Creating the NEXT GENERATION OF BOWLERS One Frame at a Time

The power of youth coaching!

By Darin Spindler

Like many of you, I’ve been involved in bowling for my entire life. My parents built a small 8-lane bowling alley in central Wisconsin the year before I was born. I spent many Saturdays watching my idols on the PBA tour, including my favorite, Amleto Monacelli. I loved his form and the power he generated — I tried to emulate it in my own game.

I share this with you because I was inspired not just by my family in bowling, but also by professionals on TV, and eventually a couple of great coaches. I participated in the youth program in Green Bay, WI, with one of the best bowling coaches I’ve known, Dave Labar.

After graduation from high school, I joined Dave’s team, and we worked on getting high school bowling off the ground. As part of our research, we went to see the Illinois State Bowling finals at John and Brad Sommer’s Cherry Bowl. When we walked in, the energy was electric. That experience eventually led to the addition of a massive high school bowling program at our center, which was complimented by the youth and after-school programs already in place. Dave made bowling fun for kids. The lessons were engaging and organized, and the kids became competitive.

I’m a strong believer in the power of coaching youth bowlers, yet it’s an area that as an industry we are struggling with for many reasons. We have far fewer adult league bowlers than we used to, and significantly fewer independently owned centers where the owners are personally involved in making sure youth bowling is a priority.

Looking back fifteen years ago when the partners of Bowling Business Builders International created Kids Bowl Free, one of the main goals was to introduce more kids and families to the sport who may become lifelong bowlers. Since that time the program has introduced over 30 million children and their families to our game!

About a year ago, a professional bowler caught my attention on social media. I began following her posts. She has great energy and passion for the game and does a great job with communication on these new media platforms. I saw her and a few other professionals hosting clinics across Australia and followed that tour. Who was it? None other than PWBA star Verity Crawley.

Following Verity sparked a new idea from an old one. I contemplated how we could use the Kids Bowl Free platform to provide free coaching lessons to kids and help them understand the rules of the game, provide safety tips, and encourage them to improve, but do it on a large scale to reach 2.5 – 3 million kids per year.

I reached out to Chris Chartrand at Kegel for input. He said emphatically Verity is a great ambassador for the game and potentially this project and provided me with her contact