04/02/08
Column
2008 European Youth Championships - When everything comes together
By Ted Thompson
The 2008 ETBF European Youth Championships at famed Tali Bowl in Helsinki Finland showed what can happen in the modern bowling environment when all parts of the scoring environment are predictable and at a high level. During the Championships, 12 of 15 girls scoring records were broken and 11 of 15 boys scoring records were broken. There were also five 300 games during the Championships. However, the closer you look and dissect the possible reasons why those records were broken and scores were achieved, the less anyone should be surprised.
01/21/08
Finland
Nobody is bigger than the Game
Interview with Ballmaster Open champion Jouni Helminen, who recently resigned as Finnish Bowling Federation president
When former European champion and PBA touring pro
Jouni Helminen was elected President of the Finnish Bowling Federation in December 2006, the then 36-year-old thought he would serve for a two-year term until December 31, 2008. Surprisingly, just one year after his election Helminen has announced that he has resigned from the post "due to personal attacks" by Heiki Sarso, the former WTBA president and Helminen's predecessor as FBF president. Bowlingdigital's editor Herbert Bickel talked with Jouni Helminen short after his victory in the 2008 Brunswick Ballmaster Open,
03/01/07
Column
The "Long and the Short of It" is now reality…is it also the future? By Ted Thompson
Edited and updated with two video clips from Tilburg
An ultramodern proprietor, Ronald Dol of Bowling Dolfijn, along with avant-garde event organizer Luc Jensen of The Netherlands, and the forward thinking European Bowling Tour (EBT) have just completed a major bowling tour event which employed lane conditions like never before, at least on purpose.
10/03/06
Column
Long & Short - Why Not Dual Youth Yet? By Eric Hayton
"For many reasons, not the least is the long-term credibility of tenpin bowling, the WTBA and the three member zones have agreed that dual lane conditions are the way forward for major championships", writes Eric Hayton (pictured), editor of the British Go Tenpin Magazine. "These conditions are designed to provide a better evaluation of a bowler's ability, and the theory has been put into practice for the last two years."
04/20/06
Column
Childhood bowling buddies Missy Bellinder and Scott Norton find that bowling is alive and well in Europe
She becomes first female to bowl 300 tournament game in Spain
Read Missy's own story of their bowling experiences and tourist adventures abroad. Former Team USA members
Missy Bellinder and
Scott Norton are very different physically: Scott is tall and bowls left handed. Missy is very petite and bowls right handed. But Missy and Scott have three big things in common mentally - they both love bowling, they are good pals and they both have one famous bowling parent who serves as their coach. Virginia Norton is a WIBC and PWBA Hall of Famer and Frank Bellinder finished fifth in 1996 ABC Seniors Masters tournament.
12/02/05
Column
Do women need handicap to compete against the men?
By John Forst
As earlier reported the ETBF has adopted a standardized 8-pin handicap for women on the 2006 European Bowling Tour.
John Forst, a former PBA champion and one of Kegel's 'flying lanemen' has stated in a previous column "After watching several tournaments and putting out various conditions, eight pins just seems to be the right number." Bowlingdigital asked John to reflect on the topic again and consider the Columbia 300 Vienna Open and the Oltremare Championships.
11/06/05
Column
Everything in Vienna was special
By John Jowdy
As earlier reported, tournament director Wolfgang Lohschmid, had invited renowned bowling coach John Jowdy (pictured) and his wife Brenda to the 2005 Columbia 300 Vienna Open. It was the first visit to a European Bowling Tour event for the "Coach of the Pros", who held several bowling clinics during and after the Open. Obviously he loved it. "When I try to put all of this together in my mind, all I can say is everything in Vienna was special." John wrote in his latest column.
09/08/05
Column
John Jowdy to visit Columbia 300 Vienna Open
By John Jowdy
"As Americans, sometimes we get big heads when it comes to our domination of tenpin bowling. We incorrectly assume the tenpin bowling world starts and ends with our league programs and the PBA", writes John Jowdy, also known as Coach of the Pros. "Many Americans would be surprised to learn that bowling is flourishing all around the world. So it is with a great deal of anticipation that I have scheduled a trip to the Columbia Vienna Open in Europe Oct. 19-23."
07/01/05
Column
How many pins per game should women receive to compete with the men?
By John Forst
Former PBA champion John Forst is the No. 1 of many outstanding lanemen working for Kegel, the world's leading lane maintenance company. Since starting travelling in 1999, John has visited most of the major amateur tournaments in America, Asia and Europe. John reflects on a question that comes up over and over again: "Why do women need to get so many pins during the open tournaments?"
