State/National Tournaments
Youth bowlers have many opportunities to compete against other bowlers across the state and country. Below are the tournaments sponsored by the Florida State USBC Association and the USBC itself:
The Bill and Millie Landen scholarship tournament is held in mid-January and run by the FL State Youth Leaders. Bowlers compete in one of four average divisions (2 scratch, 2 handicap) for scholarship awards and optional Junior Gold entries. In the past 3 years, over $22k in scholarships were awarded out at the Landen Tournament.
The 2024 Landen Tournament was held at Jensen Beach Bowl in Jensen Beach and was dedicated to our very own Ryan Waters. while the 2023 Landen Tournament was held at Jax Lanes in Jacksonville.
Entry forms for the 2025 Landen Tournament will be posted here soon.
Pepsi / FL Handicap Tournament
In Florida, we hold the Pepsi Tournament (scratch) and a state-wide handicap tournament simultaneously. This combined tournament is held in/around April for bowlers that qualified through their local leagues during specific weeks of the season, with scholarships awarded based on performance in each age group. Entries to Junior Gold and the Youth Open tournaments are also awarded to top bowlers. Bowlers under 12 years of age (as of August 1st, 2021) will bowl 4 games for each tournament they qualified and paid for; bowlers under 18 years of age will bowl 6 games in each tournament they qualified and paid for.
Past Champions from the First Coast USBC include:
- Carson Johnson, 2024 Pepsi U08 Boys (Tavares)
- Luis Marcelo, 2024 Pepsi U18 Boys (Tavares)
- Lillirae Haskins, 2023 Pepsi U10 Girls (Tallahassee)
- Alex Evans, 2021 Pepsi U18 Boys (Brandon), 2019 Pepsi U15 Boys (Brandon) & TWO Prior events!
- Vincent Cintron, 2020 Pepsi U8 Boys (Winter Haven) and 2023 U12 Boys (Tallahassee)
- John Nunn, 2020 Pepsi U15 Boys (Winter Haven) & 2017 U12 Boys (Winter Haven)
- Bailey Forrest, 2019 Pepsi U10 Girls (Brandon)
- Anastasia McLellan, 2019 FL Handicap U20 Girls (Brandon)
- Nevaeh Stewart, 2018 Pepsi U10 Girls (Fort Myers)
The 2025 FL Pepsi / FL Handicap tournaments will take place in Tavares at Lakeside Lanes.
All youth bowlers across the state may compete in the annual FL State Scholarship tournament, held over 3 weekends in June. Bowlers compete over 9 games in 2 squads at 2 different centers over 2 days — one squad in 4-person teams for 3 games, another squad for 3 games of doubles and 3 games individually. Divisions are based on averages, not age; scholarships awarded in each division on a 1:10 ratio, and the top 2 “all events” winners also receive scholarships. 1st place winners in each division are invited to an Annual Awards Luncheon in October, prior to the Florida State USBC Annual Meetings.
Top performers in the 2024 State Tournament include:
“Pushpins” – 1st place handicapped team (379 & Under): Joshua Thomason, Virginia Lacanlale, Makayla Williams, Sadie Beckum
1st place in both handicapped & scratch doubles (189 & Under): Joshua Thomason & Virginia Lacanlale
1st place in Singles Boys 94 & Under Handicapped: Jayden McLeod
1st place in Singles Boys 94 & Under Scratch: John Eusanio
1st place in Singles Girls 94 & Under Handicapped: Sara Johnson
1st place in All Events Girls 95-134 Scratch: Adriannah Seidel
1st place in All Events Boys 94 & Under Scratch: Joaquin Jackson
1st place in All Events Girls 94 & Under Handicapped: Virginia Lacanlale
1st place in All Events Girls 95-134 Scratch: Rachael McAllister
The 2025 FL State Youth Scholarship Tournament will be held at Lakeside Lanes in Tavares. Past State Tournament host locations were as follows:
2024 in Tampa & Zephyrhills
2023 at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando
2022 in Sarasota & Bradenton
2021 in Tampa & Zephyrhills
2020 in Port St. Lucie
2019 in Port Charlotte & Cape Coral
2018 along the Space Coast
2017 in Brandon & Tampa.
National 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 in the same city, and is open to all youth bowlers.
This event was cancelled in 2020. In 2019 (Detroit), ‘Team Florida’ (which included Sofia Allem) placed 1st in the U20 Handicap Team event; Sofia also placed 2nd in the U15 Girls Handicap Singles event. In 2018 (Dallas), Emma Johns placed 1st in the U12 Girls Singles Handicap division and U12 Girls All Events Handicap division! In 2017 (Cleveland), Kyle Johns placed 1st in the U15 Boys All Events Handicap division!
Junior Gold National Championships
This premier, national singles tournament for youth bowlers is played on several challenging “sport shot” lane conditions over a full week in July. Entry to this tournament is only gained through qualifier events, which are restricted to Junior Gold members. The 2025 Junior Gold Championships will be held in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area.
The 2021 Junior Gold Championships was held in Indianapolis during July. The following bowlers made the initial 1-in-7 cut, receiving SMART scholarship awards:
Cameron Morton, U12 Boys (21st place)
Bailey Forrest, U12 Girls (10th place)
John Nunn, U18 Boys (9th place)
Alex Evans, U18 Boys (104th place)
Thomas McLaughlin Jr, U18 Boys (131st place)
Matthew Jordan, U18 Boys (159th place)
The 2020 Junior Gold Championships was unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. A record of 50 youth bowlers qualified for the national tournament from our locally-held tournaments and our Travel League.
The 2019 Junior Gold Championships were held in the Detroit, Michigan area, and we are thrilled to announce that John Nunn advanced to the TV finals, won the U15 Boys division, and earned his place on Junior Team USA’s Developmental Team! Also, Alex Evans and Matthew Johnson made the initial cut in the U15 Boys and U17 Boys divisions, while Dani Lester signed her Letter of Intent to bowl for Webber International. It was a very exciting week for the 35+ bowlers and families making the trip up to Detroit.
In 2018, we had 33 bowlers representing our area in Dallas… either earning their spot through First Coast USBC events or other regional events. 2 youth bowlers made the initial cut in the U15 Boys division (John Nunn & Alex Evans), while Lauren Rom missed the U12 Girls cut by 1 spot.
In 2017, John Nunn placed 3rd in the U12 Boys Division, just missing the televised finals! In all, 32 area bowlers made the trip to Cleveland to compete in the tournament.
In 2016, 14 bowlers from our association earned entry into this elite tournament, which took place in Indianapolis, IN. The 2015 event in Chicago fielded 9 local bowlers in the competition.
* = bowler from another association earning their entry through a FCUSBC Youth event.
This year, the First Coast USBC has generously donated / paid for six Junior Gold spots. These spots are earned by its members through its association-sponsored tournaments (2 at the Annual City Tournament, 2 at the Scholarship Tournament, and 2 at the JJBT Tournament of Champions), without charging additional entry fees. The spots earned at the JJBT TOC is for the 2024 Junior Gold Championships.
Teen Masters is an independent, nationwide tournament series that places a high emphasis on bowling skill by using standardized bowling balls yet played on challenging “sport shot” lane conditions. John Nunn won the 2021 Teen Masters Championship in Detroit, MI among all boys who competed, earning $5,000 in SMART scholarships! Thomas McLaughlin, Jr. placed 2nd in the 2022 Teen Masters Championship in Detroit, MI.