Prep bowling coming down the alley

High school bowling has come to Alabama.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association declared this season that boys and girls bowling be designated an “emerging sport” — that is, one to be tried as a non-championship sport for a period of time to see if enough interest exists to make it a full-fledged state championship sport.

Denise Ainsworth, director of programs for the AHSAA and who oversees the sport, said bowling was declared an emerging sport after a survey of schools indicated enough interest.

“Over the past few years, it’s been the fastest-growing sport nationally at the high school level,” Ainsworth said. “We are always looking for ways to include more kids in athletics. Bowling is a way to reach a different group of kids who might not be interested in football, basketball or baseball.”

A major boost to the effort has been cooperation from bowling centers, which have agreed to provide lane space free of charge for two years, at least, plus free house bowling balls and shoes.

“The bowling centers have been just wonderful to work with,” Ainsworth said. 

If at least 10 percent of AHSAA member schools field teams next year, it can become a championship sport, once it is approved by the association’s Central Board of Control.

 “We have 40 schools declared to participate right now, and we have right about 400 schools (in the AHSAA),” Ainsworth said. “So we’re right there. We think next year it should be a championship sport. We’re excited.”

So, it seems, are the members of the inaugural Vestavia Hills Rebels bowling team.

At a preseason practice at Vestavia Bowl, there’s a lot of laughing, smiling and joking going on. Most of the youngsters have never participated in scholastic athletics, and some are pretty much beginners at bowling.

Boys coach Chris Wood said his 10-boy team has a wide variety of skill levels. “I think Austin Davis will have to put us on his shoulders. And Travis Saunders (one of the few with high school sports experience, as a football player) is a real good athlete and looks like a good bowler.

“But mostly we have a few who have bowled for fun and a few who are really total beginners.”

Dixon, a senior, has bowled since he was little.

“My dad runs the pro shop here,” Dixon said, who said he’s bowled a 296. “He’s a pro bowler. I never thought about bowling for a school team, but since Vestavia started a team, it’s really cool. I come to bowl after school for fun anyway.”

Sophomore Ahmen Farrukh hasn’t played sports before at Vestavia Hills and said he’s bowled “maybe five times in my life. I think it’s really cool. It’s just fun, get out of school and hang out with a cool coach. Meet some guys I don’t see in school. Everybody’s just not about scores, it’s about improvement.”

Girls coach Debra Broome has nine girls on her team — one softball player is her only girl with school sports experience.

“These are your kids who have not participated in sports, and this could be where they belong,” she said. “They’re having fun. But the other day in practice, that’s when I saw they wanted to compete with each other.” 

Tori Bachofer said she had bowled recreationally a pretty good bit and thought it would be fun when the announcement came over the intercom system one morning that there would be a bowling team. She’s hyped about the bowling shirts — old-school style with wide stripes in school colors with names on the sleeve and a script “Rebels” on the back. 

“I think it’s cool the bowling center is letting us use free shoes and bowling balls for free. I’ve met some new girls. My best score is 116. I just hope to get better and have fun.”

Sports teach a lot of things, Broome said, that you don’t necessarily learn in other endeavors. “I think the more we can get involved in sports, the better.”

The AHSAA’s Ainsworth concurs. 

“I believe in athletics and in what it teaches,” she said. “I think bowling will reach kids on the fringes, and I think also the interest is going to be really high because we’re already hearing about youngsters who are excellent bowlers in leagues already. There’s also the chance to involve kids with some disabilities.

“And absolutely it’s a sport you can play for a lifetime.”

Many people don’t realize bowling is a collegiate sport. The NCAA sponsors women’s bowling as a championship sport, and the NAIA sponsors both men’s and women’s bowling as an emerging sport. There are no NAIA men’s teams in Alabama, but there are several in Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Most of the NCAA’s emerging sports are for women, prompted by the need to meet Title IX laws to provide scholarships to women. In Alabama, UAB, Alabama A&M and Alabama State all have NCAA Division I bowling teams. According to the latest figures provided by the NCAA, there are 33 NCAA Division I women’s programs, 18 more at Division II and 10 at non-athletic-scholarship Division III.

That was not the primary focus for instituting bowling at the prep level, but if students can find yet another means to help pay for a college education, “that’s always a bonus,” Ainsworth said. 

Gail Dent, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said that its research group shows that in Division I in 2013-14, there were a total of 127 total equivalencies (scholarships) for bowling with 226 student-athletes receiving aid (at more than $3.2 million). In Division II, there were a total of 34 equivalencies with 131 student-athletes receiving aid (at more than $719,000). 

Dixon, the son of the pro bowler, is now excited about perhaps bowling in college. “I’ve been talking to the UAB women’s coach about starting a men’s team. I definitely am thinking about pursuing it in college.”

Sounds like it’d be right up his alley.

VHHS Bowling teams

Boys team: Dillon Caldwell, Austin Dixon, Tre Knight, Lars Olsson, Ahmed Farrukh, Travis Saunders, Keene Zhang, Dawson Wade, Will Wesnor, Will Greer.

Girls team: Gabrielle Crawford, Sukhman Kaur, Jillian Jacob, Tori Bachofer, Dalton Benefield, Margaret Culver, Emma King, Alisha Budhwani, Haylee Jemison.