Every institution has outstanding potential to immediately field a competitive varsity women’s bowling team. Figures obtained from the NCAA’s Achieving Gender Equity Manual, the United States Bowling Congress and state high school athletic associations identify that an estimated two million young females participate in the sport of bowling on a regular basis. Broken down, these numbers include a potential pool of approximately 500,000 student-athletes. There are more than 16,000 female participants at 1,494 United States high schools that offer women’s varsity bowling. This does not even tap into the number of states offering the sport of bowling at the high school club program level. Several of these programs are in the process of becoming varsity as well.

According to a National Sporting Goods Association Sports participation survey, of 39.4 million people age 7 and older participating more than once in 2003, 48 percent were women. In addition, the United States Bowling Congress had nearly 1.2 million female members during the 2003-04 season. These numbers demonstrate that bowling is a sport many women are participating in and are enjoying today.

In addition, bowling at the high school level continues to grow. Currently, 16 states have high school varsity bowling programs and 24 additional states have high school bowling competition at the club level. The bowling industry is dedicated to working with the National Federation of High Schools and state athletic associations in the development of bowling as a varsity letter sport in all 50 states and the District of Columbia .

States with high school varsity letter status

• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Iowa (girls – starting with 2006-07 season)
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Washington (girls)

States with high school club teams

• Alabama
• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Iowa (boys)
• Kentucky
• Maine
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington (boys)
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

The United States is saturated with females who participate in structured bowling programs. The collegiate level serves as a step in the development of athletes progressing from youth and high school participants to the national amateur team (Team USA), national junior amateur team (Junior Team USA) and professional competition. USBC Collegiate teams continuously produce numerous high-quality players who rank among the best in the world.

Five of the eight females on Team USA 2005 and seven of the eight females on Junior Team USA 2005 are current or former collegiate bowlers. In addition, many top female bowlers honed their skills in the collegiate ranks prior to turning professional. Among them are 2001 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Player of the Year Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (West Texas A&M), 2001 PWBA Rookie of the Year Kelly Kulick (Morehead State), 2002 WIBC Queens champion Kim Terrell (San Jose State) and 11-time PWBA titlist Liz Johnson (Morehead State ).

Standard collegiate competition utilizes a five-player team with each team’s regular travel roster consisting of up to eight players. During the season, a program could maintain a squad list of up to 20 players in order to continue to develop the program and secure long-term success.

While the standard format utilizes five-player teams during intercollegiate competition, all varsity student-athletes may have the opportunity to compete in various events during the season. All intercollegiate competition allows for necessary substitutions to be made during team competition. The coaching staff evaluates and determines the athletic performance of the players for each event..

The NCAA (Division I only) recognizes women’s bowling as an equivalency sport, which puts a limit on the value of financial aid that can be offered. According to the NCAA Bylaws, women’s bowling has an equivalency value of five. This permits the institution to grant five full-amount waivers for the academic year. These grant-in-aid awards may be given as five full individual scholarships or may be distributed among the team members. All members of the varsity team will be eligible for any grant-in-aid awards received within the program. Award amounts will be determined by the coaching staff and distributed on the basis of bowling skills and athletic potential, as well as academic and interpersonal criteria.

The length of a NCAA bowling season consists of a maximum of 144 days, beginning Sept. 7 or the institution’s first day of classes for the fall term, whichever is earlier. The regular season shall be completed by the last date of final exams for the regular academic year at each institution. The NCAA requires a minimum of eight intercollegiate contests each year, with a maximum of 26 dates of competition (games and scrimmages), including not more than 10 tournaments that are counted as singles dates of competition. As demonstrated by the current institutions that offer women’s bowling programs, a highly competitive regular and postseason schedule can be worked into the NCAA parameters.

Regarding postseason competition, the NCAA recognizes the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships as the national governing body championships for bowling. In addition, women’s bowling was approved as an NCAA championship sport beginning with the 2003-04 academic year. The first NCAA Women’s Bowling National Championship – won by the University of Nebraska – was hosted by Texas Southern University and held in Houston , Texas , at Emerald Bowl in April 2004. The Cornhuskers captured their second straight NCAA title in April 2005, winning the NCAA Women’s Bowling National Championship in Orlando , Fla.

If your institution decided to implement a women’s varsity bowling program, immediate success may be expected. Based upon the utilization of financial, coaching and student-athlete resources available, a highly competitive varsity bowling program could be functioning within two years. It is a realistic possibility that the program could be competing in postseason events and with a chance to secure a top finish at the NCAA Women’s Bowling National Championship or the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships during its first competitive season.