Maryland is one of only 10 states in the U.S. that doesn’t fund bowling in public schools, which puts youth bowlers at a disadvantage when competing in national tournaments and for scholarship dollars.

To help close that gap Fort Meade Junior Gold, a youth bowling program at Fort Meade Lanes, was created, and over the last four years it has seen its bowlers succeed, with some being ranked nationally.

“It can be hard when we are up against kids from Wisconsin or New York or plenty other states because they have high school, and sometimes even junior high, bowling teams,” said Mike Sinek, general manager at Fort Meade Lanes and lead facilitator of Fort Meade Junior Gold.

Sinek has helped make Fort Meade Junior Gold, which consists of almost 30 youth bowlers aged 10 to 19, one of the best leagues across the state for quality coaching and improving bowlers’ skills.

Some kids in the league are from around Anne Arundel County, while others travel with their parents from Baltimore City, Calvert County and even Virginia to participate in Monday evening practices.

The league costs $15 a week for 30 weeks, and at the end each bowler gets a new ball.

Each year hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships are awarded to winners of bowling tournaments around the country. Winning bowlers can be recruited by college bowling programs and receive full-ride scholarships.

For parents like Bowie resident Craig Muckle, a bowling scholarship wasn’t part of the plan for his 18-year-old daughter Madison. Bowling was just something she enjoyed, since he and his wife also bowl.

But after a year of training at the Fort Meade Lanes with Sinek Madison was able to improve her form to the point that she is on a scholarship to bowl at Coppin State University in the fall.

“Everybody that comes out to this league bowls in other leagues and is dedicated to getting better, but the coaching they receive here, along with additional familiarity of the equipment, goes such a long way,” Muckle said.

Technology

Bowling has come a long way in the last 30 years, Sinek said.

Instead of bowlers just having a ball to roll straight and another to make a curving shot, called a “hook,” they might have 11 or more balls, depending on the situation.

“Balls are used like a golfer uses his irons now,” he said.

Sinek has been bowling all his life, but he isn’t just a bowling guru. He has invested in the Fort Meade bowling alley by outfitting it with something called “Spec,” a light detection and range, or LiDAR, system, which uses lasers to measure ranges or variable distances.

The laser system is used on several lanes, and through an app on his phone he can see exactly what each ball is doing as it travels down the lane. This is how he’s able to show each bowler exactly how they can correct their delivery. Sinek said bowlers can’t see the oil on the lane, but through this technology they can see exactly what the oil is doing to their ball.

“For a bowler the info gathered at these lanes is invaluable,” said Eric Anderson, an Odenton resident.

His son Tyler, 12, is the youngest bowler in the league and one of the best bowlers of his age in the country.

“It’s like a gold mine of intel,” Eric Anderson said. “We get to learn how much speed is lost between different balls. Getting that information in real time allows Tyler to know what to do when a lane presents a certain challenge in tournaments.”

Tyler has been competing with Fort Meade Junior Gold since he was 10 and has collected 11 Storm Youth Championship medals and victories in a number of prestigious tournaments.

Sinek says seven of his eight graduating high school seniors have received scholarships to bowl in college.

“The eighth guy is a really good bowler; he just has other interests, so he isn’t going to stay with it,” he said. “If he wanted to, he certainly could.”

Another bowler who’s found success is Kayla Starr, 16 from Crofton. She won the 2023 Ted Gruzowski Jr. Youth Star Award and clinched second place in the 2022 PBA Jr. National Championships. She was also recognized as the 2022 Bowlers Journal International Player to Watch and is a two-time Storm Mid-Atlantic JBT Champion.

Kayla is going into her senior year at Crofton High School and has secured a full-ride scholarship to bowl at the University of Nebraska in 2024.

“She’s started bowling when she was about 4,” said Ed Starr, Kayla’s dad. “She has played all kinds of sports — field hockey, lacrosse, basketball. Then when she was 11, she said, ‘Do I have to play the other sports or can I just bowl?’ It was full-time bowling after that.”

Along with the accolades, Kayla and the other bowlers enjoy the camaraderie of Junior Gold. Bowling is an individual sport, but it’s reassuring to see so many familiar faces when you’re out competing, said Khoury Carroll-Tanner, a Waldorf resident.

Carroll-Tanner, 19, has been bowling with the league for three years and is on the bowling team at Shawnee State University in Ohio.

“This is just a top-tier environment to get better at your craft,” Carroll-Tanner said. “I would suggest for kids to get their parents to bring them here if they want to get better.

“Here, we work on the physical part but also the mental game. Coach tells us to not think about the next strike before we finish a frame. That’s a lesson that helps in life too.”