When bowling with a group, do you regard scorekeeping as a task? How many times, when bowling in league play, have you run into people who won’t keep score-mainly because they don’t really know how? It is not difficult to score bowling.

If someone has never really learned to keep score, there’s no excuse for it; it’s sheer laziness. Scoring in bowling is so simple.

To start with, there are 10 pins in a full rack. If you knock down seven of them with two deliveries, you count seven. If you knock down nine of them, you count nine. If you knock down all of the pins with two shots you have made a spare. If you fell all the timber with your first shot you get a strike.

A split is a combination of two or more pins in which there is a pin down between two standing pins, provided the head pin or No. 1 has been knocked down. However, the following are exceptions and are still called splits: Nos. 4-5, 5-6, 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10. A miss or error occurs when you fail to knock down all of the pins in two shots and there was no split staring you in the face.

A circle is the marking for a split; a horizontal line indicates the dread miss or error; a foreward slash is the score sheet indication for a spare; and a cross is for the most coveted of all-a strike.

The first thing you should remember is that a spare is worth 10 plus the number of pins you knock down on the first ball in the succeeding frame. A strike also is worth 10, BUT there is a premium. The strike is worth 10 plus the number of pins you knock down on the next two balls you throw, whether it takes you one or two more frames in which to throw them.

As an example, say you get a spare in the first frame, then you get an eight count on your first ball in the second frame. You would then give yourself a count of 18 in the first frame, say that you missed the two standing pins for an error. Your score would then be 26.

Now to show you how to score bowling when you are striking, let’s say that you started with a spare and then got three successive strikes. The spare would be worth 10 plus the number of pins you knocked down on the first ball in the next frame. In getting a strike, you counted 10, so you would score 10 plus 10 in the first frame-20. You have a strike in the second frame which is worth 10 plus the number of pins knocked down on the next two balls.

Your first strike would be worth 10, your second 10 more and your third strike an additional 10, or 30 pins in all. Adding this 30 to your first frame 20, you would have a count of 50 in the second frame. You cannot mark anything yet in the third frame, because you haven’t thrown the second ball – your third frame strike needs to complete the count. Say you leave a split in the fifth frame such as Nos. 3-10. The eight pins you got on that first ball in the fifth frame added to the 10 for your third frame strike and the 10 for the fourth frame strike would give you a sub-total of 28 for the third frame or a total of 78.

Say you fail to convert the split, leaving up one of the two pins. Your fourth frame strike is worth 10 plus the number of pins you get on the next two balls which would be nine. So you have a sub-total of 19 for the fourth frame or an overall total in that frame of 97. You made only nine pins in the fifth frame so, for that frame, you add the nine pins to your 97 and you have a fifth frame total of 106.

As long as you’ve completed five frames, keep on going. You can score bowling!

When people talk about sports, it’s usually about baseball, basketball, football or hockey. Soccer is supposedly the worlds game, but soccer is an unpopular sport in the US. Golf, as a sport, has risen in popularity, but the expense associated with golf makes it a sport mostly played by people with high incomes. A sport, which is popular, but rarely gets talked about, is bowling. Bowling is played all over the world, but it’s probably one of the most unappreciated sports in history.

The true origin of bowling is in dispute, but there is evidence that a form of bowling existed as far back as 3200 BC. The first mention of a bowling type game occurred in England, in the 1300s. King Edward III supposedly outlawed the game because it was distracting his troops from archery practice. Many forms of bowling have originated from Europe and these include, Italian bocce, French pentanque and Britain’s lawn bowling. Some give credit to the Dutch, for bringing bowling to America, but in actuality, the English, German and Dutch settlers, all brought their own version of the game over.

Bowling landed in America in the 17th century and spent most of its life as an outdoor game that used nine pins. Indoor bowling became popular in the 19th century, after indoor lanes opened in New York, in 1840. Bowling became so popular, that people started gambling on it. Connecticut and New York both banned nine pin bowling, because of the gambling. In 1842, a tenth pin was added to bowling. Some thought the tenth pin was just a ploy to get around the ban.

The American Bowling Congress was formed in 1895. This organization was responsible for establishing rules, creating standards for equipment and promoting bowling as a competition. The first ABC tournament was held in 1901, this tournament allowed amateur and professional bowlers to compete against each other. In 1916, the Women’s International Bowling Congress was formed, this organization created the rules and regulations for women bowlers. The Professional Bowlers Association was formed in 1958. The PBA created a tournament tour. In 1961, ABC was the first network to televise PBA competition.

Bowling is not immune to technology. There have been many changes affecting the game. The most important being to the bowling balls. Stone and wood was used in the earliest days of bowling. Rubber balls came in the 1960s, polyester in the 1970s and urethane in the 80s. The 90s saw the invention of the reactive resin balls and the latter part of the 90s introduced the proactive resin balls. Bowling lanes have also been upgraded. In the past, most lanes were made of wood, but now a lot of lanes have synthetic surfaces.

In spite of the lack of publicity, bowling is still one of the most enjoyable games around. And unlike a lot of sports, bowling is a game the whole family can participate in. The simplicity of the game makes it easy for anyone to learn. Considering how many people bowl in the world, it’s amazing that people forget about bowling when they’re discussing the most popular sports.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Bowling

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Michael Russell – EzineArticles Expert Author

If you are a sporty person who fancies bowling and is desperate and determined enough to earn a college degree, you are in luck. There are actually a lot of bowling scholarships out there that you can take advantage of. As a high school bowler you should know that the standard of play at college level is very high. Remember that only the absolute top players will be approached with offers of bowling scholarships.

More than $6 million in scholarship money is offered each season by bowling associations and councils, certified tournaments and proprietors throughout the United States.

The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) for one, has quite a few programs. Here are a couple samples of the scholarships that the USBC offers:

The Gift for Life Scholarship

Every year, 12 scholarships of this kind are awarded to high school students who are financially incapable of attending college and getting a degree would be impossible. This scholarship (worth $1,000) will be given to each of the selected group of 6 boys and 6 girls. They should be a Grade 9-12 high school student, with a 2.0 GPA or higher, a current member of the USBC and should have not participated in any professional bowling tournament (not including professional amateur tournaments).

In commemoration of the heroes of the September 11 tragedy, two of The Gift of Life Scholarships shall be given to a child of a fireman, a police officer, or rescue personnel.

Who’s Who Sports Edition All-Academic Bowling Team

For this category, scholarship worth $1,000 shall be given away to about 20 high school students who are currently in their junior or senior year, have a 3.0 GPA or higher, are a current member of the USBC and have not participated in any professional bowling tournament (not including professional amateur tournaments). The 20 fortunate students who would qualify shall comprise a team. Aside from the scholarship, they shall also be given a special team award.

The criterion for selecting the All-Academic Bowling Team is based on the grades of each applicant, their commitment to their studies and the community, reference letters and an essay.

The United States Bowling Congress has a wealth of information at www.bowl.com/scholarships. I would encourage you to check the site to get more information on the programs available and participating colleges and universities. You may even download applications for a number of financial awards that are given out annually.

Although mostly smaller colleges offer bowling scholarships, there are some larger ones that also participate. Some of the colleges include:

Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, AL.

Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, IN.

Delaware State University in Dover, DE.

Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL.

University of Houston in Houston, TX.

Jackson State University in Jackson, MS.

Ohio State University in Westerville, OH

While many readers are currently looking for financial aid for college in the near future, it is wise to start planning ahead for the long term. If you are currently a few years away from attending a university and enjoy bowling, you may just be able to finance all or part of your education with something you enjoy competing in now. Bowling scholarships are available, but they only go to the best of the best. I hope that is you!

Historians and archeologists have proof that bowling was being played more than 5000 years ago. Proofs come with the growing discoveries in Egypt in a little girl’s room. Among the objects found there were a bowling ball and a few bowling pins. So it is a pretty safe bet to say that Egyptians invented bowling.

Of course, there is more than one game of bowling. Of course the shape of the pins and the color of the balls changed too same for the rules. If you are familiar with German history you might have heard a lot of things but chances are that you didn’t know that they used to play bowling for rituals but that was 1800 years ago…

Did you know that the Germans were not known as bowlers as in bowling but they were known as ‘keglers’. They were called this because the materials used were rocks and clubs that were called ‘kegles’.

To many people, bowling is not a sport. Well in England it took a long time in order for the country as a sport. In fact, it was only in the 12th century that they finally titled bowling as a sport.

This new sport became so popular that the king from that time period, Henry the third, almost ruled it illegal for his soldiers. They were absolutely forbidden to to play bowling. There sole purpose was to attend to their training. A little sad for them because ever since it was a sport people were practicing it like crazy.

The United States of America was pretty young as a country in the 1600’s. They were fortunate enough to being introduced to bowling. Who do they have to thank for this unique chance at a new game? The Dutch are the responsible one. So it is no wonder that they rightfully called the game ‘Dutch pins’. Nine pins in a triangular shape were how the game was set up.

But all good things must come to an end as there are always people who are ready to cause trouble in the name of good over evil. Gamblers were now having there say in it so this is why the state of Connecticut decided that 9 pin bowling was now going to be illegal in their state.

However, a loop hole was found and some genius decided that he would add a pin to the 9 Dutch pins hence 10 pins bowling was now born. So, with their sport being reborn again, there was even more addicts this time. Do you think the wise guy that thought of this idea was happy about that? Sure was because every one else played the game no matter where they were.

If you live in the states you might be interested to know that an estimated 50 million bowlers are hitting pins in bowling alleys all across the country.