TV COVERAGE FOR BOWLING STARTS SUNDAY HERE ON ESPN

The much-anticipated 2011-2012 season of bowling’s coverage on national television starts in the US on Sunday (December 4) and continues, almost unabated, through April 15.

Opening the taped and live broadcast series will be the finals of this year’s “World Bowling Tour”, pitting the top three men and women points-scorers from various tournaments held around the world since January and concluding with the recent AMF Australian Masters at Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney.

Three men and one woman who recently competed in Australia are featured in the two-hour special; namely Sean Rash, Jason Belmonte, Mika Koivuniemi and Sandra Andersson. Also appearing is Nina Flack and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, for a prize-pool of

$ 40,000 USD.

Coverage continues every Sunday, except Christmas Day, until March 4, including bonus cover on sister internet station, ESPN3, for finals of the USBC Masters and the 69th US Open.

Four more events, including the season-ending PBA Tournament of Champions, run March 25 through April 18, with a total pay-out of almost $ 1.1 million dollars USD.

Bowling Centers around the US, indeed the whole world, covet TV coverage of the actual sport of bowling as opposed to “bowling sightings” in other forms of the media. Once the sport side grows, everything else really is “gravy”.

* There are other big things happening to grow the sport, such as next month’s Big 3 events scheduled for Sunset Station in Las Vegas from January 22-February 5. More than $ 500,000 USD will be available, including a total of $ 100,000 USD in first place prizes.

Firstly, the aforementioned USBC Masters kicks things off January 22 with $ 50,000 on top followed by the International Mini, offering $ 30,000 USD to the winner and finishing with the new WTBA International Open for $ 20,000 USD to the winner on perhaps appropriately “Superbowl Sunday” (February 5), the finals of the National Football League, America’s most-watched annual sporting event.

Around the same time (January 24-29) the new Women’s Bowling Alliance has a $ 10,000 USD first place guarantee for the first of three professional women’s tournaments scheduled thus far for 2012. This first one at Las Vegas’ South Point Casino lanes will guage the response of high-average women to expanded scratch tournament activity going forward; others are set for St. Louis and Las Vegas later in the year.

* Closer to home, in New Mexico, our new High School Bowling season has commenced with more than 35 schools across this sprawling state (fifth largest land mass in the US) contesting 12 weekly tournaments leading up to the 7th annual State High School Bowling Championships scheduled at our Tenpins & More Center in February.

According to the United States Bowling Congress, more than 50,000 high schoolers are now involved in bowling, with another 3,500 college bowlers also competing regularly.

A little-known fact is that many US colleges now offer both female and male athletes full-ride and partial college scholarships for bowling, in some universities saving parents tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and living costs on-campus.

It’s certainly something Australian youth can look in to if they want to further their education – and bowling skills.

* The eight youth bowlers representing Chermside and Strathpine Bowling Centres in Brisbane at the International Youth Challenge Cup series at our New Mexico Center from March 4-12 have been named.

They are: Jayden Leming, Zachary Kemp, Joshua Kemp, Benjamin Johns, Madeline Kemp, Tarmeka Tritton, Tamara Harmsworth and Louise Ingoe.

Intersetingly, their combined team average of 1,553 is two pins higher than the opposing US side, which should make for an interesting match-up.

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