Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) is hoping to secure the future of Australian bowling. With their strategy for 2024 and 2025, growth is on the agenda and attracting new bowlers is a key priority.
Despite this ambition, a lack of interest among young people may be holding back the future success of the sport.
The Clearinghouse for Sport found in 2022 that young adults (aged 15-19) make up 61% of those above 14 who participate in a sport related activity at least once a week.
In contrast, TBA reports that juniors made up 7.8% of people in their membership data for 2023.
In Canberra, 19-year-old Joshua Gan has already been involved with the sport for almost a decade.
His journey first began at Zone Bowling Tuggeranong in 2015. In 2022, he began competing in nationally ranked junior events across Australia.
Looking at the community, Joshua sees many older bowlers in their 50’s and 60’s. Considering those his own age however, he sees youth participation in competitive bowling trending downwards.
Compared to previous years […] I see the numbers of juniors in certain events go down
One issue holding back youth participation may be a lack of development pathways. Joshua notes that many such pathways in Canberra have disappeared in recent years.
He further explains that the absence of junior environments, including a junior league, may discourage young bowlers in the territory.
One youth-focused program operating in Canberra is Bowl Patrol, a nation-wide program designed to teach bowling to primary school-aged children. TBA describes it as ‘Australia’s only national ‘learn to bowl’ program’.
But as Joshua explains, the program may not provide enough incentive to stay with the sport.
That tends to be treated as just an after-school program for kids […] and then I don’t see a lot of people really go forward from that
In their current strategy, TBA has committed to greater investment in initiatives that benefit the industry. This comes alongside concern from state and territory organisations over a lack of investment in local programs.
In recent years, TBA has put forward more measures to encourage more young people to take up bowling.
2024 saw the launch of the Virtual Tenpin Schools Championship, aimed at providing flexible competition for young bowlers.
Last year, TBA also published a new participation plan, developed with support from the Australian Sports Commission. It forms part of their broader strategy with a focus on growing participation in the sport.
Other measures include the Australian Sports Commission’s ‘Sporting Schools’ initiative. Sporting Schools is promoted as a resource for schools to increase youth participation in sport.
TBA reported in September that a record 11,500 children had participated in the initiative’s tenpin bowling program since the beginning of 2024.
In an interview with The Owl in 2023, Drew Charlton, Director of the ACT Tenpin Bowling Association, spoke about modernising the sport to gain the attention of young people.
We’ll start to see a few more different formats in different opportunities and different ways the sport is played
TBA have also welcomed ‘alternate play centres’, including Kingpin, for their successes in attracting new people to the sport.
Damian McFarlane, Bowl Patrol coach and 2023 ABTSO Classic Masters Champion, agrees that pathways for young bowlers are in short supply.
He also notes that young people primarily encounter bowling at birthday parties, not sports settings.
Joshua Gan echoes this sentiment, mentioning how bowling centres are mostly set up for fun rather than sport.
It’s made and designed for fun, that kind of atmosphere […] I think people probably don’t really think to look beyond that
But this doesn’t mean young talent is absent from competitive bowling. Joshua mentions two young bowlers that he looks up to.
The first is New Zealander Ben Pettit. Joshua recalls first crossing paths with him at the 2022 Junior National Championships.
At 13-years-old, Ben became the youngest winner of the New Zealand Open Men’s Championship. This feat began a streak of three consecutive championship wins.
Ben has since represented New Zealand in international competition.
Joshua’s other pick is Australian Blake Walsh. In 2023, Blake won silver at the Boy’s Masters Competition during the 21st Asian Youth Championships.
Originally from Ballina in regional NSW, Blake is now studying in the U.S. with a bowling scholarship.
Expanding the list beyond young talent, Jason Belmonte is one Australian who sits among the most celebrated tenpin bowlers.
Born in Orange, his career includes 15 major titles with the Professional Bowlers Association.
Jason travelled to Japan in 2015 as part of a bid to include bowling as a new sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
2015 represents the last time bowling was shortlisted for inclusion at the Olympics. Tokyo 2020 represents the most successful bid in recent history.
In an open letter from November 2020, Andrew Oram, CEO of the International Bowling Federation, committed to a push for Olympic representation.
We will work diligently and tirelessly and will elevate our standards, with the intention of being part of the Olympic Games, and Paralympic Games
Growing youth participation may play a part in achieving this goal as well. The International Olympic Committee previously highlighted the inclusion of sports with youth appeal in the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 Midway Report.
Joshua Gan says there is some desire for Olympic representation in the Australian bowling community. Their next chance will be Brisbane 2032.
With many young and talented bowlers calling Australia home, the planners behind Brisbane 2032 might just consider giving the sport a place on the program.