Bowl the World WANT TO ‘EXPERIENCE’


TEAM USA? If you’re looking for a competitive oppor- tunity, we’ve got you covered. Any USBC Sport Bowling league member can join a Team USA Experience league. If you’re not a Sport Bowling mem- ber, go to BOWL.com to upgrade your exist- ing membership. Similarly any


league can certify to become a Team USA Experience league. It’s basically the same process as becom-


the gold medal the past seven times in that event and was hungry to extend the streak. “Being together as a team


and having a good time is what it was all about,” said O’Keefe. “Winning the team gold is the main goal, and after that, we just want to have a good time and represent our country the best we can.” To do that, Team USA had


to become very familiar with the official international oil patterns. There are three main categories of patterns — long, medium and short — and two patterns are chosen for the tournament. For the PABCON Championships, technical director Daniel Falconi chose a medium and a short pattern from the WTBA pattern bank — the 40-foot Athens pattern and the 34-foot Stockholm pattern. Leading off the first day of


competition, Nation claimed gold in the singles event for the U.S. She closed with games of 268 and 245 for a 1,372 six-game total and edged out Venezuela’s Alicia Marcano, who posted a 1,369 effort. “There were four or five of


us in it going into the last game,


ing any other type of Sport Bowling league. Just go to BOWL. com and click on the “Sport Bowling” link under the “League” tab at the top of the home page. From there, you’ll be able to register by filling out a short form.


Make sure you have your center cer- tification number, the type of league (youth, adult, both), name of the league, starting and ending dates for


so it was pretty exciting,” said Nation, who also won singles gold at the 2009 World Tenpin Bowling Association World Women’s Championships. “I just wanted to make sure to stay in my own moment and make good shots, hoping the pins would fall my way. ” The American women


put on a repeat performance


your league and the league contact per- son (including phone number and e-mail address).


Just remember that all league mem- ber of a Team USA Experience league must be USBC Sport Bowling members. Sport Bowling mem- bership dues are $15 for adults and $10 for youth in addition to each bowler’s normal USBC membership dues.


the next day in doubles com- petition when Kulick and Pluhowsky ascended to the top of the leaderboard. Pluhowsky shot 1,400


for her six games, while Kulick contributed 1,380 to claim the gold medal with a record-setting 2,780 total. The previous record was 2,621 by Guatemala’s Zussie de Machon


and Sofia Granda at the 2009 PABCON Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “I got off to a good start,


and the pairs seemed to play more evenly from pair to pair and lane to lane,” said Pluhowsky. “It was a different day and a different pattern, so I really couldn’t dwell on what happened [the day before].” The U.S. missed out on


Trios gold, but the team of Johnson, Kulick and Pluhowsky held on to claim the bronze medal. Canada won the gold medal while Mexico took silver. Trios featured both the Athens and Stockholm patterns in competition, while singles and doubles featured a single pat- tern each day. Finally, it was time for the


big event — team competition. After building a significant lead through four games, Team USA stumbled to an 897 total in Game 5, which put Venezuela and Canada just 39 and 61 pins away heading into the final game. Left-hander Pluhowsky


started the finale with seven consecutive strikes and helped Team USA cruise into the top spot with a 1,105 effort.


ZONE IN ON THE AMERICAS: Click on the play button (above left) to watch special video coverage of all the PABCON medalists and the variety of styles they brought.


USBOWLER 19


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