In 2015, the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) celebrated its tenth year since the merger of the men’s women’s and youth association that formed USBC.
Since the merger, USBC has gone through many changes both positive and negative. Prior to the merger of the American Bowling Congress, Women’s International Bowling Congress and the Young American Bowling Alliance, all three associations were facing membership declines for many years. Since the merger, the USBC has continued to see membership declines.
In addition to the declines in membership, USBC faced a staggering increase in award winning scores. With less revenue to work with and more expenses in the awards program, USBC was forced to make some very difficult decisions. In an effort to reduce expenses, USBC decided to limit the number of honor score awards to one per lifetime and pass additional local awards programs to the local level in order to reduce staff.
In many areas around the country high school bowling and collegiate bowling is showing tremendous growth. The Junior Gold Tournament, the national tournament for youth bowling, has seen growth in participation nearly every year. The return of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) and continued success of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) provides a dream for these young athletes to aspire to.
The local Skagit Valley United States Bowling Congress (SVUSBC) has decided to place a strong focus on the development of youth bowling in the goal of increasing membership at a local level. During the 2015 summer, the association put on a Learn to Bowl Class in an effort to recruit new young bowlers to the sport of bowling. The class attracted 37 students and converted 8 new bowlers into the fall youth league.
In an effort to add an additional focus to recruiting adults, the SVUSBC will focus the future on Family Learn to Bowl Classes at each center.
The SVUSBC is also focused on developing a new awards program to provide recognition to our members.