What will the addition of pro bowlers mean to Team USA and bowling's Olympic hopes?
by Mike Panozzo

With the added muscle of PBA stars, like (l-r) Chris Barnes, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Tommy Jones, Team USA could mine more gold ... and  make headlines.

Few sports fans in America will forget that day in 1991 when the United States Olympic Committee announced that the NBA’s top stars would be allowed to compete for USA Basketball in the 1992 Summer Olympics. The mere thought of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, bedecked in red, white and blue, leading the U.S. into battle on the hardwood made Americans puff out their chests, and made the rest of the world shudder.

It was the launch pad for the International Olympic Committee’s edict that nations send their very best athletes, pro or amateur, to the world stage. This is what the world wanted to see, they surmised.

Thus was born “The Dream Team.”

The U.S. basketball squad dominated, of course, and it forever changed the way the Olympics was seen and marketed.

Could Walter Ray Williams Jr, Tommy Jones, Chris Barnes and others do the same for bowling?

While the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s recent announcement that professional bowlers can compete on their country’s national squad may not have quite the same impact on the sports world’s Richter Scale, it could nonetheless create a significant ripple effect on bowling’s credibility on the international stage, and on its efforts to muscle its way onto the Olympic Games docket.

Imagine Williams leading America’s top bowlers into the gold medal match against always-powerful Finland, now anchored by recent PBA Japan Cup winner Mika Koivuniemi.

How about Kelly Kulick, Liz Johnson and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard headlining the U.S. women’s squad against reigning world champion Malaysia?

Olympic preview?
“This is an important first step in bowling potentially becoming an Olympic sport,” said USBC Chief Operating Officer Kevin Dornberger, who in August was elected president of the WTBA, tenpin bowling’s world governing body and direct link to the IOC. “We’ve made efforts to be included in the Olympics in the past, but our resistance to allowing the best players to participate was a major impediment. We’ve made that change. Now we can chase other issues, like spectators and media exposure.”

In the past, said Dornberger, Asian countries resisted allowing pros to protect their own professional tours, while other countries stalled the measure for fear that their medal chances would be further diminished.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Olympics or not, the world’s top bowlers will now be eligible to compete for their country in WTBA zone and world championships. And with the WTBA Men’s World Championships scheduled for August 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, speculation has already begun as to what kind of team various countries might piece together.

“You can now hold the World Championships and have an event that lives up to the name,” said PBA president Fred Schreyer, who collaborated with USBC on a qualification process for Team USA. “It’s a great promotional opportunity for the sport. Combine the world stage, international competition and the biggest names in the sport and you have a chance to attract the attention of a far broader audience than we typically see for bowling. This will raise the significance of winning a world title.”

The Rest of the World The new World Tenpin Bowling Association ruling to allow professional bowlers on national teams will certainly impact countries besides the United States. Several PBA exempt pros figure make an immediate impact on their national squads, most notably Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi and Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli. The addition of Koivuniemi, who starred for Team Finland in the late ’90s, would bolster a men’s squad that already ranks third all-time (Sweden ranks first, the U.S. second) with 10 gold medals and 33 medals overall. Japan and Korea, which, like the U.S., also have professional tours, should also become significantly stronger with the addition of professionals.

“I’d definitely like to do it,” said Williams, whose mere presence (along with his 42 pro titles) would add instant credibility to any international competition. “It would be an honor.”

Because Team USA already has players committed for another year, and with a qualifying competition already scheduled for January (in the middle of the Denny’s PBA Tour schedule), the USBC and PBA struggled to find a solution that would allow exempt players into the talent pool.

“The solution isn’t ideal,” admitted Dornberger. “But we really couldn’t plan for this. In subsequent years, the system is likely to be different.”

In a nutshell, a minimum of four men bowlers will be selected from a pool that includes exempt bowlers (who filled out an application) on the Denny’s PBA Tour. The selection of exempt pros, chosen by Dornberger, Schreyer and USBC High Performance Director Dave Garber (with input from Team USA head coach Jeri Edwards and assistant coaches Ken Yokobosky and Gordon Vadikin), was scheduled to be announced at during the USBC Masters in late October. (For results, go to bowl.com.) Additionally, the top two finishers at the 2008 USBC Team USA Trials will earn automatic spots. Four men and four women bowlers are already guaranteed spots on the 2008 Team USA by virtue of their 2007 Team Trials
selection.

The pool of women who will be selected will be comprised of Team USA members since 1998, and former Professional Women’s Bowling Association/Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour members.

“I called and asked about it even before the [pro ruling] vote took place,” admitted Jones. “I love the team atmosphere. You feed off of other people’s emotions. I bowled in the Weber Cup this year and, until then, I didn’t realize how much I missed team bowling, and how special it is to bowl for your country.”

Pros who cut their competitive teeth with Team USA have shown particular interest in slipping back into some stars and stripes.

“Bowling for Team USA was one of the most enjoyable periods of my career,” said Barnes, who starred from 1994-97 before turning pro. “It’s cliché to say that you can’t describe what it’s like to bowl for your country, but it’s really hard to put into words. There’s a lot of motivation when you know you’re bowling for millions of people.”

“I want to bowl for a living, so I’m always looking for high-level competition,” added Kulick, who bowled for Team USA from 1998-2000. “Now that pros can bowl for Team USA, that’s an even greater platform that it always has been.”

“I’ve never had the chance to bowl for my country,” said Dorin-Ballard, whose team bowling experience nonetheless includes two intercollegiate championships at West Texas State. “That would be awesome. Also, selfishly, it would just give me a chance to bowl.”

Current Team USA members have also embraced the new rule, despite the likelihood that some may not make the final cut.

“Team USA will gain a lot more publicity because of the PBA,” said Rhino Page, who has bowled for Team USA since 2004 and has a spot on the 2008 team already solidified. “It puts our coaches in a tough spot, because they’re going to have to look over guys who’ve been with the program.”

“I say, ‘Bring ‘em on!’” said Lynda Barnes, who’s logged two tours on Team USA — 1996-98, 2005-present. “As strong as we’ve been, we haven’t won the World Championship as a team in 30 years. As a player, I want to see the best players bowl their way on, but you also need a selection committee to avoid one-dimensional teams or teams with a lot of clashing personalities.

“This is for the future, and no one can argue that,” added Barnes. “If you don’t like it, bowl better and win.”

One of the most intriguing questions that the addition of pro bowlers begs is how team chemistry and coaching will be affected. Post-Dream Team USA Basketball has learned the hard way that individual talent doesn’t assure victory.

“There are a few concerns, I guess,” said Edwards. “But the players who would apply obviously have an interest in being there, so I’d anticipate they want to be part of a team. But there’s more talent than spots, so a lot of variables go into making the final selections. It’s tough selecting a squad, and it’s even tougher picking which players go to an event like the World Championships. Someone is getting left behind, but you have to put out the squad that gives you the best chance to medal.”

But how open to coaching will the exempt players be?

“They may be easier to coach because they tend to be open-minded,” said Edwards. “They have very few limitations on what they’d do to test the lanes. They’re all so versatile and creative. I think it’s fun to work with really talented players. It’s not like I’m going to suggest changes in their game, like telling Walter Ray to change his arm swing!”

“Physically, you’re not going to coach them,” agreed Page. “But coaches can use their experience in international competition to help. Conditions are really different in international play. The PBA doesn’t have these patterns.

“But the main thing is the sharing of knowledge,” Page continued. “There’s no room for negativity. They have to be willing to share.”

With lineups that could boast Williams, Chris Barnes and Jones at the top, with international stars like Page and Bill Hoffman alongside on the men’s squad, and Kulick, Dorin-Ballard and Johnson running side-by-side with the likes of Lynda Barnes, Shannon O’Keefe and Diandra Asbaty on the women’s team, the most commodity most likely to be shared by Team USA will be gold.