Live Championships drive Digital Engagement

Rohan O’Neill explains how the Australian National Championships in Hobart has driven unprecedented growth across the digital assets of Tenpin Bowling Australia

The staging of Tenpin Bowling Australia’s (TBA) Australian National Championships in Hobart in July and August this year was a wonderful success both on and off the lanes.

The partnership with Strike 3 Bowling, who successfully delivered the newly created event, despite the enormous challenges due to COVID-19, has demonstrated its value both on and off the lanes.

Off the lanes, the digital impact of hosting an event in Australia was a huge result at a time when the Olympics were front of mind for most sport fans.

The statistical evidence showed the sport increasing its reach over the 28-day period of the Championships by 91%, with engagement growing at over 340% during that same period - building momentum despite the obvious challenges that we face as an industry.

Building our presence across our digital platforms is critical, both to the existing participants and fans as well as to new audiences, and we also saw an increase in social media following from new audiences over the event timeframe. Increasing our following by 94% over the 28-day period when compared with the previous 28 days during the event has reaffirmed the importance of national events.

The struggles of the last year and the thought process leading into 2021, drove TBA’s desire to push through and deliver events for the bowling community. In 2020, there were limited tenpin bowling events and for 2021, we decided where possible that we would follow a principle of ‘enabling bowlers to bowl’; hence we did whatever we could to ensure the bowlers who could attend were provided with an exceptional experience.

Of course, it was not ideal that many bowlers were unable to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions but we were rapt that we could safely deliver a firstclass event for the hundreds of bowlers who could make it, who were certainly pleased that an event was held.

On the lanes, the event was an outstanding success. The schedule was tested numerous times throughout, with flexibility the key. Strike 3 did an extraordinary job in delivering a remarkable event.

As for sporting feats during the Championships, we had seven perfect 300 games bowled at the event, with two female athletes (Kaitlyn Commane and April Sims) becoming only the second and third female bowlers at this centre to deliver perfection. For April, it was her first perfect game (achieved by striking in every frame), and for Kaitlyn,

Successful participants at Tenpin Bowling Australia’s (TBA) 2021 Australian National Championships in Hobart. Credit: TBA.

it capped off a wonderful return to the sport celebrating her recent return to the National Training Squad.

The success of the schedule’s adaptability resulted in, for the first time in the history of the Walter Rachuig Trophy Tournament, the schedule being changed to create a mixed teams event, with males and females competing together.

This catered perfectly for the three women’s teams and six men’s teams in attendance with the five-person team format competing in a head-to-head environment is unique to Rachuig (a key figure in tenpin bowling’s history), and seeing the men and women fight it out together on the lanes.

The event maintained separate ladders for the men’s and women’s divisions although all nine teams played off against each other to determine the eventual winners.

Queensland took the title in the men’s division, and Victoria won the women’s division.

With the impact of the lockdown on South East Queensland at the time of the Championships, only four of the Queensland men’s team were in Hobart, requiring one female team member to complete the team.

Again, with the flexible approach to the event, tournament organisers decided to include North Queenslander Chloe Jones as the fifth member of the Queensland men’s team to ensure the bowlers in Hobart could compete. The Queenslanders took out the title having tied with the Victorian men on points leading to a count back on pinfall.

The performance of the Victorian women’s team was elite. All members of the Victorian women’s team are part of the National Training Squad and if the event was combined, the Victorian women would have finished equal third out of nine teams. Led by World Cup winner Rebecca Whiting, the team showcased their elite skill on the lanes, performing at a level that experienced Rachuig observers have not seen before. It was an outstanding achievement and capped off an event where equity was a feature. Strike 3 included equal prize money for men and women across the competitions that offered prize money.

Previously, the prize pool was reliant on the entries, with often a slightly higher number of men entering than women.

Another exciting feature of this event was that graduates from our internationally acclaimed Bowl Patrol ‘learn to bowl’ program for six to 12-yearolds featured in the junior events. The progression of bowlers from this entry level program to representation at State or Territory level further enhances the program’s reputation with the investment in young bowlers building beyond the participation outcomes to now include performance outcomes.

As a result, a partnership with the International Bowling Federation (IBF) will see TBA introduce Bowl Patrol globally.

In a great sign for the future, some talented young bowlers were able to beat their more experienced competitors in the 58th running of the Australian Masters. Cameron Stein (19 years old from Queensland) and Rebekah Commane (22 years old from Victoria) took out the biggest national event on the calendar. Both have bright futures in the sport and performed under pressure in the Stepladder finals in performances that will go down in folklore for years to come.

Overall and when considering the enormous challenges associated with running the event, we couldn’t be happier. It was a credit to all involved in the Championships that we managed to deliver it.

We are very grateful of the support from Events Tasmania and having the event in Hobart was outstanding. We hope to welcome more bowlers next year while acknowledging that innovation and flexibility is still at the forefront of our thinking for 2022.

Tenpin bowling is a unique sport; it is a sport of longevity and as inclusive a sport as you’ll ever come across and TBA is the National Sporting Organisation leading its management and development. Rohan O’Neill is Chief Executive of Tenpin Bowling Australia.

Young bowlers Rebekah Commane and Cameron Stein. Credit: TBA.