Record Number of Youth Bowlers to Compete in USBC Junior Gold Championships

This week, a record number of youth athletes will hit the lanes for the United States Bowling Congress Junior Gold Championships presented by Brunswick.

A total of 1,980 of the nation's top youth bowlers will be in Indianapolis from July 11-17 for the event, which will be conducted at Woodland Bowl, Western Bowl and Expo Bowl.

"The Junior Gold Championships is the premier event for elite youth bowlers," USBC Director of Youth Development Brian Graham said of the tournament which will award $140,000 in scholarships. "The competition should be tremendous, and we are looking forward to a great tournament in Indianapolis."

The Junior Gold Championships will be contested on five of the nine World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) Lane Patterns, all of which are USBC Sport Bowling compliant.

Competition begins with the qualifying round, which will require bowlers to bowl six games per day on July 13, 14 and 15, respectively. At the end of those 18 games, the top 150 males and 78 females will advance to the semifinals. Semifinal competition will take place July 16, consisting of two six-game blocks. The top 16 males and top 16 females will earn spots in the match-play finals, which will take place July 17.

Competitors also will battle for spots on USBC Junior Team USA. The top four male and top four female finishers after match-play competition automatically qualify for Junior Team USA 2010. The National Selection Committee (NSC) will award four at-large spots - two male, two female - from the pool of athletes that make the match-play finals.

In addition to the great competition on the lanes, Junior Gold competitors will have the opportunity to attend a seminar featuring Dr. Dean Hinitz, a leading authority on bowling psychology. The seminar titled "Practical Principles for Championship Play" will look at the mental tools needed to compete at the highest levels of competition.

USBC also will present the 2009 Collegiate Bowling Roundtable on July 11 from 12:30 p.m.-2 p.m. The seminar, which is free for 2009 Junior Gold Championships competitors and their parents/guardians, features coaches from NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA institutions discussing their programs, scholarships opportunities and the college bowling experience.

On the lanes, the Bowling This Month Survivor Tournament returns after a two-year hiatus. This exciting side tournament, open to any USBC youth bowler, will be held at Western Bowl, July 16-17. For the $125 entry fee, bowlers will receive a Brunswick Wild Thing bowling ball, a one-year subscription to Bowling This Month magazine and a chance to earn a part of the total purse of $25,000 (based upon 1,000 entries) in scholarship money.

USBC Youth members who average 175 or better (males) or 165 or better (females) and who are members of the USBC Junior Gold program were eligible to qualify for the Championships. For more information on the Junior Gold Championships and the Junior Gold program, visit bowl.com.

USBC Youth Open Championships kicks off July 10
The USBC Youth Open Championships start July 10, kicking off 16 days of USBC youth competitions in Indianapolis.

Nearly 3,000 bowlers are expected to compete in the Youth Open, which will be held at Expo Bowl and will run July 10, 11 and 16-25. Patterned after the USBC Open Championships and USBC Women's Championships, youth bowlers will compete in team (four players), doubles, singles and all-events.

The tournament will have four average divisions (129 and below, 130-159, 160-189 and 190 and above) and is based on actual pinfall. One out of every five entrants in team, doubles and singles will receive scholarships while one in six will receive scholarships in all-events.

By Terry Bigham
USBC Communications