After selling out in its inaugural year, the Bowling Combine for College Prospects will return in August with expanded capacity to help bring youth bowlers together with college coaches.
The Bowling Combine, which will be held Aug. 7-11 at the International Training and Research Center, will allow young bowlers to be evaluated using today’s most objective standards and give college coaches a chance to analyze the potential fit of the student-athletes for their programs.
“We had such an overwhelming response to this event last year that we are opening it up to even more bowlers who want to participate,” said Bryan O’Keefe, assistant coach for Team USA and the program director for The Bowling Combine. “Last year, we had 72 bowlers take advantage of the opportunity to have their skills evaluated, and this year, we have increased the number of spots to meet demand.”
The Bowling Combine is open to bowlers who have collegiate eligibility remaining and have completed at least their sophomore year in high school. Space is limited and those interested are encouraged to sign up early.
At last year’s combine, nearly 20 college coaches attended and several bowlers signed with college programs as a result of their participation in the event.
Mike LoPresti, who has led Fairleigh Dickinson University to two national titles, attended last year’s Bowling Combine and said the ability to evaluate so many bowlers in a short period of time made it worth the trip.
“Any opportunity we have to rank and watch prospects is a place we need to go,” LoPresti said. “This brings a lot of interested candidates to one place. This is a great opportunity for any coach, to have somebody evaluate players for them. Then all we have to do is put the pieces together.”
Athletes will be tested on specific skills and provided an overall score using the Performance Evaluation Test (P.E.T. score). These scores are an objective measurement of the bowler’s abilities and can be used to compare the bowlers against each other.
The Team USA coaching staff will direct and evaluate the bowlers during the Combine at the ITRC, the official training center of Team USA. The ITRC has state-of-the-art technology including Bowler Vision Eye Tracking, DigiTrax(tm) ball motion technology, video analysis and more.
Some of the bowler’s skills that will be evaluated include Shot Repeatability Analysis, Release Ratio, Spare Proficiency, Breakpoint Management, Vertical Leap, and Balance Test. The tests at the Combine are used to evaluate a bowler’s skills and abilities; this is not a coaching clinic.
Bowlers will receive a Recruiting Kit at the conclusion of the Combine. The kit will have video shots and bowler variables measured, and a detailed report of personal data collected during the Combine including their overall P.E.T. score. Coaches will receive an evaluation of each bowler and will have the opportunity for one-on-one contact with prospective student-athletes.
when will there be another opportunity for this program. I missed this for my daughter.
Look for the 2013 Bowling Combine tentatively scheduled for next July.
Any idea on when the 2013 schedule will be released?
The dates should be released in the next few weeks. Currently looking at mid August.
when will registration be for it.
Registration will be announced on both Bowl.com and BowlingITRC.com in the spring. We will announce months in advance of the registration deadline.
Do we know when it will be yet? My family is trying to get a vacation for next year and we need to know so we plan around it
Currently we are looking at early in August.
Is there any way you could consider having the Combine in July? Many southern school start in early August.
My daughter has submitted her application. It says the deadline is May 12th. Is there any way to find out if she will be accepted sooner? Right now, flights from our area to the combine are reasonable. Waiting until May 12th or later they may not be. We also have a few other college road trips planned so if we could purchase our flights now it would help. We might not be able to afford them later. Please take this under consideration. Not everyone applying lives within driving distance. Thank you for your consideration.
We have received your daughter’s application, and thank you. However we cannot extend any selections prior to the application deadline. After the deadline the selection committee will meet, review all the submitted applications and then extend invites to the players selected. This will give everyone 11+ weeks lead time prior to the event. In the past over half of the participants flew and the ones that drove averaged over 8 hours travel time. I am sorry for your inconvenience and do understand your points; however we cannot grant exceptions to the selection process.