ARLINGTON – When USA Bowling launched its regional tournaments three years ago, it was building the stage for what eventually would become a national event.

The stage now is ready as the inaugural USA Bowling National Championships will take place in Indianapolis, with qualifying starting Wednesday. The finals of the event will be held at Western Bowl on Saturday and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network in August.

Starting last fall, USA Bowling conducted 16 regional events across the country to determine the 32 regional champions that would advance to the final event in Indianapolis.

International Bowling Campus Youth Development introduced USA Bowling regional events to provide additional opportunities for competition, particularly for teams. The USA Bowling program was designed as a team-based youth program to introduce youngsters to the sport and follows the same structure as other youth sports. It places children on a team, provides a coach for each team and conducts regular practices along with weekly competitions.

Each of the regional events had two divisions –Under 12 and Under 15 – and each team could have a roster up to six bowlers, though only four bowlers compete at a time. The two-day regionals featured eight round-robin Baker matches to determine seeding for tiered brackets, with the second day consisting of double-elimination match play to determine a regional champion. Teams did not have to be members of a USA Bowling league to participate.

Regional events were held from coast to coast leading to the national tournament.

The U15 teams will kick off the USA Bowling National Championships with 15 Baker games of qualifying on Wednesday at Woodland Bowl. The match-play record after 15 games determines the rankings for the double-elimination bracket.

All 16 teams in the U15 Division return to Woodland Bowl on Thursday for double-elimination match play, consisting of a best two-out-of-three Baker matches. The two remaining teams at the end of match play advance to the TV finals.

The U12 qualifying matches will take place at All Star Bowl on Friday morning, with the match-play bracket scheduled for Friday evening.

The USA Bowling National Championship televised finals will be the best three-out-of-five Baker matches.

USA Bowling is a product of the Youth Education Services (YES) Fund, a joint initiative of the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America and United States Bowling Congress supported by top bowling brands including Bowling.com, Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, Hammer, QubicaAMF, Roto Grip, Storm and Track.

Go to BOWL.com/USABowling for more information about the USA Bowling program and the USA Bowling National Championships.