North Florida Sport Shot Series

Last updated 9/2/2025:  

About the NFSSS:

The North Florida Sport Shot Series (NFSSS) is a monthly scratch tournament played on sport shot oil patterns, yet we have added a few fun twists to enhance the tournament experience. In addition to the 5-game tournament block, participants also compete in multiple side scholarship contests — “Most Marks” (U12 Mixed division only), “Most Spares” (Open & Ladies divisions), “Most Strikes” (Open & Ladies divisions), and “Knockout Challenge” (all males and all females).

Our Scholarship Finale in May is open to all youth bowlers, while select qualifiers (those that entered in more than half (4+) of the regular monthly events that occurred during the season) will be awarded SMART funds from the year-end scholarship pool.

Our valued sponsors help us build up the scholarship pools awarded to our participating youth bowlers. Several bowling centers have donated into our scholarship pools, and the Bowl4Life Foundation is a returning sponsor too.  We are always seeking more sponsors to benefit the youth participants!

Be sure to follow us on our Facebook Page for the latest news!

2025-2026 NFSSS Tournament Schedule:

Check-in is from 9:00am-9:45am; Tournament starts promptly at 10:00am.

  • SUN SEP 14 at Yulee Bowling & Amusements
  • SUN OCT 19 at Bowlero Mandarin
  • SUN NOV 23 at Bowlero Southside
  • SUN JAN 11 at Jax Lanes Bowling Center
  • SUN FEB 15 at Yulee Bowling & Amusements
  • SUN MAR 29 at Bowlero Mandarin
  • SUN MAY 3 at Batt Family Fun Center (Scholarship Finale)

RULES: NFSSS Tournament Rules 2025-2026

Overall Tournament Format: 5 games, moving lane pairs each game

Patterns: A different, certified Sport-Compliant pattern (ratio between 1:1 and 3.99:1) will be used at each tournament. To mimic Junior Gold, the pattern is kept a secret, even from the Tournament Directors, until after game 5 when it is revealed and announced to all.

Tournament Divisions: Three divisions — U12 Mixed, Open, and Ladies.

Entry Fees (payable at check-in):

  • Entry Fee is $50/tournament ($20 lineage/expenses, $10 to each event’s divisional scholarship fund, $10 towards the side scholarship contests, and $10 to the year-end scholarship fund)
  • Optional Junior Gold Qualifier entry is $40 for U12, $40 for U14, and $50 for U16/U18 (Note: This is separate from the annual Junior Gold USBC national membership fee of $25 for U12 or $40 for U14/U16/U18). The optional Gold Qualifier entry fees pay for entries to the National Tournament based on total entrants at a 1 in 4 ratio for U12, 1:5 ratio for all other divisions.

“Most Marks” Scholarship Contest (U12 Mixed division only) — Included with your tournament entry fee.

The “Most Marks Contest” is a scholarship event built into the NFSSS monthly tournament.  All bowlers will be given a scoring sheet to record their scores “frame-by-frame” and tally their total strikes and spares over the 5 qualifying games.  The bowler(s) with the highest number of combined strikes and spares (“marks”) will win their division’s side scholarship pool. Ties will be broken by whoever has the longest streak of consecutive frames with marks; if a tie still exists, they are broken by highest game score.

“Most Spares” Scholarship Contests (2 divisions, Open & Ladies) — Included with your tournament entry fee.

The “Most Spares Contest” is a scholarship event built into the NFSSS monthly tournament.  All bowlers will be given a scoring sheet to record their scores “frame-by-frame” and tally their total strikes and spares over the 5 qualifying games.  The bowler with the highest number of spares will win their division’s announced scholarship pool. Ties will be broken by whoever has the longest streak of consecutive frames with marks; if a tie still exists, the tie is broken by highest game score.

“Most Strikes” Scholarship Contests (2 divisions, Open & Ladies) — Included with your tournament entry fee.

The “Most Spares Contest” is a scholarship event built into the NFSSS monthly tournament.  All bowlers will be given a scoring sheet to record their scores “frame-by-frame” and tally their total strikes and spares over the 5 qualifying games.  The bowler with the highest number of strikes will win their division’s announced scholarship pool. Ties will be broken by whoever has the longest streak of consecutive frames with marks; if a tie still exists, the tie is broken by highest game score.

“Knockout Challenge” (2 divisions, Open & Ladies) — Included with your tournament entry fee.

The “Knockout Challenge” is a fun scholarship event that takes place right after the qualifying round of each NFSSS monthly tournament. All bowlers will be assigned to a group of lanes for the event, split by division. After a brief warmup period, contestants will throw one ball in each round, attempting to knock down at least the minimum number of pins required for that round (Round 1 = 6 pins, Round 2 = 7 pins, Round 3 = 8 pins, Round 4 = 9 pins, Rounds 5+ = 10 pins); Those who do not knock down the minimum number of pins for the round in one throw are knocked out; Advancers move to the next pair of lanes for the next round. Rounds are replayed if no one knocked down the minimum required pins. The last person standing in each division will be awarded the respective scholarship pool (NO TIES!).

Junior Gold Qualifier:

Each monthly tournament includes an optional 2026 Junior Gold Qualifier event (requires additional JG entry fees).  The 5-game qualifying round scratch scores will be used to determine the entry winner(s), using an award ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 in each age/gender division.  Junior Gold divisions may be combined (by gender or age group) if there are not enough entrants (4 or 5) in a division; If there are still not enough Junior Gold entrants for age group, players will have the option to compete in a higher age division by paying the difference in JG entry fee OR the Junior Gold add-on fee will be refunded prior to the competition. Note: there are no qualifiers for U22 division bowlers. NOTE: the May Scholarship Finale cannot offer a Junior Gold Qualifier for 2026 OR 2027.

Scholarship Finale:

The Scholarship Finale event in May is open to all youth bowlers, who can compete for the usual monthly scholarship pools and side contests; however, bowlers that competed in more than half (4+) of the previous monthly NFSSS tournaments are eligible for the large year-end scholarship pool. The tournament format will be the same as monthly tournaments.  SMART scholarships will be awarded to all eligible bowlers at the discretion of the Tournament Directors, based on performance during the season and tournament (100% of funds are paid out to the bowlers).

Questions?

Please send all questions to the Tournament Director (listed below), via email to nfsssbowling@gmail.com or through this website’s homepage.

Tournament Director: Ryan Waters