So over the last couple days I got to thinking about my youth bowling years. Who I bowled with, who I know is still bowling now compared to then, tournaments at a local and state level and other things.

When I got started in youth league I didn't bowl in any tournaments the 1st 2 years. Then after I started in my 3rd year I entered just about every event I possibly could from when I was 13 until 21, I have probably 100+ bowling trophies from my youth career. I remember that in order to go to state tournaments at the end of the season you had to qualify into it. A year or 2 after I was no longer allowed to bowl as a youth the decision was made to just let anyone or team go to state. So much for making the state tourney a special event where it felt good to actually go because you "EARNED" it. Back then 1988-1999 there were all kinds of tournaments, now at least in my area there's maybe a handful of tournaments held each year.

Just wish I could go back and relive my entire youth bowling career knowing what I know now. I'd be a little more serious about wanting to get better, I'd work on not having such a bad temper that I had back then, and I'd learn to play straighter instead of rippin the cover off the ball with every shot I took.

1 thing I really wish would make a return is making state a must qualify to enter event again, give these kids some feeling of accomplishment on a team level. For those kids who didn't make it with a team can still go for the singles event.

Yes, there wasn't any point to this thread, just thought I would see if I could spark someone elses childhood experiences.

We weren't that fortunate to have young future PBA bowlers in the area, would have been nice though. When I was in youth bowling there wasn't a separate traveling league until the year after I was no longer eligible to bowl youth because of my age. I would have really enjoyed doing a travel league back then.

I remember the following:

-Watching Bill O'Neill tear up JBTs with a white dot, Beast, and Danger Zone for something like 20 titles in a season.
-Watching Sean Rash dominate Jr Gold a few years in a row
-Mike Fagan hooking the whole lane just about every time I saw him bowl JR/Collegiate
-Scott Norton averaging 260 at a tournament when 2nd place was around 215 for 9 games
-A good friend of mine beating Tommy Jones in the finals of a Jaspa Jr tournament
-Virginia Youth Scratch Shootouts which had one of the deepest talent pools of any Jr tournament scene with guys coming from NY, NJ, MD, DE, VA, even as far as Ohio and the Carolinas
-"Proactive" coming out
-Bowling bakers against Chris Loschetter's Florida State University team
-Bill O'Neill shooting back to back 300s at the Kent State tournament my freshman year of college
-Bowling Saturday morning youth leagues at 10 AM, then staying in the bowling alley and traveling around to 5 or 6 other bowling alleys on the same day meeting friends and practicing until about 1 AM
-Learning to drill at 12 In a Row Pro Shop when I was 17
-The release of Skull Ball!
-The Eraser and the Ti-Messenger/Ti-Messenger Pearl being the most popular balls at every tournament
-JBT's when it took +200 to make the cut for 5 games
-"Sport Shot" was new and had everyone confused as hell
-Saving all of my money to buy an Attitude 3 after Parker Bohn III shot 300 on TV
-Watching the Quantum Helix (The first Hybrid!) go down the lane and being in complete AWE of how much it snapped on the backend
-Watching all the high rollers bowl pot games til 3 AM every weekend
-Hearing about this guy "Rudy Revs" who could hook the entire lane and strike on EVERYTHING

Wow bowling was fun back then.

I remeber collegiate bowling with DP3...brutal days of 40 baker games...

Amen.  Starting out tough and on the drier side.  Everyone in the building 6-7th arrow starting game 4 of the 40 game baker block.  Damn that was rough.

I remember my youth bowling years way too well! and I'm talking from my 'learn to bowl' leagues all the way up to collegiates. To see the transition from wood lanes to synthetic, from rubber to polyester to urethane to reactive resin to now, short oil and long oil being the only two patterns to now.. I enjoyed all of it. The part I enjoy the most is having my lowest score ever be 0, and highest be 300. 

Normal Youth league on Saturdays, Junior Traveling Classic on Sundays, High School league on Mondays.. and my entire area (Omaha) was very competitive; every school had a 1st and 2nd team, and that was out of 18 high schools. The only drawback and I wish they had it then like they do now: There was no Junior Olympic Gold concept back then. It would have been great to have, especially with having the ABC, WIBC, and YABA separate, but there was no chance for national recognition at the youth level at that time, unless it was only local.

It wasn't until I got into Collegiates that such recognition started, and that was in '92. But then again, I was happy to say that while I bowled well, I got spanked by the likes of the Dorin sisters, Barnes, Liz Johnson, Tammy Boomershine, Marcia Kamrowski, Brenda Mack (and she was on my team!), and many others.

Justin Hromeck, Barnes, and the Dorins were in their last year or just completed when I started my first, so to be able to compete with them at that level was a huge honour, let alone be able to carry my own weight with them.

I just have to say thanks to my parents for making us move from one neighbourhood of Omaha to another, because if we hadn't, I wouldn't have received the coaching I needed to be at the level I am at right now. From there, all the friendships that came along with it. From there, it's all downhill, because while I have the skillsets, the friendships mean more to me at this point. I wouldn't have traded youth bowling for anything.

BL.