in America the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) offers substantial prize money and opens potential sponsors to serious athletes.
Tenpin Bowling Australia is here to support you at every step of the pathway, whether it’s learning to bowl, joining a league, representing your state or country, becoming a coach or committee member… we’re here for you!
