Burlington Bowl on Harvester Road hosted 450 men and women the past two weekends to determine provincial 10-pin champions in single, double, team and “all” divisions.
It’s not unusual that Burlington hosts such an event. It’s centrally located among the 15 local associations that send competitors.
Declining numbers of participants in 10-pin — which is less popular in Canada than the five-pin brand — and Covid, which reduced the number of volunteers needed to run various tournaments, have hurt the sport.
Jim Lapointe, one of the bowlers participating at the provincials, has been to most of the Ontario championships over the past 20 years.
“It’s always a good time,” said the Sarnia resident, lamenting the decline in popularity of the sport the past few years. “This tournament used to be a four-weekend tournament, now it’s only two.”
Long-time Ontario Ten-Pin Bowling Association (OTBA) president Charlotte Konkle, handling a variety of tasks at provincials the past two weekends, isn’t shy about her thoughts on the state of the sport locally.
“There are a lot of younger people coming up, but they only want to bowl,” she said. “They don’t want to do any of the work.”
Konkle emphasized that she isn’t complaining.
“I’m proud to be the president. I’m not disappointed in the tournament. Look at this,” she said, as she waved her hand at the hustle and bustle of hundreds of bowlers competing for a chance at provincial glory.
Finding volunteers is the big problem said Konkle, and it doesn’t help that she has been unable to get 10-pin listed as a Provincial Sport Organization, which would assist with funding.
“Covid slowed everybody down. (Former volunteers) now don’t want to be out with bunches of people.”
One of the volunteers at Burlington Bowl was Valerie Ciach-Link, the Hamilton District Association manager who is experiencing her second provincials in Burlington, the tournament host in 2022 as well.
She agrees these are tough times for 10-pin, but is confident things will bounce back as worries about the pandemic subside.
“The numbers are definitely higher than two years ago, but it’s about average for this tournament,” she said.
The event featured five days of competition, with bowlers hitting the lanes for all three of the Victoria Day weekend dates, as well as this past Saturday and Sunday. There are no bowlers under 18 — they have their own provincial championship.
The state of the sport isn’t on the minds of most of the bowlers taking part. There are games to be contested and lanes to be mastered. Lapointe, the Sarnia bowler, when asked how the tournament was going, was all about the oil.
“The big thing is transition,” according to the veteran pinbuster, who said his high average prevented any chance of him taking a provincial title home this weekend. “In the morning they oil. Now (in the afternoon) they don’t. So it’s really dry out there. It’s consistent but it’s tough. (There’s) a little more hook (on the ball) right now.”
Results can be found at OTBA.ca.
