After a week of battling on some of the toughest shots in the world, the youth bowlers finally see the results to the tournament. Jr. Gold was held in Detroit Michigan and a record 2,078 athletes took part in the event and competed for more than $275,000 in scholarships. Not only are the youth athletes there for the scholarship but a chance to make Jr. Team USA. There are also 4 divisions at this tournament, U15 Girl/Boys and the U20 Girls/Boys.

The kids bowled on 3 different patterns over 15 games. That was just to make the first cut. After making the first cut you then had to bowl 5 more games to make the top 64 in each division. The top 64 then battled for 5 more games to then cut to the top 16. Once making it to the top 16, Double Elimination match begins.

Now that is just the quick summary of all the bowling that was done. Each shot that was bowled on requires playing the right part of the lane along with having a ball that is reading at the right moment. Some bowlers tried beating the move to soon and got in trouble while other bowlers sometimes made a move with no need to. Trust me when I say the word of the week at Jr. Gold was "Grinded". I heard a lot of bowlers stating how they grinded to stay even or even minus a little. Plus or minus is based of 200 games, so if you shot 195, you are -5 for that game. Now when you are grinding that means, that you are not striking often and just making spares. I watched some bowlers shoot 225 plus and then make a ball change for no reason and barely shoot 175. Why this was done, not sure! A part of this may be due to experience since the bowlers are all under the age of 20. Staying clean was the best game plan to come up with, executing that game plan was another story.

Now as I mentioned earlier, Jr. Team USA spots were up for grab here. Now the reason for the U15 divisions, is to have them there for developmental purposes. The NSC or the National Selection Committee gets to basically choose who they want on the team. They choose from the bowlers that made the top 16 match play. Now here is the part that got me. Each division has their automatic spots up for grab, then the NSC hand picks the rest. Now everyone was selected correctly except for the U20 girls division. They took one U20 team USA spot from them and gave it to an U15 girl. I know that it does state that this could be a possibility in their information guide. Let me put this out there as well, in the U20 girls there were 573 bowlers in that division and in the U15 girls 169 bowlers. Now you are going to take a Team USA spot away from a U20 girl and give it to a U15 girl just does not seem right or fair. Basically they are telling me that this girl from U15 is better then a girl in College at the age of 18. Experience alone is better in the U20 division. U15 Division is for developing the younger kids to make team when they are in U20 division. They did not do this to the U20 boys division so why do it to the U20 girls division?

Congratulations to everyone that bowled at Jr. Gold! For these young bowlers, this is the biggest stage to compete on. I have bowled my self in the past(much smaller field in my days) and I know how hard it is to make top 16, yet alone make Jr. Team USA. So again Congratulations to all the bowlers and those who made Jr Team. I hope this year does not taint the years to come. Stick with your divisions that you created and stick with them for the same purpose you had intended for them.