Strike 3 & TBA Partnership to See Wholesale Changes to National Championships

The cancellation of the 2020 Adult National Championship was a bitter blow to the sport of Tenpin Bowling, but the time afforded by this and the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique opportunity to assess and implement wide-ranging changes to the sport to ensure that it is ready for re-growth in a post COVID world.

Tenpin Bowling Australia are excited to announce a three-year agreement with Strike 3 Bowling that will see the events company run the annual national championships, effective immediately.  This agreement will place the running of the championships in experienced and passionate hands, allowing TBA to focus on administering, governing and growing the sport in the future.

Both parties agreed that junior and youth players are an important focus and the addition of the pro players competing in Devil’s Lair Tasmania gave the sport an enormous opportunity to give our young players the best possible chance to grow and ultimately become international standard athletes capable of playing against the world’s best on the PBA and PWBA Tours.

Key changes from 2021 include;

• The championship will be known as the TBA Australian National Championship and will be held in Hobart from 2021 to 2023 as part of a three-year deal with the Tasmanian State Government
• Junior Nationals and Youth Challenge will be added and played in week one (22 to 29 July) as the main lead in events to Devil’s Lair Tasmania
• President’s Shield format will be changed to the international team’s format, as used in the Youth Challenge
• Restricted Challenge & Cup to be removed
• The draft system to be removed from all state team competitions

The dates for each section of the championships in 2021 are;

• 22^nd July to 15^th August
• Junior Nationals and Youth Challenge will be held from 22 to 29 July
• Devil’s Lair Tasmania will be held from 30 July to 1 August
• Adult Championship and Walter Rachuig Trophy will be held from 3 to 10 August
• Seniors Challenge will be held from 11 to 15 August

TBA CEO, Cara Honeychurch said “We are very excited about the future of our sport.  We have undertaken extensive research over recent years to assess the best way forward and with major restrictions in place preventing most people from even going bowling, now is the time to implement wide ranging changes to our sport and rebuild tenpin bowling in Australia”.

Strike 3 Managing Director, Ashlee Carroll said “It has been a tough year so far after two years of solid work to bring Devil’s Lair Tasmania to life.  We are now looking forward to creating an exciting national championship and delivering some positive changes to tenpin bowling.  We look forward to assisting TBA to implement its core long term objectives by creating the exposure, coverage and excitement needed to engage with a wider audience and inspire people to ultimately take up the sport along with creating a number of new international players to follow in Belmo’s footsteps. We will be announcing a number of detailed exciting innovations in the weeks ahead once we have them finalised”.