ARLINGTON, Texas – While most of us are preparing to ring in the New Year, more than 300 of the nation’s top bowlers are making their way to Las Vegas and preparing for the start of competition at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials and United States National Amateur Bowling Championships.

Official practice sessions will take place at Gold Coast Bowling Center on Friday with tournament action kicking off in both the men’s and women’s divisions on Saturday morning.

Competition at the Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur consists of five six-game qualifying blocks.

Each block will feature a different and challenging lane condition, forcing bowlers to demonstrate versatility if they hope to remain in contention throughout the five-day event.

Standings at the Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur are determined using a ranking points system specifically designed for these events.

Competitors earn ranking points based on their finishing positions during each of the five qualifying rounds – the top bowler of the round will earn one ranking point, second place will earn two points, etc. – with the lowest total of ranking points after five rounds determining the men's and women's Team USA Trials champions.

After competition concludes, Team USA 2026 will be announced and will consist of at least 12 men and 12 women with the top four age-eligible men and top four age-eligible women at the 2026 Team USA Trials, based on ranking points, earning automatic spots on Team USA.

The 2026 U.S. Amateur champions also will automatically make Team USA provided they are age eligible. If the champions have already earned spots, invitations will be extended to the next-highest qualifier in each division based on ranking points.

The National Selection Committee will name two additional men and two additional women to Team USA from the pool of players that competed at the 2026 Team USA Trials.

In order to be eligible for a spot on Team USA 2026, a bowler must be at least 18 years old as of the end of the 2026 Team USA Trials.

The National Selection Committee will fill the remaining spots for Team USA 2026 based on submitted resumes. 

Those applicants must have registered with intent to compete at the 2026 Team USA Trials and have met one of the following conditions:

•    Been a Team USA member within the last five years
•    Been a Junior Team USA member within the last two years and have been on a travel competition team
•    Been in the top 25 of either the Professional Bowlers Association or Professional Women’s Bowling Association points list from the 2025 season

At the conclusion of the fifth and final round of Team USA Trials qualifying, the top three amateur men and top three amateur women will advance to a stepladder final to determine the 2026 U.S. Amateur champions.

To be eligible for the 2026 U.S. Amateur, men’s competitors must not hold or have held a professional membership (PBA) or won a title (regional, national or senior) as a professional in 2025.

In order to compete as an amateur, a women’s competitor must meet the following criteria:

•    Be under the age of 60
•    Have not won a PWBA national title, regardless of professional status at the time of winning, within the past 10 years and/or up through their first day of competition at the 2026 Team USA Trials
•    Have not won a PWBA major title, regardless of professional status at the time of winning, within the past 20 years
•    Have not finished in the top 30 on the PWBA national tour points list at the conclusion of the 2025 season
For youth competitors, the top six age-eligible males and top six age-eligible females, based on ranking points, will earn automatic spots, while two additional males and two additional females will be selected by the National Selection Committee as at-large selections from those who participated in the Team USA Trials.

They will join the youth competitors who already earned their spots on Junior Team USA 2026 during the 2025 Junior Gold Championships or the 2025 USBC U22 Masters and U22 Queens.

All rounds of Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur competition will be broadcast live at BowlTV.com beginning Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern and will continue daily through Jan. 7 when competition ends and the announcement and introduction of Team USA and Junior Team USA 2026 takes place.

All four defending champions will be competing in Las Vegas this week with Ryan Barnes of Denton, Texas, and Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida, looking to make it back-to-back Team USA Trials titles while Katelyn Abigania of San Diego attempts to win the women’s U.S. Amateur crown for the second year in a row.

There will definitely be a new men’s U.S. Amateur champ as last year’s winner, C.J. Petrin of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has transitioned to the professional ranks; therefore, he will only be competing in the 2026 Team USA Trials.

In order to afford Team USA athletes the opportunity to compete on equal terms with other national teams, USBC will follow International Bowling Federation (IBF) ball standards at the 2026 Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur. If IBF standards change in the future, USBC will revisit the rules for these events. 

For more information about the 2026 Team USA Trials and U.S. Amateur, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE for more information on Team USA.