TNBA youth bowlers train at ITRC
August 21, 2015
ARLINGTON, Texas – The chance to train like a Team USA player is happening for eight youth bowlers through The National Bowling Association’s Youth Weekend taking place at the International Training and Research Center.
TNBA and USBC teamed to launch the TNBA Youth Weekend program six years ago so TNBA youth bowlers could experience the training and evaluation process used by the ITRC staff when working with Team USA. This year’s TNBA group started its two full days of training on Friday.
The youth players participating are: Mia Pope and Denisyha Waller, Chicago; Liz Watkins, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania; Ren Whitehead, Cleveland; Matthew Stephens, Egg Harbor, New Jersey; and Brian Kennedy, Shawn Webster and Kory Wharton, Philadelphia.
Veronica Green, the TNBA National Junior Program Director, Barbara Council-Armstead, the TNBA/ITRC Weekend Project Coordinator, and USBC Silver coach Donald Armstead II also were at the ITRC to work with the bowlers and the Team USA coaching staff.
Council-Armstead put together the program with USBC when she was TNBA’s national director for youth programs and continues to oversee the program.
“This is a total passion,” Council-Armstead said. “To watch these individuals come to the international training center, where Team USA and Junior Team USA train, and watch their faces … wow.”
For Wharton, 17, of Philadelphia, the opportunity to learn more about bowling was his goal this weekend. He has been bowling for about five years and has bowled the Junior Gold Championships the last two years.
“I’m really new to bowling,” Wharton said. “This is just my third year bowling on Sport shots, learning about axis rotation, the technical part of the sport. I’m getting an opportunity a lot of people don’t, and I want to take advantage of it.”
Part of his Friday was spent in an evaluation session in the ITRC gym, where Wharton, who just started at East Stroudsburg University on a track scholarship, set the ITRC record for standing long jump with a leap of just over nine feet.
Pope, 17, was at the ITRC earlier this month to take part in the Bowling Combine for College Prospects. She said the TNBA Youth weekend is quite different, since it is a much smaller group and she receives individual attention, like working on her spares.
“Though I had done the spares (drills) at the Combine, it just shows me again I need to work on it,” Pope said. “I wish I would have done this before the Combine.”
To take part in the TNBA Youth Weekend, bowlers must be 16-19 years old and are required to submit an application.
Go TNBAinc.org to learn more the TNBA Youth Weekend requirements and about the organization.
TNBA and USBC teamed to launch the TNBA Youth Weekend program six years ago so TNBA youth bowlers could experience the training and evaluation process used by the ITRC staff when working with Team USA. This year’s TNBA group started its two full days of training on Friday.
The youth players participating are: Mia Pope and Denisyha Waller, Chicago; Liz Watkins, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania; Ren Whitehead, Cleveland; Matthew Stephens, Egg Harbor, New Jersey; and Brian Kennedy, Shawn Webster and Kory Wharton, Philadelphia.
Veronica Green, the TNBA National Junior Program Director, Barbara Council-Armstead, the TNBA/ITRC Weekend Project Coordinator, and USBC Silver coach Donald Armstead II also were at the ITRC to work with the bowlers and the Team USA coaching staff.
Council-Armstead put together the program with USBC when she was TNBA’s national director for youth programs and continues to oversee the program.
“This is a total passion,” Council-Armstead said. “To watch these individuals come to the international training center, where Team USA and Junior Team USA train, and watch their faces … wow.”
For Wharton, 17, of Philadelphia, the opportunity to learn more about bowling was his goal this weekend. He has been bowling for about five years and has bowled the Junior Gold Championships the last two years.
“I’m really new to bowling,” Wharton said. “This is just my third year bowling on Sport shots, learning about axis rotation, the technical part of the sport. I’m getting an opportunity a lot of people don’t, and I want to take advantage of it.”
Part of his Friday was spent in an evaluation session in the ITRC gym, where Wharton, who just started at East Stroudsburg University on a track scholarship, set the ITRC record for standing long jump with a leap of just over nine feet.
Pope, 17, was at the ITRC earlier this month to take part in the Bowling Combine for College Prospects. She said the TNBA Youth weekend is quite different, since it is a much smaller group and she receives individual attention, like working on her spares.
“Though I had done the spares (drills) at the Combine, it just shows me again I need to work on it,” Pope said. “I wish I would have done this before the Combine.”
To take part in the TNBA Youth Weekend, bowlers must be 16-19 years old and are required to submit an application.
Go TNBAinc.org to learn more the TNBA Youth Weekend requirements and about the organization.