Scholarships
Did you know…
Youth bowlers of any age can earn scholarship money for college through competition in certified leagues, tournaments and scholarship programs across the United States. There is no other youth sport that provides an opportunity to build up a personal scholarship fund simply by competing in the sport.
SMART, which stands for Scholarship Management and Accounting Reports for Tenpins, is a program that began operation in 1994 as a service offering the bowling community a centralized location to manage bowling scholarship funds, as well as providing USBC members with a resource for inquiries about bowling scholarships.
Many bowling performance-based scholarship opportunities exist for First Coast USBC youth bowlers through leagues and tournaments (at the local, state and national levels). Academic and service-based scholarship opportunities are also available to youth bowlers at the state & national level.
Below you will find a summary of scholarship opportunities and helpful links:
SMART Program Details on bowl.com
Local Scholarship Opportunities:
Leagues – contact the Youth Director at your preferred bowling center.
Annual City Championship, held in January and open to all youth bowlers in a First Coast USBC youth league.
Annual Scholarship Tournament, held in November and open to all youth bowlers, regardless of home center.
Jacksonville Junior Bowling Tour (JJBT), a monthly tournament for bowlers with a 110+ average.
North Florida Sport Shot Series (NFSSS), a monthly scratch sport-pattern tournament that is open to all youth bowlers.
State Scholarship Opportunities:
Landen Tournament, a state-wide scholarship tournament held in January and open to all youth bowlers (scratch and handicap formats)
Pepsi Championship, a state-wide scratch tournament held in April for bowlers that qualified through their local leagues during specific weeks of the season.
FL Handicap Tournament, a state-wide handicap tournament held in April for bowlers that qualified through their local leagues during specific weeks of the season.
State Scholarship Tournament, held in June and open to all youth bowlers across the State.
Florida USBC Youth Scholarship Awards — eight to fifteen $1000 scholarships are awarded annually to graduating seniors in high school / college students under age 20.
J. J. Garrett Memorial Scholarship — annual $1000 scholarship awarded to any youth bowler in Florida, solely based on their volunteer efforts to promote and strengthen the sport of youth bowling.
National Scholarship Opportunities:
Youth Open Championships – Similar to the City Tournament and State Scholarship Tournament, bowlers can compete in team, doubles, singles and all-events within their age group at the national level. This tournament takes place in July, around the Junior Gold Championships, and is open to all youth bowlers. Several First Coast USBC bowlers have placed very high in this handicap event over the past couple seasons!
Junior Gold Championships – This national singles tournament is played on several challenging “sport shot” lane conditions over several days. Entry to this tournament is only gained through qualifier events, which are restricted to Junior Gold members.
USBC Annual Scholarship awards – The USBC awards dozens of scholarships each year (amounts ranging from $1000 to $6000), based on one or more of the following factors: volunteer service, financial need, academic performance or bowling performance. Each award has different criteria for eligibility or purpose, so please review each individually.
Bowl4Life Foundation – This organization awards scholarships monthly to youth bowlers, simply by nominating a bowler and explaining what they do to help grow the sport of bowling.