Bowling
- For the use of this term in cricket, see Bowling (cricket).
Bowling is a game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a ball along a surface to knock down objects called pins. There are many forms of bowling, but the American game of Ten-pin bowling is probably the best known. This form, in both amateur and professional versions, is played around the world. Bowling in various forms has been dated back to ancient Egypt.
There is disagreement over whether bowling qualifies to be known as a sport. It requires eye-hand coordination and techniques just as fine as in other sports where players are required to throw or strike objects toward a target, such as in golf, baseball, basketball and hockey. Nevertheless, bowling, like golf, obviously does not require running about. Those who excel at bowling will usually consider it to be a sport. This is because improving your abilities is a challenge requiring a great deal of practise and even study. Many professional bowlers engage in exercises like weight resistance training and jogging in order to sustain their stamina for the gruel of long tournaments. There is a lot more to bowling than the beginning or novice player can appreciate. Joining a league to compete with others is an experience that often motivates players to improve. Arguably the best of all self-help books for ten-pin bowling is "Par Bowling" by Tom Kouros.
In response to a perceived undermining of the view of bowling as a sport due to significant increase in honor scores, the United States Bowling Congress (the governing body of body in the United States) introduced an optional league format for bowlers under the new Sport Bowling Program in the year 2000. Under the Sport Bowling Program lane conditions are more highly regulated & controlled than in traditional leagues and the oiling patterns used are generally more even with regards to volume and ratios of oil across the surface of the lane. Sport Bowling conditions are also used at the major championships of professional bowling (the U.S. Open, the USBC Masters, the PBA World Championship, and the PBA Tournament of Champions).
There has also been a debate over whether the technological advancements in bowling balls have undermined the view of bowling as a sport. These advancements have taken the form of different coverstock materials being used for ball surfaces that result in greater porosity and friction levels with the lane surface and thus ability for the ball to hook more sharply. The materials used have evolved from rubber, to plastic, to urethane, to reactive urethane, to particle, and to epoxy. There have also been change in the inner weight blocks in bowling balls which have led to increased levels of flair such that bowling balls actually rotate in a way in which a different part of the ball surface touches the lane on each rotation thereby overcoming the obstacle that lane oil normally presents in retarding the ball's ability to hook. It is the opinion of many persons in the bowling community that these advances in bowling ball technology have actually undermined bowling skill and have made it more difficult for lane maintenance personnel to lay out fair and credible conditions for participants. One of the most contentious issues that has arisen from this problem is whether or not there should be a Standard Ball for the sport of bowling, or at least whether significant restrictions should be imposed on allowed bowling ball technology. Other considerations have been noted with regards to the weight of the bowling pins, lane oiling techniques, and with the construction materials and techniques used to build bowling lanes such that taken together honor scores in bowling (300 games, 800 series, etc.) have increased by several thousand percent on a per capita basis in the 25 year time period from 1980 - 2005. An organization named "The Foundation" comprised of experienced lane maintenance experts and many distinquished bowlers, including members of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) & the United States Bowling Congresss (USBC) Halls of Fame, was founded in 1966 with the goal of addressing these serious issues. The Foundation members at that time made the statement that under the current environment in bowling they "could no longer guarantee a lane condition that would be accepted by the contestants, coaches and observers as fair and equitable."
Most forms of bowling may be categorized as either indoor or outdoor. Most indoor forms are played on a "lane", a flat surface which is several times longer than it is wide. The bowler rolls a ball from one end towards the pins at the other end. For nearly a century, ten-pin bowling lanes had a surface made of wood. Beginning about 1980, most ten-pin lane surfaces have been converted to or built with a synthetic material imitating a wooden surface. A building containing many lanes has traditionally been called a bowling "alley" but in more recent times, to upgrade the image of the sport, bowling "center" is preferred.
One of the most popular of these centers was Boulevard Lanes in Philadelphia. Opened in 1958 this center made several important contributions to the business by employing the youngest manager and subsequently the youngest proprietor, namely Joe Zarroli. In 2000 Zarroli sold the facility to AMF Bowling for an undisclosed sum.
Included in the indoor group:
- Ten-pin bowling, which evolved from ninepin bowling in the 19th Century.
- Five-pin bowling, played in Canada
- Nine-pin skittles
- Candlepin bowling, played in eastern Canada and New England, is a variation of ten-pin bowling, where the player gets to roll a small ball three times per frame instead of two, and the fallen pins are not removed between throws.
- Duckpin bowling, commonly found in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States and eastern Canada, is another variation of ten-pin bowling, where the player rolls three times per frame toward small, squat pins. A variant with pins encircled with rubber at their widest points, rubber band duckpin bowling, uses the same rules as ten-pin bowling.
- Feather Bowling (Belgian trough bowling) originated in Belgium and is played in Detroit and Mount Clemens, Michigan.
- Cocked Hat
The second group of bowling is played outdoors, usually on a lawn. Here the players throw a ball, which is sometimes eccentrically weighted, in an attempt to put it closest to a designated point. This group includes games such as Lawn bowls, Bocce, and Pétanque.
See also
- Skittles — the sport from which "alley" based Bowling originated
- Skee ball — a game that plays similar to bowling
- Pin shooting — a pistol shooting game using bowling pins.
External links
- The Kegel - A historical game related to bowling
- International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame
- The Professional Bowlers Assocation (PBA)
- The United States Bowling Congress (USBC)
- The Foundation
- Sport Bowling