Bowling emerges as popular sport for schools

It's February and athletes and teams are gearing up for the postseason, tweaking footwork and positioning and fine tuning the muscle memory needed for a tournament run. And that includes one of Ohio's emerging high school sports: Bowling. "It's one of the fastest growing sports in the state. I would say the main reason I would give is the fact that it is a 'cheap date' for the schools. Bowling is not expensive for the schools," said Greg Coulles, OHSAA state bowling tournament manager. Coaching, transportation and tournament fees are about it for costs. High school bowlers provide their own equipment (balls, shoes, etc.), the uniform is merely black pants and a polo shirt with the school name on it, the sport has no paid officials, and bowling centers have been very cooperative when it comes to costs for matches and teams. In fact, Coulles, who is also the Ohio High School Bowling Coaches Association executive director, said he thinks more schools would field teams if more bowling alleys were available. "I will tell you that it is my opinion that there would be more teams in the state of Ohio if there were more bowling centers," he said. "When you go to the east or the southeast (parts of the state), there may not be a bowling center for 20 miles, and if there were more, then they would carry more teams." Still, it's a sport on the rise. The sport boasts two divisions of boys and girls competition, with 416 boys teams and 378 girls teams. That includes local schools Columbian, Fostoria, Lakota, Clyde and Old Fort, which added the sport this year. Several conferences also crown champions, which includes the Sandusky Bay Conference, which has two divisions — Lake and Bay — for both boys and girls. "It's a fairly new thing to all high schools around," said Columbian coach Kory Walton, who guided the Tornadoes to 14th last year at the Division I state tournament. "High school bowling hasn't really been a thing for all that long. It's semi-newer. Almost all kids bowl at some point in their lives. "High school bowling itself is growing. It's becoming a popular sport throughout Ohio and throughout the country," he said. "It's a huge recreational sport, so colleges and high schools are trying to get everyone to think of it as an … active sport — something to keep them bowling and keep them going, that way this sport doesn't go away, this sport is always going to be here to stay." The Ohio High School Athletic Association officially sanctioned the sport in the 2006-07 school year, but it got its Buckeye State start when the Bowling Proprietors Association of Ohio sponsored high school teams in the 2000-01 school year, capping that season with a state tournament. Fostoria won the boys title that year, with the Redmen taking third in the girls tournament. Coulles said the goal was to eventually have bowling sanctioned by the OHSAA — the sport must be offered by 150 schools for that to happen — so he had a simple plan to help that happen. "The philosophy that I brought in when they brought me aboard to run the Ohio high school bowling program was 'Let's just do whatever the OHSAA would do if they ran it and show them that we're fully cooperative, we will follow their rules to the letter of the law,' and we did," he said, "and they liked it and they finally approved it a few years later after we had met the minimum number of schools that had high school teams." Competition doesn't have to be limited to the OHSAA's season, Coulles added. Youth leagues and tournaments occur throughout the year. In fact, Ohio High School Bowling (OHSB) will host its annual 7th-12th Grade State Singles Championships in Columbus on March 28 and 29. The event is for any seventh through 12th grade Ohio student, whether or not they bowl for their school. Bowlers only compete against those of their same gender and same grade — seventh grade boys against seventh grade boys, seventh grade girls against seventh grade girls, etc. Since it occurs after the high school season is over, Coulles said it does not conflict with OHSAA participation rules. More than $12,400 in scholarship money was awarded at last year's event. "Last year we had 345 bowlers, and that's a bunch," Coulles said, adding more information about that event can be found at ohsb.org. It's just another example of how bowling is a lifetime sport, which is something Walton said he tries to instill in his athletes. "I love the sport and I don't want the sport to die. There was a big thing going around where people only wanted to do this recreationally, out for birthday parties or out for fun," he said. "I don't want this sport to die so I'm trying to teach these kids to get them better and keep them involved within the sport. "I try to make them good enough and help them learn and help them grow, that way they want to do it (in the future) themselves," he said. "It's not really a thing that I push on them but I'm trying to make them better, that way they go 'hey, I'm good enough at this, I don't want to stop doing this. I want to keep learning and keep growing and keep doing this sport that I love.'"