Tournaments
There are many YBC tournaments held annually at both the regional, provincial and national levels. The annual 4 Steps to Stardom tournament is considered to be the most prestigious YBC tournament event and are essentially the national youth bowling championships. Boys and girls compete in this event separately. The 4 Steps to Stardom is a scratch tournament and involves '4 steps' to achieve the gold medal at the national level. The steps are as follows:
- Qualifying as single (i.e. individual) or as a member of a team in your home bowling alley.
- Winning at the zone level (the city/region where you live, e.g. Hamilton).
- Winning at the provincial level.
- Getting to/winning at the national level.
In the 2009 season, the 4 Steps national tournament will include a three-player combo event. This is the first YBC handicap based (scored as pins-over-average) national championship since the Kids and Golden Agers tournament in the 1990s.
These YBC tournaments are run only at the home bowling alley level with no zone or provincial final:
- Buddy tournament - the YBC member invites a friend to bowl in the tournament.
- Family Twosome - a parent-child tournament. Most YBC leagues run this tournament with four divisions based on the genders of the parent and child.
- I Beat My Coach - the youths bowl and try to score a better score than one game bowled by the coaches. The coaches usually bowl in awkward manners to maximize the youths' chances of winning.
- I Beat My Average - the youths attempt to beat their current average in this one-day local tournament.
- Bowler of the Year - the top bowler in each month (usually based on cumulative pins over average) is declared as "Bowler of the Month" and thus qualifies for this year-end tournament.
These are YBC tournaments that may be offered in some provinces, culminating in a provincial championship. Most of these events are scored on a handicap basis. The tournaments may not be available in all provinces. In some cases, the host centers for the zone finals report their winners to a central headquarters via fax or Internet in order to declare a provincial champion.
- Combo Team - the bowling center qualifies a team that is composed of bowlers from each division of the YBC. Depending on the province, the team can vary from three (separate boys and girls teams) to six players (one co-ed team). Most provinces operate a provincial championship for this event.
- High Low Doubles - the bowling center creates doubles teams by pairing the highest average bowler with the lowest class bowler. The process is repeated until all the bowlers are paired. After a qualifying process at the home alley, successful teams may advance to a zone or provincial final.
- Kids and Golden Agers - Bowling centers offering YBC leagues as well as Golden Age (now known as Club 55+) leagues can qualify a team of four - a boy and girl from the Bantam division and a man and woman from a Club 55+ league. This tournament culminated in a national championship for several years, but now is scaled back to no further than a provincial final in some provinces.
- Master/Bantam/Junior - In some provinces, bowling centers can qualify a three-player team consisting of one bantam bowler, one junior bowler, and one Master Bowler. This tournament culminates in zone and provincial finals.
YBC team tournaments - particularly the 4 Steps provincial and national finals - are known as being notoriously loud from cheering bowlers and parents.
Read more about this topic: Youth Bowling Canada