Two East Coast and two Nevada teens look the lead in their respective divisions as the
14th annual Teen Masters got underway at the National Bowling Stadium Sunday.
Zack Hattori, 17, of Las Vegas and
Thea Aspiras, 18, of Chesapeake, Va., led the boys and gilrs High School divison, while
Jeffrey Juarez, 14, East Meadow, N.Y., and
Chevelle Holstein, 14, Sparks, Nev., took the lead in the boys and girls Under 14 division. Qualifying in the Teen Masters continues Monday with a second six-game round on a short oil condition for all players.
Two bowlers who upset top seeds are among the survivors after Wednesday's high school division Round of 8 match play in the 14th annual Teen Masters at the National Bowling Stadium. Four surviving boys and girls in their respective high school divisions along with the two surviving boys and girls in the 14-under divisions will bowl the concluding head-to-head single-elimination matches Thursday.
Top seed Kristopher Prather (l.) of Milton, Fla., went 4-0 in his best-of-seven-game match Tuesday to join 15 others who advanced to the Round of 16 of the boys high school division in the Teen Masters at the National Bowling Stadium. In the Girls High School division, Thea Aspiras (r.) of Chesapeake,
Va., held on to her qualifying lead after 18 games and will be the top
seeded player in her division when match play competition gets underway Wednesday.
The 2010 USBC Youth Open wrapped up this weekend and the team title went to an all-girls team. More than 2,000 youth bowlers participated in the USBC Youth Open, sponsored by Pepsi, which was held at Expo Bowl in Indianapolis, Ind. The non-qualifying tournament is patterned after the USBC Open Championships and USBC Women’s Championships. Youth bowlers competed in team (four players), doubles, singles and all-events during the 11 days of competition.
Marshall Kent (pictured left) of Yakima, Wash., and Brittni Hamilton (right) of Webster, N.Y., won national titles Friday, claiming the top spots at the 2010 USBC Junior Gold Championships presented by Brunswick. Kent won the title by defeating Matthew Gasn of Laurel, Md., 269-265 in the final game of match play.
Hamilton ran away with the title, winning by nearly 250 pins. The top four boys and top four girls earned
automatic spots on Junior Team USA 2011. 
Jacob Kent and Brittni Hamilton (r-l) lead the 2010 USBC Junior Gold Championships presented by Brunswick heading into Friday's final round. Kent paced the boys with a 30-game total of 6,412, an average of 213.7, while Hamilton took the top spot on the girls side with 6,240, an average of 208. The week started with 982 boys and 521 girls competing for $125,000 in scholarships. Just 16 boys and 16 girls remain headed into Friday's match-play finals.
Jacob Kent (pictured) of Newark, N.Y., wants to make a name for himself as a bowler instead of being known as the son of a former professional bowling star. After the way he started the 2010 United States Bowling Congress Junior Gold Championships, his new identity is already taking hold. Kent put together a massive six-game block of 1,480, an average of 246.6, on Monday to kick off the tournament and followed it with 1,210 Tuesday for a 12-game total of 2,690. He will conclude qualifying Wednesday at Woodland Bowl.
With a little help from the Black Eyed Peas, Addileen Pointer (pictured) of Highland, Mich., put together a big opening block Monday at the 2010 USBC Junior Gold Championships presented by Brunswick. Pointer, 20, shot 1,321 for six games, an average of 220.1, on the opening squad at Woodland Bowl. More than 1,600 of the top youth bowlers in the nation began their quest for $125,000 in scholarships Monday.
More than 1,600 of the top youth bowlers in the nation will compete for $125,000 in scholarships at the USBC Junior Gold Championships presented by Brunswick from July 10-16. For the second consecutive year, the tournament will be held in Indianapolis at Woodland Bowl, Western Bowl and Expo Bowl. USBC plans to provide live video coverage on BOWL.com of the semifinal round on July 15 and the match-play finals on July 16. Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. (EST) each day.
The PBA will provide exclusive live Xtra Frame on-line coverage of the match play finals of the 2010 Teen Masters from the National Bowling Stadium in Reno in late July, and will reward two players in both the Collegiate Masters and Teen Masters with paid entries into the PBA World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas in October. The Teen Masters is the nation’s longest-running national championship tournament for youth bowlers. 
Twelve United States Bowling Congress Youth bowlers have been selected to receive $1,000 college scholarships through the USBC Gift For Life Scholarships program. Gift For Life Scholarships are annually awarded to USBC Youth members who are high school students, have a GPA of 2.5 or better (on a 4.0 scale) and can demonstrate financial need. Recipients were selected by a committee of USBC staff members.
Ashley N. Dunn, Palmdale, CA, is no stranger to having success on the lanes at an early age. She has been racking up accomplishments well ahead of her age group since she began bowling at 8 years old. Ashley has now turned 13, but was determined to accomplish as much as possible while she was still 12. On February 8th and 9th Ashley rolled two games of 11 in a row, a 748 and 760 series, a 290 and 298
game, which helped her to a book average of 201 and a league average in session of 205. Not
bad for a 12 year old girl!
Karl Nickolai (r.), who has led the Michigan State University bowling program for the last 25 years, has been selected to receive the USBC Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. The prestigious award is annually presented to an adult volunteer who has displayed outstanding efforts to foster, organize and promote certified youth bowling programs at the local, state and/or national level for the last seven or more years.
Blair Blumenscheid (l.) of Columbus, Ohio, and Kevin Russell (r.) of Markham, Ill., have been selected as the USBC Youth Ambassadors of the Year. The award recognizes USBC Youth bowlers for exemplary contributions in the sport of bowling, academic accomplishments and community involvement. Awarded annually to one male and one female bowler, each winner receives a $1,500 scholarship.
Donald Armstead of Philadelphia has been
selected to receive the 2010 USBC David Dahms
Coach of the Year Award. Named in
honor of David Dahms, who was an instrumental leader in the creation of
what is now known as the USBC Junior Gold program, the award annually
recognizes a USBC-certified coach who has been actively involved in a
USBC Youth program and has demonstrated outstanding commitment to
coaching, sportsmanship and knowledge of USBC Youth rules for the last
seven or more years.
Their paths to victory were different, but for 18-year-old Brandon Fietek (l.) of Eden Prairie, Minn., and 17-year-old Danielle McEwan (r.) of Stony Pointe, N.Y., the title bestowed upon each under the bright lights of national television was the same: 2009 Teen Masters champion. In front of a packed audience and bowling on a specially constructed lane inside Las Vegas' glamorous Fashion Show mall, Fietek and McEwan each dispatched their opponents with relative ease and claimed $7,500 first-place scholarships.
Junior Team USA member Christine Bator (pictured) is being recognized
by Sports Illustrated magazine for her recent accomplishments at the 2009 Pan American
Bowling Confederation Youth Championships. Bator, of Warren, Mich., appears in the 'Faces in the Crowd' section of the Aug. 10 edition of the magazine. She won five gold medals and a silver medal at the championships that were held July 6-11 in Bogota, Colombia. Her only defeat came in
Masters, where she to team mate Kristie Petravich. 