Youngsters strike it lucky!

From the archive, first published Tuesday 5th Dec 2006.

A tenpin bowling club formed 15 months ago is thriving.

The club for under-18s at the Hollywood Bowl in Vicar Lane, Bradford, started with around eight members and now has 29.

"And hopefully we will soon have more," said committee member Steven Garbutt.

The club meets on Saturdays between 10am and 1pm and, as Mr Garbutt points out, there is a competitive edge to the play.

He said: "They want to sharpen up for tournaments all over the United Kingdom.

"Our youngest member is six and the oldest is 18 but although we can add on the numbers front and have a sound committee structure, what we are lacking is any form of sponsorship.

"The club came into being in 2005 when one of the instructors left another club in Leeds, with his daughter, and came to Bradford. They decided to set up a club for juniors at the Holly-wood Bowl. We only began with eight or ten children. We might have one or two more boys than girls but it is pretty much 50-50 between the sexes."

When it comes to competition, however, it is age groups that come into play.

"You won't find an 18-year-old taking part in an event with a 14-year-old, for example," said Mr Garbutt.

"But if they show ability we will put them in for a tournament if they want to enter one."

Mr Garbutt said the club had a chairman, a secretary and a treasurer and was run on a sound financial footing. And soon all committee members will go on an instructors' course so that they can all coach.

Mr Garbutt said: "We recently went to a tournament in Sunderland and took the whole club up there.

"Whereas normally we would travel by cars to places like Keighley, Blackpool, Preston, Bolton, Blackburn, Barnsley or Sheffield, this time, with it being a bit further away, we took a coach and did raffles and things like that and had a great day out.

"There is a lot of talent within our junior ranks and several of them were selected to attend a Yorkshire trial in Barnsley.

"We held the second heat at our own Hollywood Bowl, and it would be nice one day to host our own tournament."

Two of the club's leading lights are left-hander Dale Dixon and Sophie Zaccerdelli, both of whom are under-12s.

Mr Garbutt said basic things often confused newcomers to tenpin bowling.

He said: "There are two types of tenpin ball - one that goes straight and the other that hooks or is a reactive ball.

"Another thing is what weight of ball to use. It can be a problem if you are using one that is too heavy and it can also cause problems if the ball is too light.

"When children start tenpin bowling they will probably use a 6lb or 8lb ball but they do go up to 14lb, 15lb or 16lb. What you tend to find is that when bowlers have been coming for a bit the ones that were using a 6lb ball will use an 8lb ball and the one that was using a 10lb ball will use a 12lb ball.

"And when bowlers use their own ball they will have holes especially drilled where their fingers go."

Mr Garbutt said that although getting children to join was not proving that difficult, the task of attracting sponsors was far more challenging.

He said: "We have written several letters to companies asking for sponsorship but have got nothing back.

"We haven't even got one sponsor, and it would really help if we could get some."

Mr Garbutt can be contacted on 07977 046472. He said that if any child wanted to come along to a Saturday session they would be made welcome.

He added: "We don't charge an annual subscription or anything like that.

"We just charge £4.50 for a three-hour session, which means that each child should get three games in at what is a subsidised cost."