November 11, 2022 Nolan Hughes

Independent youth tournaments can now sign up to partner with PBA Jr. through the new PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournament program.

The 2023 PBA Jr. season will feature several enhancements, including a PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournament program and point system that will determine winners in the new PBA Jr. Jim Welch Memorial Scholarship.

Independent junior scholarship tournaments can request to partner with PBA Jr. and become a PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournament. These partnerships will enable PBA Jr. Club members who bowl in PBA Jr. and PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournaments to earn points.

“We’re rolling out the PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournaments to give more junior bowlers the opportunity to earn SMART scholarship awards from PBA Jr.” said Mike Sledz, the PBA’s director of membership who also oversees the PBA Jr. program.

Independent junior scholarship tournaments that are interested in becoming a PBA Jr. Affiliate Tournament should contact Mike Sledz by email at [email protected].

“Since there are so many junior scholarship tournaments being run on any given weekend, we found that there are times when bowlers had to choose between two or more events, including PBA Jr. tournaments,” Sledz said. “We felt it best to work with other tournaments, rather than split the entries between the two. It’s a win-win for the junior bowlers and the independent tournaments.”

Fifty awards from the PBA Jr. Jim Welch Memorial Scholarship, totaling over $20,000 in SMART scholarships, will go to points leaders in Boys & Girls divisions across each of the five PBA Jr. Regions.

To earn points towards the PBA Jr. Jim Welch Memorial Scholarship, junior bowlers must be PBA Jr. Club members.

“Jim was a great tournament promoter and a huge advocate for youth bowling,” Sledz said. “Naming this new scholarship after him seemed only fitting.”

While the full 2023 PBA Jr. schedule will be announced in the coming weeks, Regional Qualifiers for next season’s PBA Jr. National Championships will be held Aug. 11-13, 2023 at five locations across the country.

If you have interest in partnering with PBA Jr., contact Mike Sledz, [email protected]

For media inquiries, contact [email protected]