Prep bowling coming down the alley
High school bowling has come to Alabama.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association declared this season that boys and girls bowling be designated an “emerging sport” – that is, one to be tried as a non-championship sport for a period of time to see if enough interest exists to make it a full-fledged state championship sport.
Denise Ainsworth, director of programs for the AHSAA and who oversees the sport, said bowling was declared an emerging sport after a survey of schools indicated enough interest.
“Over the past few years, it’s been the fastest growing sport nationally at the high school level,” Ainsworth said. “We are always looking for ways to include more kids in athletics. Bowling is a way to reach a different group of kids who might not be interested in football, basketball or baseball.”
A major boost to the effort has been the cooperation from the bowling centers, which have agreed to provide lane space free of charge for two years, at least, plus free house bowling balls and shoes.
“The bowling centers have been just wonderful to work with,” Ainsworth said.
If at least 10 percent of AHSAA member schools field teams next year, it can become a championship sport once the association’s Central Board of Control approves it.
“We have 40 schools declared to participate right now, and we have right about 400 schools (in the AHSAA),” Ainsworth said. “So we’re right there. We think next year it should be a championship sport. We’re excited.”
So too is Spain Park High bowler Ryan Kendall. He has a scholarship offer from Wichita State.
Many people don’t realize bowling is a collegiate sport. The NCAA sponsors women’s bowling as a championship sport, and the NAIA sponsors both men’s and women’s bowling as an emerging sport.
Wichita State bowls as an NAIA school, though they are NCAA in other sports.
Spain Park bowling coach C.J. Hawkins said Kendall, a senior, is one of the top bowlers in the state, if not the best.
Kendall, who averages 221, has bowled seven 300 games. He bowls in a Saturday morning league at Brunswick Riverview Lanes.
“I went out to a bowling camp at Wichita State over the summer and they said they were interested in me and then they offered me a scholarship,” Kendall said. “Right now, it’s partially academic, but we’re waiting to see if they make it athletic as well.”
He’s been bowling since he was 9 or 10, he said, his interest piqued when he visited an uncle in Chicago who took him bowling. He fell in love with it, and it was suggested he join a league in Birmingham.
There are no NAIA men’s teams in Alabama, but there are several in Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky. Kendall has drawn some interest from some of those schools, but he’s really intent on going to Wichita State right now.
Most of the NCAA’s emerging sports are for women, prompted by the need to meet Title IX laws to provide scholarships to women. In Alabama, UAB, Alabama A&M and Alabama State all have NCAA Division I bowling teams. According to latest figures provided by the NCAA, there are 33 NCAA Division I women’s programs, 18 more at Division II and 10 at non-athletic-scholarship Division III.
That was not the primary focus for instituting bowling at the prep level, but if students can find yet another means to help pay for a college education, “that’s always a bonus,” Ainsworth said.
Gail Dent, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said that its research group shows that in Division I in 2013-14, there were a total of 127 total equivalencies (scholarships) for bowling with 226 student-athletes receiving aid (at more than $3.2 million). In Division II, there were a total of 34 equivalencies with 131 student-athletes receiving aid (at more than $719,000).
The Spain Park teams, the girls coached by Hawkins and the boys by Stephen Hobbs, are made up of an eclectic bunch of youngsters, Hawkins said.
“We tried to get a wide range of kids from eighth grade through 12th grade,” Hawkins said. “We held trials for a week and kept the ones who were serious.”
There was so much interest, Spain Park actually had to cut about a dozen after the trials.
Hawkins said the girls team “has some athletes” such as softball, tennis, volleyball players and golfers.
Some have bowling experience, but many are really beginners. Some, like Kendall, don’t participate in other sports. That’s the group Ainsworth said the AHSAA really wants to reach out to.
“I believe in athletics and in what it teaches,” she said. “I think bowling will reach kids on the fringes, and I think also the interest is going to be really high because we’re already hearing about youngsters who are excellent bowlers in leagues already. There’s also the chance to involve kids with some disabilities.
“And absolutely it’s a sport you can play for a lifetime.”