When institutions look to expand their women's athletics programs, the first sports that come to mind might be soccer or ice hockey.

Few sports-minded Americans could have missed the publicity earned by those women's sports in recent years. A World Cup title and an Olympic gold medal tend to have that effect.

But there is another sport that also might be popular on campus and perhaps less expensive to add as a women's varsity program. Many institutions already have an active club program, a club coach and even on-campus facilities. And many people play the sport, follow its professional leagues and even carry around the sporting equipment in the trunk of their car.

The sport is bowling -- and it may be the best-kept secret on campus.

Women's bowling currently is one of the NCAA's emerging sports, but there is a movement afoot to make it an NCAA championship. The key barrier in making it a championship is sponsorship. Only 24 NCAA institutions sponsored women's bowling as a varsity sport for 1999-00, and under current rules, 40 institutions must sponsor the sport for legislation to be proposed creating an NCAA championship.

The irony is that 81 different colleges and universities throughout the country sponsor women's bowling, but they do so on the club level. Some institutions are waiting to see if the NCAA adds the sport as a championship before elevating their club teams to varsity status. Others are almost completely unaware that they even have bowling clubs -- and in many cases, bowling facilities -- already on campus, perhaps offering a cost-effective way to add a women's sport.

Bill Straub, head bowling coach at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, said that in many cases, people just are not aware of bowling and its incredible popularity.

"There needs to be more awareness," he said. "Some people don't realize it's so popular, others don't realize how easy it is to add a varsity team in women's bowling."

Nebraska's women's bowling is in its third year as a varsity sport, having been a club sport at Nebraska for 20 or 30 years. Straub coaches the women's varsity team as well as the men's club team. Over the years, he has encountered a number of people in athletics who don't know anything about the sport.

"There are people who don't realize that bowling is a sport," Straub said. "In some cases it's an image problem. Everybody has an image of bowling and it's not necessarily a positive one. But it is a real sport and it does take real skill. It just takes some education on our part for people to realize that."

A cost-effective opportunity

Even though it may take time for bowling to become an NCAA championship sport, the bowling community is actively engaged in spreading the word about their sport and the advantages of offering it at the varsity level.

Straub serves on a subcommittee of College Bowling USA that is charged with increasing interest in the college game, and he recommends the sport to any institution that is interested in offering more opportunities for women.

"Especially for schools that have a big football program, women's bowling is attractive because it helps you with your numbers but it's easy to add because it's basically a turn-key operation," he said, noting that many schools already have a club team, club coach and facilities available, either on campus or in the community.

"There are typically five scholarships, and it's an equivalency sport, so you can spread those scholarships around and add 15 more women to your roster to offset the males," he said.

Also, Straub says some schools might be attracted because it gives them another opportunity to field a winning team.

"If you look at it from strictly a political standpoint, there is a tremendous side benefit in that you can be successful in just a few years," he said. "If you hire a good coach and direct some resources to it, you could field a nationally competitive team in two or three years."

Straub also points to cost-effectiveness as another reason for institutions to consider bowling. "It's a very inexpensive sport," he said. "The figure we use for those who would like a real energetic travel schedule is $30,000 to start a program. And in terms of equipment, many manufacturers are eager to help."

And a more modest travel schedule reduces costs even more.

"We say that it costs typically from $20,000 to $25,000 to start a program," said Diane Olson, director of collegiate bowling at College Bowling USA, an organization that serves as both a resource and a governing body for intercollegiate bowling.

"The biggest cost for bowling is travel," she said, noting that the NCAA requires a minimum of only eight contests in bowling. "And you can pick and choose what events to bowl in. College Bowling USA can even help you find the events closest to you."

Bowling does not require a large equipment investment.

"Bowlers are used to coming with their own equipment -- their own shoes and drilled balls tailor-made for them," Olson said. "As your program expands, you can provide each bowler with shoes and balls custom-fit to them, but you certainly don't have to have that initial expense at once because a serious bowler will already be equipped."

And while some campuses may have a bowling center, that is not necessary either.

"You don't have to have lanes on campus," Olson said, noting that most varsity teams practice at local bowling centers to take advantage of their well-maintained facilities. "Using the local community bowling center works quite well. You can work out a relationship with that local center, which is generally very happy to hang a banner saying 'Home of the Wildcats' or whatever, and work with you on discounts."

Another reason schools are attracted to bowling is its accessibility. Because it's a low-cost sport that has facilities in nearly every community, it attracts a diverse population of student-athletes.

"Bowling has always been open to everyone, and anyone can play at any time," Olson said. "There's always a bowling center in your area."

Of special interest is the fact that bowling also has a relatively high ethnic minority participation rate.

"We've always had a very large minority interest," Olson said of College Bowling USA and its parent groups, the American Bowling Congress and the Women's International Bowling Congress. "Our membership is 20 percent minority."

Of the 24 NCAA institutions reporting that they offer women's bowling as a varsity sport, 20 are historically black colleges and universities. (College Bowling USA has heard from four additional institutions stating that they sponsor the sport at the varsity level, but those institutions have not yet notified the NCAA of their change in sponsorship.)

A quietly popular sport?

One of those with a varsity bowling program is North Carolina A&T State University. Athletics officials there were pleased with its relatively low cost, but what impressed them even more was the sport's tremendous popularity.

While the school had been offering the sport as part of its intramurals program for years, administrators were surprised by the response when they conducted a survey of students to determine what sports interested the women on campus.

"It was very popular (in the survey)," said Dorothy J. Alston, recently retired senior woman administrator and special assistant to the chancellor at North Carolina A&T.

"I think part of the attraction is that bowling is something people have been exposed to. It's a sport where a variety of different persons can participate, and it's not as costly as some of the others."

Alston also noted that bowling's popularity was not confined to students.

"The staff and the faculty also were really interested in the sport from a spectator standpoint," she said. "They wanted to know the team's schedule, and people were really interested in coming to the tournaments. We were able to expand our fan base, and that was not something we had expected.

"But from the students' standpoint, it was a good choice because there was interest. You can offer a lot of sports, but unless there's interest, you're not really increasing participation."

On a national level, there is a great deal of interest in bowling. According to the 1998 American Sports Data Super Study as quoted by College Bowling USA, there are 8.5 million bowlers who participate in the sport more than 25 times a year. Forty-four percent of those participants are women and 27 percent are ethnic minorities. The Women's International Bowling Congress, the governing body for adult women who play recreationally, had more than 1.5 million members in 1998-99.

In terms of youth interest, the Young American Bowling Alliance reported more than 160,000 female youth members in 1998-99, and more than 10,000 high-school girls participate in varsity bowling at the more than 1,000 high schools that offer it as a girls' varsity sport.

Something else many people in intercollegiate athletics don't know is that there is a nationally televised Intercollegiate Bowling Championship, certified and governed by College Bowling USA. The most recent women's championship became the first won by an NCAA varsity program when Nebraska took home the national title.

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference offered a women's bowling championship for the first time this season, and by all indications that championship also was a success.

"It was history in the making," said Brenda H. McCoy, assistant to the commissioner and director of championships for the MEAC. "Last year there was an invitational, as sort of a dry run, but this was the first year we ran a real conference championship. It also was one of the least expensive championships we've had to administer and operate."

Howard University hosted the MEAC conference championship, and North Carolina A&T took the title. Ten of the 11 members of the MEAC offer women's bowling as a varsity sport, and the 11th member of the conference is planning to add it.

"I really didn't realize how popular the sport was," McCoy said, noting that several conference members had added the sport over the last several years. "But this was a chance for the MEAC to provide an additional opportunity for women, and with the growing increase among conference members (sponsoring bowling), it seemed like a good idea. We felt like it was a good investment and an effective use of funds to provide more opportunity."

Perhaps the primary bump in the bowling lane is a difference in the way the NCAA defines amateur and eligibility and how those terms traditionally have been defined in youth bowling. In junior leagues, it is common for young people to bowl for scholarship money, and in adult recreational leagues, it is common for participants to pay an entry fee and have an opportunity to win back prize money, even if they are not that skilled. On yet another level, one that affects few potential college bowlers, is the true professional league, the Professional Women's Bowling Association.

"The sport of bowling allows you to accept prize money and remain an amateur," Olson said. "And with bowling never being an NCAA varsity sport before, it never caused a problem. None of the collegiate tours give out cash."

Straub describes the issue as one of mostly paperwork for the institution. "Every recruit we bring in has to be declared ineligible at first," he said. "But it's not an insurmountable problem."

Because the common practices of accepting prize money or winning a scholarship (even though it is typically put into escrow until the youngster enrolls in college) are both against NCAA rules, institutions must apply to the NCAA to have the student-athlete's eligibility reinstated.

Under the current directive from the Subcommittee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, a student-athlete who accepted prize money as a youth bowler before August 1, 2001, has to be withheld from 10 percent of the institution's regularly scheduled contests (which usually amounts to one competition). The NCAA's student-athlete reinstatement staff staggers the punishment so that an institution just starting a new program still has enough bowlers for each contest.

If a student-athlete won a scholarship but the monies were never distributed to an institution, the student-athlete is reinstated without conditions. If the funds were distributed, the student-athlete has to sit out for 10 percent of the contests.

After August 1, 2001, any student-athlete who accepted prize money or who used scholarship funds earned through youth bowling must repay the funds.

The reason for the August 1, 2001, deadline is to give young bowlers and their families some time to adapt.

"In most other sports people know that accepting prize money and scholarship money makes you ineligible in college," said Jennifer Strawley, NCAA student-athlete reinstatement representative. "But because bowling hasn't been an NCAA varsity sport for very long, people generally don't think about their NCAA eligibility being affected when they accept the earnings. This deadline gives people some notice that if they take prize money or scholarship dollars, they will, at a minimum, have to pay it back to be reinstated."

Jumping from club to varsity

Institutions interested in making the jump from club level to varsity level can turn to College Bowling USA for free information about how to get started. Once they have decided to take the plunge and participate in College Bowling USA events, it costs $75 for registration.

"We want institutions to know that College Bowling USA is there for them," Olson said. "We can provide them with a number of resources, including estimated costs to launch a program, sample budgets, all the rules and regulations for the sport, where to find coaches, what tournaments and what conferences are near them --it's really one-stop shopping."

For more information, see the Web sites at www.collegebowling.com and www.bowl.com or call Olson at 414/
423-3383.

NCAA member institutions also should check the NCAA Manual for regulations regarding sponsoring a new varsity sport. The relevant bylaws are 3.2.4.4.1 and 3.2.4.4.2.

In general, all NCAA rules and regulations must be followed in virtually every aspect of the program. Athletics administrators should note that the institution must follow recruiting, eligibility and awards and benefits legislation. The institution also should place the program under the control of the athletics department (rather than recreation or physical education, for example).

Nebraska's Straub wants other administrators to know that the effort is worth it. "With all its advantages, from gender equity to low cost and even perhaps increased minority participation, women's bowling is an excellent addition to any athletics program," he said.

NCAA member institutions that sponsored women's bowling on the varsity level in 1999-00

Division I

Alabama A&M University

Alabama State University

Alcorn State University

University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Coppin State College

Florida A&M University

Grambling State University

Hampton University

Howard University

Jackson State University

University of Maryland,

Eastern Shore

Mississippi Valley State University

Morgan State University

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Norfolk State University

North Carolina

A&T State University

Prairie View A&M University

Sacred Heart University

South Carolina State

University

Southern University

Texas Southern University

Division II

Cheyney University

Roberts Wesleyan College

(provisional member)

Division III

Hood College

Legislation set for bowling to emerge as championship sport

As an emerging sport, women's bowling has been recognized by the NCAA as a sport intended to provide additional athletics opportunities to female student-athletes.

NCAA institutions are allowed to use emerging sports to help meet minimum sports sponsorship and financial aid requirements. Other institutions look to emerging sports as an opportunity to have another women's varsity team to aid in their gender-equity goals.

But what does it mean for a sport to make the jump from an emerging sport to a championship sport?

Typically, it means more institutions will sponsor the sport (seeing it as another opportunity to win an NCAA championship). Also, the sport will garner more attention as more schools add it and more women are able to pursue it.

But adding women's bowling also would have another benefit: creation of more postseason opportunity for female student-athletes.

As part of an ongoing charge from the NCAA Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Gender and Ethnicity, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) reviews equity and diversity issues within the Association. The CWA has reported that women have 41.18 percent of postseason opportunities (including NCAA championships and bowl games). It sees bowling as a championship that would help address that inequity.

The committee also has noted the number of historically black colleges that offer women's bowling as a varsity sport (20 of 24 for 1999-00). The committee therefore sees bowling as a championship that would provide more opportunities for minority women, a group for which sports participation has been limited largely to basketball and track.

Because of the opportunities offered by women's bowling, the CWA forwarded recommendations to each NCAA division asking that women's bowling be exempt from the 40-institution minimum sponsorship requirement. It also asked that women's bowling be made an NCAA championship sport in 2003-04.

At its February meeting, the Division I Championship/Competition Cabinet agreed to support legislation to exempt from the minimum sponsorship requirements any emerging sports that would create more competitive opportunities for minority female student-athletes.

Last summer, the Division II Management Council declined to recommend to the Division II Presidents Council that the sports spon-
sorship minimum be lowered, and the Presidents Council endorsed that action. In light of the Division I cabinet's recent action, the Division II Management Council will revisit the issue in April. The Division III Management Council deferred action until its April meeting while also supporting the concept of a women's bowling championship. The Division III Presidents Council recommended to the Executive Committee that it support, in principle, the exception.

The Executive Committee has not reviewed the proposal, which for now means that legislation for the championship will not proceed until 40 NCAA institutions sponsor women's bowling at the varsity level.

Separate legislation was forwarded to each division asking that the rules be changed to permit an emerging sport to be eligible for championship status after only one year with the minimum 40 sponsoring institutions, rather than the two years previously required. That legislation passed in all divisions. Several of the governance bodies noted that legislation also would help bowling reach championship status sooner.

--Kay Hawes