The General Assembly of the South American Confederation has elected the new Presidium for the period 2009-2010 in its recent meeting held in conjunction with the South American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Veronica Rajii from Chile, presidium member of the Chilean Olympic Committee, was elected President of the South American Confederation. Gerardy Troconis, Venezuela, and Cesar Maciel, Brazil, will serve as 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents. Nestor Ibanez, Argentina, and Jose Carmigianni, Ecuador, were elected to the presidium as Directors.
Considered a legend in bowling around the world, PBA Hall of Fame coach John Jowdy has been coaching since 1950 and has coached and mentored more than 100 professional bowlers, including Parker Bohn III, a 30-time Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) champion and Mike Aulby, a two-time PBA Player of the Year. Highly regarded for teaching the execution and skill of the game, Jowdy has been called the master of teaching the free armswing. In Bowling Execution, Second Edition (Human Kinetics 2009), John Jowdy shares his expertise on every aspect of the sport, from developing skills to refining techniques for improved consistency.
Not so long ago you could go down to South Maple Avenue in Falls Church and find a duckpin bowling center where you would hear the sounds of scattering pins and whoops of excitement when someone rolled a strike or a spare. You would see small balls with no finger holes lined up on the return racks looking more like cannon balls than bowling balls. The chubby looking pins were squat and toppled in a funny way. But no longer can you go there because the center was torn down a few years ago. In fact all duckpin bowling has vanished from Northern Virginia. What exactly is duckpin bowling? 
Recently at the South American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, right on the countries parade at the Opening Ceremonies, my eyes caught something unusual on the Bolivian team members' shirts. The official team patch (right) showed a bowler with a two handed approach . My curiosity was "in crescendo" when I saw the two male juniors and then all four male adult members of the team (pictured left with coach Bene Villa) bowling with a two-handed approach. 
After his father's untimely death, Mike Walsh was haunted by a map of the United States that hung in his dad's office. Affixed to a handful of states were small circular stickers. Those stickers were the start of something Walsh would ultimately finish. An avid handball player, Leo Walsh had dreamed of playing a game in all 50 states (thus the stickers), but it was never his main goal in life. Running a business and bringing up five kids took precedence over his obscure indoor sport.
Patricia De Faria and Richard Leon (pictured), both of Venezuela, finished the South American Adult Championships at Bowling & Co. Norcenter Life Style Mall in Buenos Aires, Argentina with victory in the women's and men's Masters competition en route to become the most winningest players in the championships. In the women's championship match, De Faria defeated Edissa Andrade, Panama, over three games total pinfall, 638-571. On the men's side, Leon fired games of 210, 276 and 244 to beat Juliano Oliveira, Brazil, 730-688. De Faria went home with 4 gold and 2 silver medals, while Leon pocketed 3 gold and 1 silver medal. 
Marcos Brosens (pictured with with his wife and his son) from Argentina (3 gold, 2 bronze), Maria Cecilia Alvarez, Brazil and Venezuela's Milda Dos Ramos (3 gold and 3 silver each) were the most successful players in the 5th South American Senior Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 14 men and 10 women from seven countries, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and the host country, Argentina, participated in the event. Brazil led the medal chart with 4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. Venezuela was second with 3-4-4 with Argentina in third at 3-0-3 and Panama fourth at 1-2-2. Chile and Ecuador won 1 bronze medal each.
Colombian standouts Clara Guerrero (r.) and Andres Gomez (l.) ended the bowling competition in the XVIII Juegos Nacionales (18th National Games) in Colombia with victory in the women's and men's Masters finals. In the women's finals in best-of-three games format, Guerrero topped Maria Rodriguez from Tolima, two-games-to-none. The men's title match between Gomez and Jaime Monroy, both from Bogota. went the distance. Gomez put the game away well before the final frame and struck out for a 300-224 victory.
The International Bowling Museum has sold its St. Louis property for $2 million to a company affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Partnership. The land parcel likely will become a part of the new Ballpark Village development. "The timing for selling the property was perfect," said Pat Ciniello, Museum President. "We are joining the many different bowling organizations in a move to Arlington, Texas, which is a huge step toward industry consolidation and partnership. The proceeds of the sale allow us to move forward with the relocation as well as the designing and developing of our new facility."
PBA Senior champion Brian Brazeau (pictured), United States, defeated fellow countryman George Palumbo, two-games-to-none, to win the 7th Punta Cana Open in the Dominican Republic, and the $15,000 top prize. Brazeau , who led the qualifying, won the first game, of the title match in in best-of-three games format, 182-161, and shut out Palumbo with a 180-169 win in game two. Palumbo received $7,500 for second place, while Karen Marcano, Venezuela, and Cassidy Schaub, United States, earned $4,500 for third and fourth place, respectively.
Wu Siu Hong (left) of Hong Kong, China and Sharon Koh (right), Malaysia, won the men's and women's Masters titles in the 10th Chinese Taipei International Open at Happy Bowling Center in Taiwan, Chinese Taipei, from top seed. Fresh off his victory in the Guam Open, Siu Hong flew past challenger Hsiao Chun-Ho, Chinese Taipei, 246-192, to claim the men's title. Defending women's champion Koh was forced into the decider as 5th seeded Yap Seok Kim, Philippines, beat her in the first match, 212-201. Koh rebounded with a 236-182 win for her second consecutive victory in the Chinese Taipei Open. 
It took 62-year old Don Doane decades to bowl his first ever perfect game. 
Mexican Ernesto Avila Castañeda, a USBC Silver level certified coach, has held three Level One and two Bronze Level seminars in Mexico in a span of five months. "I have held the clinics in the South East part of Mexico and it was quite an effort because of the reduced number of bowling centers in this part of the country. We have just four bowling centers in four States," Avila explained. The picture shows Ernesto, left, with the attendees of the Cancun clinic in October.
Costa Rican bowling legend Marco Odio died Friday, October 17, two days before his 46th birthday. Marco was the greatest bowler of all time in his country and one of the best players in the American Zone. He participated in two World Championships and 12 Bowling World Cups as well as in the Pan Am Games and the World Ranking Masters. He won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals, both junior and adult - in American Zone, Central American and South America championships. In 2007 he became the Vice President of the Costa Rican Bowling Assocoiation. 
In an item that appeared in Monday's new, revamped Chicago Tribune on page 3 of the front section author Rob Manker listed 5 hot topics from Sunday, as measured by Google Trends, which tracks fast-rising Internet search terms. Sandwiched between actress Heather Locklear, ESPN's Kenny Mayne, the National Football League and a Tom Hanks movie was … Colombian standout and 2005 World Ranking Masters champion Clara Juliana Guerrero (left). It is more than unusual that a bowler makes it among the hottest topics on Google and it definitely makes the Colombian one of the "hottest woman in bowling".
The walls that line the pair of lanes in this tiny bowling alley seem close enough to make a bowler feel claustrophobic. But at a 100th anniversary party Saturday, the walls of Holler House felt like the wide-open arms of family. The wood in the lanes is original, and the narrow quarters cause thunderous echoes as bowling balls rumble down the lanes. Pin boys reload the manual pin mechanism by hand, and numerous photos and momentos on the walls document the history and good times at the nation's oldest bowling alley. In a city that became synonymous with beer and bowling, Holler House tavern and bowling alley has been an enduring landmark. 
Diandra Asbaty must be a super soldier like the alien hybrids in "The X-Files" because it seems like she can't be human. At least based on her energy level and amount of things she fits into the average day, week, month, lifetime. As for her heart, it's more human than most people on this Earth ... and then some. Her "Bowl for Mason" event on Sept. 6 to raise money for her best friend Megan Gilbert's baby boy Mason (who has Cornelia De Lange Syndrome) was a rousing success with more than 150 people showing up. In the end, more than $21,000, thanks in large part to 71 items in the auction.
"Twenty-somethings" were in Mark French's quest for the title at the fifth New Mexico Open, presented by the New Mexico Sports Authority, at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho, Sunday. Firstly, the 22-year-old, found himself languishing in 28th place, just 24 pins ahead of the cut from 120 to the top 36. French (left) rolled a 300 game in the semifinal round and averaged over 226 in match play to take the No. 1 seed for stepladder finals. In the title match, he defeated former Team USA member, Mark Van Meter, 257-198, to claim the title and the $6,000 top prize. 
Back to back gold medals for Daniel Dhers, son of AMF's Latin-American distributor Marcelo Dhers. The winner of the 2007 X-Games Thirteen in BMX (Bicycle Motorcross) Freestyle Park, this time conquered an advanced and new discipline called BMX Freestyle Superpark designed to induce more speed, momentum and fluidity. The 2008 X-Games Fourteen were conducted in Los Angeles, California July 31 to August 3 at the Home Depot Center.