Sport thrives thanks to efforts to get youth out on the lanes

I have long believed the most influential movers and shakers for bowling five-or tenpin are the proprietors. After all, for the business of bowling to be successful, it is the proprietors with the largest vested interest. They have the most to lose financially and professionally.

Entering the 21st century, the proprietors rebranded themselves. Nationally, the proprietor group is now referred to as Bowl Canada. With the branding came the push of technology, and not just the computerization of scoring. Most centres now have synthetic lanes, and most take part in the very successful online summer program that provided youth two free games per day through June, July and August.

The bowling proprietors, known within Saskatchewan as Bowl Sask., are well known for their role with Youth Bowling Canada. This institution has been around for a very long time. The first YBC national championship was held in 1961 in Vancouver. Contestants travelled by train, a very cool way to see the mountains.

The early ’60s saw each provincial delegation send singles and doubles reps in all three divisions. Their event was scratch. The modern-day version of YBC became singles and teams. Every event continued being a scratch, no pins over average side.

Approximately three years ago, the proprietors recognized a need to draw more rather than fewer into the mix. Consequently, Bowl Sask. added a pins-over-average three-player combo event.

The combo event is an excellent marketing initiative, as most bowlers fall outside the 36 elite athletes making the traditional scratch singles and team events of YBC.

Unfortunately for 2013, Bowl Canada had to make a very tough business decision. As good a program as the combo is, it came with a price tag. That tag led to its demise. The combo for 2013 will continue to run, but won’t advance bowlers past the provincial championship.

Bowl Sask. is sensitive to this decision, and notably one viable option for the POA crowd include such events as the YBC Trio. The Trio provides competition in all divisions. Its finale is a north-south provincial championship, the results of which follow.

In the north, the bantam champions are from Eastview Bowl. Congratulations to Kyle Vincent, Jordyn Car-riere and Natalie Vincent. Their team was a plus-271.

With a plus-357, the northern junior champions are Cutknife’s Kenny Feser, Tessa Bingham, and Raedyn Brown.

The north senior champs are MacKenzie Clarkson, Marshall Clarkson, and Sydney Nesvold from Rose-town. Their POA of plus 264 squeezed by Saskatoon Fairhaven by 27 pins.