By Greg Peterson
The sport of bowling has fallen some hard times since the peak of the sport's participation, but the sport is getting a shot in the arm thanks to a bunch of young guns and a new way to throw the ball.
The drop in bowling recently has not been in terms of total participants, as it's estimated over 50 million people hit the lanes every year, but rather commitment to the sport.
The number of certified league bowlers during the 2013-14 season was 1,457,000, a drop of over 41 percent from the nearly 2,483,000 from the 2007-08 season.
The number of serious or competitive bowlers has slipped 75 percent of participants in the 1980's to 25 percent today.
Though these numbers may make it look like the sport of bowling is dying, the sport may have a ray of hope on the horizon to get the involvement numbers out of the gutter.
College bowling has seen a dramatic rise in both growth and popularity.
In 2014-15, there were 169 different colleges that had men's bowling teams that competed in sanctioned college tournaments, a big jump from the 112 squads 10 years ago.
UW Oshkosh has had a bowling club ever since there were lanes in Albee Hall in the 1970's, but the club now has a chance to compete in a wider variety of tournament as a result of the recent boom.
Something that is unique about the types of tournaments the squad takes part is the structure of them.
Instead of bowling a traditional three game set and going home like most standard bowling leagues, college bowling tournaments take the grind to another level.
In bowling matches at the college level, the norm is to have five guys on a team bowl a total of six individual games in one session, then having those same five guys bowl 20 team games of bowling the next day.
Though bowling may not be known as a sport that requires tons of cardio and weight training, many of the best in the college and professional ranks workout heavily to achieve success.
Former Robert Morris (Ill.) college bowler and reigning Professional Bowling Association Rookie of the Year Marshall Kent notes that he follows a diet and workout routine in order to stay in top form.
Though that can be difficult, Kent called the mental aspect of college bowling “by far the toughest.
"The day in which there are six individual games bowled by five team members, it can lead to days of up to eight hours at the lanes. Compare that to a football game that is usually three hours in length or a college basketball game, which is closer to two hours, it can lead to mental fatigue.
There are times where technical issues and pin malfunctions can lead to bowlers waiting as long as 15-20 minutes in between shots. It also can cause bowlers to get stiff and makes shotmaking difficult since many bowlers through a high hook shot that must be accurate to a single board of their intended target.
“My back would hurt by game two from standing around and there are still four games to go after that.” Kent explained when talking about his college bowling experience.
This kind of bowling has helped guys like Kent be able to make the jump to professional bowling with good results.
With all of these young bowlers breaking into the sport, they are bringing a revolutionary style to the sport.
Though the material used to make bowling balls and the oil patterns on the lanes have changed several times in recent years, the one-handed throw with two fingers and a thumb in the ball has been the standard.
Many young bowlers are defying this style and throwing the bowling ball with two hands, including UW Oshkosh junior bowler Kyle Senft is one of them.
Senft has spent all three years in college on the UW Oshkosh bowling club and picked up the style while in high school after nearly 10 years of traditional one-handed bowling.
“I started bowling two- handed my junior year of high school because I kept tearing my thumb and I picked it up by teaching myself and just practicing a lot”
While Senft picked it up to protect his thumb, there are other advantages the style give him including the way it looks.
“People think its really cool because its different do it starts up a lot of conversations,” Senft said.
The reason it sparks so much buzz is because the two handed style typically involves a large skip on the approach and a higher powered throw than what most most traditional one-handed bowlers can muster.
The style was adapted by Australian bowler Jason Belmonte, who developed the style as a toddler because he couldn’t throw a 10 pound ball one-handed.
He never gave up the style and with the strength he gained growing up, and has his bowling ball spinning unlike any other shot style most in the game.
His ball speed can exceed 20 miles per hour while his ball rotates at over 600 revolutions per minute, over 50 percent higher than the PBA average.
He and his style could not have come to America at a better time as the decline in dedicated bowlers has been sharp and immediate.
With bowling's downward spiral coming right after the invention of new entertainment-based technologies went mainstream like the Internet and cable TV, it has received much of the blame.
Oshkosh area bowler Aaron James has a different thought on why league bowling has been in a tailspin recently and it involves the bowling centers themselves.
"No longer is a bowling alley the smokey, child-free environment it used to be," James said. "League prices have increased with the decline of the sport among the older generation, often costing $10-$20 any given night."
It makes the advent of college and two-handed bowling all the more important as it could allow the sport to tap into a whole different pool of talent.
In observing a bowling league of mainly bowler above the age of 35 in the Oshkosh area and the Midwest Collegiate Bowling Tournament in Milwaukee, there is a large disparity in use of the two-handed style.
The divide in use of the style may have to do a lot with conditioning.
Nearly any adult is able to throw a ball underhand down a lane, but the two-handed style is significantly more complex and takes a larger toll on the body.
The most common form of two-handed bowling is a four-step approach which includes one small step before a huge skip and a throw which a bowler puts a significant amount of energy into.
The point in using the two-handed style is to throw the ball faster and with a higher amount of hook and that takes an additional amount of energy.
The body of someone in their 20's can adapt to the added wear and tear on the body than the traditional mid-40's recreational bowler.
Even Kent, one of the best one-handed bowlers on the PBA circuit, used the two-handed style while he was dealing with an injury and made the cut in a tournament with it.
James has also noticed the younger generation latching on to new intricacies in the sport.
“What I have seen from the younger generation of bowlers is that most are being taught about the game differently, and see these "complexities" and turn them into challenges and advantages,” James said.
There was not a single bowler in the Oshkosh League using the style while the majority of college teams had a two-handed bowler, with some having multiple two-handed bowlers.
With how progressive and popular college bowling has become, it has captured the attention of CBS Sports.
On April 10, the media outlet agreed to a deal to air 10 different college, professional women’s, and junior gold bowling sessions.
For years, the only way to watch college bowling live without being at the event, the only way it could be done is via streaming.
The only college bowling that has ever been aired by a national TV outlet have been the men’s and women’s national championship matches.
If these telecasts are a success, it could to more college bowling on TV as well as more people becoming aware of college bowling.
James believes that bowling will begin to trend upward the next few years with the key to it being the growth of the PBA.
“I think the key to bowling's success is the PBA,” James said. “The PBA was hugely popular in the 80's and 90's, occupying a Saturday afternoon time slot on ABC. Now, the PBA competes with the NFL, playing on Sunday afternoons on ESPN. If the PBA can stand out again and gain popularity, bowling as a whole will grow.“
With the vast majority of professional bowling’s rising stars either coming from overseas or college programs, it could mean the top performers on college teams today could become the sport’s faces tomorrow.
San Jose State has a duo of brothers in Michael Tang and Darren Tang, both of whom averaged better than 218 in competition in 2014-15 over the course of more than 80 games.
Ninety-seven college bowlers had averages greater than 200 in over 32 games bowled, meaning that there are a bevy of players who could become the face of bowling.
Most sports have their stars burst onto the scene in college and then transfer that talent on the professional level.
Many bowlers have done this, but with bowling not being televised, the nation did not have the chance to see this.
If the coverage of college bowling continues to expand and the talent remains high, bowling may be able to do what sports like football and basketball have and allow fans to have a long term intimacy with a player.
The sport is attempting to go away from the face of bowling being an average Joe with a beer belly and an awful mustache.
The sport is trying to build a buzz around the recent youth movement and climb back to prominence with the new adjustments to the modern day bowler leads to a newfound popularity in the sport.
The sport of bowling has fallen some hard times since the peak of the sport's participation, but the sport is getting a shot in the arm thanks to a bunch of young guns and a new way to throw the ball.
The drop in bowling recently has not been in terms of total participants, as it's estimated over 50 million people hit the lanes every year, but rather commitment to the sport.
The number of certified league bowlers during the 2013-14 season was 1,457,000, a drop of over 41 percent from the nearly 2,483,000 from the 2007-08 season.
The number of serious or competitive bowlers has slipped 75 percent of participants in the 1980's to 25 percent today.
Though these numbers may make it look like the sport of bowling is dying, the sport may have a ray of hope on the horizon to get the involvement numbers out of the gutter.
College bowling has seen a dramatic rise in both growth and popularity.
In 2014-15, there were 169 different colleges that had men's bowling teams that competed in sanctioned college tournaments, a big jump from the 112 squads 10 years ago.
UW Oshkosh has had a bowling club ever since there were lanes in Albee Hall in the 1970's, but the club now has a chance to compete in a wider variety of tournament as a result of the recent boom.
Something that is unique about the types of tournaments the squad takes part is the structure of them.
Instead of bowling a traditional three game set and going home like most standard bowling leagues, college bowling tournaments take the grind to another level.
In bowling matches at the college level, the norm is to have five guys on a team bowl a total of six individual games in one session, then having those same five guys bowl 20 team games of bowling the next day.
Though bowling may not be known as a sport that requires tons of cardio and weight training, many of the best in the college and professional ranks workout heavily to achieve success.
Former Robert Morris (Ill.) college bowler and reigning Professional Bowling Association Rookie of the Year Marshall Kent notes that he follows a diet and workout routine in order to stay in top form.
Though that can be difficult, Kent called the mental aspect of college bowling “by far the toughest.
"The day in which there are six individual games bowled by five team members, it can lead to days of up to eight hours at the lanes. Compare that to a football game that is usually three hours in length or a college basketball game, which is closer to two hours, it can lead to mental fatigue.
There are times where technical issues and pin malfunctions can lead to bowlers waiting as long as 15-20 minutes in between shots. It also can cause bowlers to get stiff and makes shotmaking difficult since many bowlers through a high hook shot that must be accurate to a single board of their intended target.
“My back would hurt by game two from standing around and there are still four games to go after that.” Kent explained when talking about his college bowling experience.
This kind of bowling has helped guys like Kent be able to make the jump to professional bowling with good results.
With all of these young bowlers breaking into the sport, they are bringing a revolutionary style to the sport.
Though the material used to make bowling balls and the oil patterns on the lanes have changed several times in recent years, the one-handed throw with two fingers and a thumb in the ball has been the standard.
Many young bowlers are defying this style and throwing the bowling ball with two hands, including UW Oshkosh junior bowler Kyle Senft is one of them.
Senft has spent all three years in college on the UW Oshkosh bowling club and picked up the style while in high school after nearly 10 years of traditional one-handed bowling.
“I started bowling two- handed my junior year of high school because I kept tearing my thumb and I picked it up by teaching myself and just practicing a lot”
While Senft picked it up to protect his thumb, there are other advantages the style give him including the way it looks.
“People think its really cool because its different do it starts up a lot of conversations,” Senft said.
The reason it sparks so much buzz is because the two handed style typically involves a large skip on the approach and a higher powered throw than what most most traditional one-handed bowlers can muster.
The style was adapted by Australian bowler Jason Belmonte, who developed the style as a toddler because he couldn’t throw a 10 pound ball one-handed.
He never gave up the style and with the strength he gained growing up, and has his bowling ball spinning unlike any other shot style most in the game.
His ball speed can exceed 20 miles per hour while his ball rotates at over 600 revolutions per minute, over 50 percent higher than the PBA average.
He and his style could not have come to America at a better time as the decline in dedicated bowlers has been sharp and immediate.
With bowling's downward spiral coming right after the invention of new entertainment-based technologies went mainstream like the Internet and cable TV, it has received much of the blame.
Oshkosh area bowler Aaron James has a different thought on why league bowling has been in a tailspin recently and it involves the bowling centers themselves.
"No longer is a bowling alley the smokey, child-free environment it used to be," James said. "League prices have increased with the decline of the sport among the older generation, often costing $10-$20 any given night."
It makes the advent of college and two-handed bowling all the more important as it could allow the sport to tap into a whole different pool of talent.
In observing a bowling league of mainly bowler above the age of 35 in the Oshkosh area and the Midwest Collegiate Bowling Tournament in Milwaukee, there is a large disparity in use of the two-handed style.
The divide in use of the style may have to do a lot with conditioning.
Nearly any adult is able to throw a ball underhand down a lane, but the two-handed style is significantly more complex and takes a larger toll on the body.
The most common form of two-handed bowling is a four-step approach which includes one small step before a huge skip and a throw which a bowler puts a significant amount of energy into.
The point in using the two-handed style is to throw the ball faster and with a higher amount of hook and that takes an additional amount of energy.
The body of someone in their 20's can adapt to the added wear and tear on the body than the traditional mid-40's recreational bowler.
Even Kent, one of the best one-handed bowlers on the PBA circuit, used the two-handed style while he was dealing with an injury and made the cut in a tournament with it.
James has also noticed the younger generation latching on to new intricacies in the sport.
“What I have seen from the younger generation of bowlers is that most are being taught about the game differently, and see these "complexities" and turn them into challenges and advantages,” James said.
There was not a single bowler in the Oshkosh League using the style while the majority of college teams had a two-handed bowler, with some having multiple two-handed bowlers.
With how progressive and popular college bowling has become, it has captured the attention of CBS Sports.
On April 10, the media outlet agreed to a deal to air 10 different college, professional women’s, and junior gold bowling sessions.
For years, the only way to watch college bowling live without being at the event, the only way it could be done is via streaming.
The only college bowling that has ever been aired by a national TV outlet have been the men’s and women’s national championship matches.
If these telecasts are a success, it could to more college bowling on TV as well as more people becoming aware of college bowling.
James believes that bowling will begin to trend upward the next few years with the key to it being the growth of the PBA.
“I think the key to bowling's success is the PBA,” James said. “The PBA was hugely popular in the 80's and 90's, occupying a Saturday afternoon time slot on ABC. Now, the PBA competes with the NFL, playing on Sunday afternoons on ESPN. If the PBA can stand out again and gain popularity, bowling as a whole will grow.“
With the vast majority of professional bowling’s rising stars either coming from overseas or college programs, it could mean the top performers on college teams today could become the sport’s faces tomorrow.
San Jose State has a duo of brothers in Michael Tang and Darren Tang, both of whom averaged better than 218 in competition in 2014-15 over the course of more than 80 games.
Ninety-seven college bowlers had averages greater than 200 in over 32 games bowled, meaning that there are a bevy of players who could become the face of bowling.
Most sports have their stars burst onto the scene in college and then transfer that talent on the professional level.
Many bowlers have done this, but with bowling not being televised, the nation did not have the chance to see this.
If the coverage of college bowling continues to expand and the talent remains high, bowling may be able to do what sports like football and basketball have and allow fans to have a long term intimacy with a player.
The sport is attempting to go away from the face of bowling being an average Joe with a beer belly and an awful mustache.
The sport is trying to build a buzz around the recent youth movement and climb back to prominence with the new adjustments to the modern day bowler leads to a newfound popularity in the sport.