ARLINGTON, Texas – The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) have teamed with the  International Bowling Campus Youth Development and Strike Ten Entertainment to launch a new league program that encourages kids nationwide to Bowl Like a Girl! or Bowl Like a Boy! The industry-wide youth bowling initiative, which is open to youth bowlers up to age 20, kicks off April 6, 2015.

Title ambassadors for the youth program include bowling’s elite professional athletes from the PBA and PWBA Tours including the PBA’s Bill O’Neill, Mike Fagan, Sean Rash and the PWBA’s Missy Parkin, Lynda Barnes and Danielle McEwan.

Offered for any league season to participating bowling centers across the country, the PBA/PWBA’s “Bowl Like” 8-12-week leagues will provide instructional curriculum for beginner and advanced youth bowlers, plus weeks of bowling fun for all.

Each participant who completes the league will receive the following:

• A complimentary bowling ball (plastic or introductory reactive performance ball, depending on skill level)
• USBC Youth Membership
  • A USBC certified average
  • A USBC membership card
  • Access to participate in USBC certified competitions (leagues, tournaments)
• PBA/PWBA Certificate of Merit  

“This program offers kids a great chance to not only learn the sport of bowling, but to stay active, build teamwork skills, and have fun with other kids,” said Kelly Kulick, a six-time major champion who serves as PWBA spokeswoman.  Kulick, who famously became the first woman to ever win a national title on the male dominated PBA tour continued, “And with the added inspiration from the upcoming re-launch of the PWBA tour, the timing couldn’t be better to encourage our kids to learn to bowl and improve their skills in a “Bowl Like” Youth League at their local bowling center.”

“This is a turn-key youth bowling development initiative aimed at driving youth certifications and participation,” said Strike Ten Entertainment president John Harbuck.  “This industry-wide program not only includes a comprehensive marketing kit complete with digital assets for online and social marketing, it also features an attractive incentive package for youth bowlers who complete the league. Top industry manufacturers, 900 Global, Brunswick, Columbia 300, Hammer and Storm are also supporting the effort by offering participating centers who certify their youth bowlers deep discounts on the bowling balls provided through “Bowl Like” Youth League programs.”

The “Bowl Like” Youth League programs will be offered to all BPAA and USBC affiliated bowling centers and comes with comprehensive marketing materials that include a standee, posters, counter card and customizable sales flyers. To activate this promotion, bowling centers can purchase a marketing kit through Strike Ten Entertainment. A detailed informational mailer with all the program details is scheduled for late March 2015.

The promotion is scheduled for leagues starting from April 6, 2015 through December 31, 2015. For more details, please contact Toby Brown, Director of Strike Ten Entertainment at 800-871-7869 ext.8444, or email Toby@stemarketing.com or visit www.STEMarketing.com.

About International Bowling Campus
 The International Bowling Campus (IBC) is the headquarters for the bowling industry and directly serves the more than 67 million bowlers in the United States. The IBC houses the resources of the United States Bowling Congress, the governing body and membership organization for the sport; the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, representing the business interests of bowling centers; Strike Ten Entertainment, the marketing and activation arm for the industry; the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame; The Bowling Foundation; the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association; the International Bowling Media Association; the Bowling News Network; the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America; and the International Training and Research Center (ITRC). A joint venture of USBC and the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, the ITRC is a United States Olympic Committee-recognized training center; featuring 14 lanes for training and six for research and testing purposes, the ITRC is the most innovative and advanced training, research, and testing facility in the sport of bowling. For additional information about the sport of bowling, please visit www.BOWL.com.  To learn fun tips and see great offers at 2,100+ bowling centers across the country, visit www.GoBowling.com.

About Strike Ten Entertainment
 Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, Strike Ten Entertainment is the centralized sponsor-activation arm of the bowling industry. Strike Ten Entertainment serves all organizations of bowling by coordinating the industry’s sales and marketing efforts. Strike Ten Entertainment’s mission is to increase national awareness of bowling and to assist the bowling industry in developing new bowlers and increasing the frequency of existing bowlers each year through promotions, publicity and industry-wide marketing initiatives.

About the PBA
 The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is an organization of more than 3,200 of the best bowlers from 27 countries who compete in PBA Tour, PBA International Tour, PBA Regional and PBA50 Tour events. The PBA is in its 56th consecutive year of nationally-televised competition, reaching more than one million American households and thousands more around the world who watch PBA activities on Xtra Frame, the PBA’s exclusive online bowling channel. PBA sponsors include Barbasol, Bowlmor AMF, Brunswick, Concrete Software, Ebonite International, GEICO, HotelPlanner.com, MOTIV, Storm Products and the United States Bowling Congress, among others. For more information, log on to www.pba.com.

About the Professional Women’s Bowling Association
 The Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) is the membership organization for professional female bowlers, hosting tournaments across the United States as part of the PWBA Tour. The PWBA Tour major championships include the USBC Queens, Bowlmor AMF U.S. Women’s Open and PWBA Tour Championship. PWBA was founded in 1981 as the Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour and is now a joint venture of the United States Bowling Congress and the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America.  The online home for the PWBA Tour is PWBA.com