High School Bowlers Adapting To A Season Of Change

On February 18, MLive profiled varsity athletes who have returned to competition in order to save their high school season, and they note, high school bowling has seen a steady increase in popularity at that level recently. When Michigan allowed competition to resume in late January, Northway Lanes in Muskegon, Mich. quickly offered to host the boy’s and girl’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association tournaments the following month, making sure to follow all necessary protocols. Bowlers were required to wear masks throughout the match, spectators were not permitted but thanks to the participating schools, the tournaments were streamed live online to allow families and spectators to enjoy and follow the competitions.

These innovative solutions are happening throughout the country as well. In Wisconsin, Dale Elliott of Dale’s Weston Lanes helped save the high school bowling club season with some quick thinking that has led to a full season with no reported cases of COVID-19. Instead of having large meets with hundreds of spectators at a single center, Dale worked with the 18 varsity and 14 middle school teams to do a Home-and-Away schedule where only two teams would be present for any match without spectators. The change not only reduces travel, but also gives more exposure to the some of the smaller bowling centers in Wisconsin and allows for easy rescheduling if needed.

Is your local bowling center working to keep their leagues and high school bowling programs thriving? Share the great stories from your community below to help others see the impressive work the industry is doing and learn how they can apply it to their centers.