Bowling
Bowling Your Way to College
Scholarship Potential Fuels Fastest-Growing High School Sport
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (June 13, 2007) – As the cost of college tuition and expenses rise every year, some female high school students are finding a new way to pay for college – bowling.
Today, there are 29 Division I and 15 Division II NCAA colleges and universities offering varsity bowling programs, and more than 180 NCAA schools offering club teams. It's anticipated that most woman's bowling programs will become varsity sports in the next few years, according to College Sports Scholarships. Some NCAA schools have men's bowling programs; however, it is the women who currently compete for the NCAA national championship in the sport.
As such, more than 220 “full-ride” bowling college scholarships are awarded to women every year, according to College Sports Scholarships. In addition, more than $6 million worth of scholarships are awarded to high school students by bowling associations and councils. Such scholarship potential is helping make bowling the fastest-growing high school sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Bowling is recognized as a high school varsity sport in 19 states. During the 2005-2006 school year, there were more than 40,000 high school bowlers with 1,768 boys' teams and 1,676 girls' teams. The number of participants and varsity teams has more than doubled in the previous five years.
The affordability of bowling is another significant factor in the growth of high school programs, notes Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, a member of the Brunswick professional teaching staff. “Without the need for referees, fancy equipment and facilities, high schools can add the sport to their athletic line-up without feeling the pressures of a large budget,” she said. “A coach and a nearby bowling center are the only requirements for the team.”
“What's more, the caliber of play continues to rise along with the growing number of participating schools,” continued Dorin-Ballard, a former Professional Women's Bowling Association Player of the Year. “We're seeing more and more young women demonstrate exceptional skills and the ability to play the game at the highest level. It's very exciting, and it's contributing greatly to the changing face of bowling,” she said. Dorin-Ballard now helps lead the coaching program for Brunswick, with its team of 1,500 coaches nationwide offering free tips and clinics to casual and youth bowlers.
After school, bowling centers across the country are filled with teenage bowlers – a trend the bowling industry only hopes to increase. As league bowling declines - the Bowling Proprietor's Association of America (BPAA) reports league play is down more than two-thirds from 1980 - bowling centers are looking to expand the appeal of bowling and attract a new demographic of bowlers.
“When you consider the impact of Title IX and the number of colleges and universities that have bowling programs, it is obvious that both high school and college bowling are here to stay, and only going to get bigger and better,” Dorin-Ballard said. “Bowling is opening doors for a whole new group of students that may not have considered themselves athletes in the traditional collegiate sense. Whether it leads to a college scholarship or not, bowling is a lifelong sport providing many hours of enjoyment and lessons that will last a lifetime,” she said.
About Brunswick
Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) has been a leader in the recreation business for more than 160 years. Founded in 1845 to make billiards tables, Brunswick Corporation is a Fortune 500 company and the leader in bringing Genuine Ingenuity™ to everything it makes. Brunswick Bowling & Billiards is one of the largest operators of full-service bowling and family recreation centers in North America; is a full-line supplier of bowling equipment, supplies and consumer products, and designs billiards tables and accessories. For more information, visit www.bowlbrunswick.com.
For more information, contact:
Mary Pettersen or Katie Hasse
Cushman/Amberg Communications
312/263-2500 or mpettersen@cushmanamberg.com
