Detroit set to host the 2024 Junior Gold Championships

DETROIT – The top youth bowlers from around the country are making their way to Detroit for the 2024 Junior Gold Championships, which starts Friday, July 12, and will conclude July 20. This will be the fourth time the Detroit area will host the Junior Gold Championships (2008, 2013 and 2019).

Over 3,500 bowlers in three age-based divisions for boys and girls – U12, U15 and U18 – will be competing across eight bowling centers in the Detroit area during the weeklong tournament for a part of the event’s $500,000 scholarship fund.

Junior Team USA and Junior Team USA’s Developmental Team for 2025 will also have spots up for grabs in Detroit through qualifying and the stepladder finals.

BowlTV will provide livestream coverage of every round of the 2024 event leading up to the stepladder finals in each division. Coverage will be limited to five of the eight centers during the qualifying rounds in all three divisions, with each center offering 16 lanes of coverage.

The finals in each division of the USA Bowling National Championships and Junior Gold Championships will be taped for broadcast on CBS Sports Network. USA Bowling National Championships telecasts will air July 16 (U12) and July 23 (U15), both at 7 p.m. Eastern. Junior Gold telecasts will adhere to the schedule that follows: U12 (Tuesday, July 30, at 7 p.m. Eastern); U15 (Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 6 p.m. Eastern) and U18 (Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 5 p.m. Eastern).

The centers being used for the 2024 Junior Gold Championships include 5 Star Lanes, Sterling Lanes, Merri-Bowl Lanes, Oak Lanes, Super Bowl, Skore Lanes, Century Bowl and Thunderbowl Lanes.

Each division’s stepladder finals will take place at Thunderbowl Lanes inside the Strobl Arena.

With the conversion of the U20 division into the newly created U22 Masters and Queens event that was contested earlier this year, the Junior Gold Championships returns to being just over a week long as all bowlers will have their official practice sessions from July 12-14.

Junior Gold bowlers will start competition with four four-game qualifying blocks from July 15-18 to determine competitors moving on to the advancers round. U12 advancers will bowl another four-game block before the top eight head into match play, while U15 and U18 advancers will bowl a five-game block. A second cut is made for U15 and U18 for the final advancers round with an additional five games before the top 16 advance to match play.

Match play will be a double-elimination bracket, with each match being two games and highest pinfall determining who advances. The final two in the Winners Bracket will bowl for the No. 1 seed in the stepladder finals, while the winner in the Elimination Bracket will be the No. 3 seed on the show.

The stepladder finals in the U12 (10 a.m. Eastern), U15 (2 p.m. Eastern) and U18 (6 p.m. Eastern) divisions all will take place July 20.

The Junior Gold Trade Show and registration for all athletes will take place July 13 at the Suburban Collection Showplace. This year's trade show will feature more than 120 total vendors, including 90 colleges and universities.

Many of the sport’s biggest names will be on hand to sign autographs and interact with bowlers and their families. The list of expected participants is as follows: Brunswick - Justin Bohn, Dasha Kovalova, Breanna Clemmer, Matt Ogle, AJ Chapman, Bill O’Neill, Packy Hanrahan, Tommy Jones and Lauren and Matt Russo; Motiv - EJ Tackett, Erin McCarthy, Wesley Low, AJ Johnson and Andrew Anderson; Storm -
Lindsay Boomershine, Kris Prather, Kyle Troup, Stephanie Zavala, Shannon O’Keefe and Ryan Barnes.

The Junior Gold Product Showcase will take place at Super Bowl with sessions occurring July 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern and July 12 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern. Space is limited for the demo day with required registration (first come, first served) available at BOWL.com/JGSpecialEvents.

I Am Bowling, powered by Logo Infusion, is once again the official jersey provider for the Junior Gold Championships. Competitors will have the chance to pick up their jerseys July 12 and 13 at the Suburban Collection Showplace.

The 2024 Junior Gold Championships also will see the continuation of Party in the Park and the tournament’s Opening Ceremony, both of which will take place on July 14. Opening Ceremony will take place at Eastern Michigan University’s George Gervin GameAbove Center, home of the EMU Eagles, starting at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

Party in the Park will feature several event sponsors like Brunswick, Hammer, I Am Bowling, Kegel, Motiv and Storm Products. The event will also be held at the GameAbove Center from 5-8:30 p.m. Eastern and feature a DJ along with several fun activities, including outdoor games and equipment to utilize such as footballs, soccer balls and frisbees.

There also will be featured areas for activities such as cornhole, a video-game truck, a dunk tank and much more. Staff members and pro athletes from the sponsoring partners will be on hand to mix and mingle at this event.


In addition to the Junior Gold Championships, the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships, USA Bowling National Championships and Survivor Tournament also will be taking place in Detroit.

The Youth Open Championships, a non-qualifying tournament open to all USBC Youth bowlers, has competition in singles, doubles and four-person team. Squads will be held at Sterling Lanes July 10-12, 19-21 and 27-28.

The 2024 USA Bowling National Championships will bring together the top youth teams from throughout the country to compete for a national championship and scholarship prizes added this year.

USA Bowling Regional events determined the field for the USA Bowling National Championships. There were two divisions at each regional event – Under 12 (born Aug. 1, 2011, or later) and Under 15 (born between Aug. 1, 2008, to July 31, 2011). Each regional champion advanced to the national event in Detroit.

Those teams will compete in qualifying rounds at Thunderbowl Lanes on July 10 at 10 a.m. Eastern. Match play will continue at Thunderbowl on July 11 at 8 a.m. Eastern before competition moves over to the Strobl Arena later that evening for the finals, which will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern in the U12 division and 8 p.m. Eastern in the U15 division.

The Survivor Tournament will be contested on July 19 and 20 at 5 Star Lanes with squads taking place each day at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern. Competitors will bowl five games across 10 lanes with one-in-five participants winning entries into the 2025 Junior Gold Championships.

Survivor Tournament competitors have the option of paying an additional $75 to receive a high-performance bowling ball from Brunswick (Ultimate Defender), Hammer (Hammer Effect), Motiv (Evoke) or Storm (Summit Peak) along with their tournament entry.

For more information on the 2024 Junior Gold Championships, visit BOWL.com/JuniorGold.