Four teenage bowlers from the Portland Maine area have decided they want to go to the National Youth Open and Junior Gold Tournaments in Indianapolis, Indiana in July 2021. They had originally registered for the Las Vegas tournament in July 2020 to participate in the National Youth Open, which was obviously cancelled. This tournament allows children from all over the country to compete against each other on the lanes in the hopes of winning scholarships and bragging rights.
Lucas Littlefield, Camden Gendron, Zach Bernier and Jason McCarthy bowl out of Sparetime in Portland, Maine. In the summer of 2012, eight year old Lucas was bowling with his family when the Manager described a promotion he was running to get kids bowling. Lucas was promised his very own bowling ball if he joined an 8 week bowling program. He did and he was hooked! Lucas immediately joined the youth bowling league. In 2015, his good friend Zach joined the league, followed by his other good friend Camden the year after that. In January of 2019, Jason discovered bowling, joined the league and the four boys hit it off.
The boys currently bowl not only weekly on Saturday Mornings at Sparetime, but also in monthly Travel League Tournaments against each other. They travel to different bowling alleys around the state as far north as Bangor and as far south as Portland. They bowl as a team in the Maine State Tournaments and the local city tournament. They practice together during non-league times, and even had the opportunity to bowl with some of the PBA bowlers when they came to Portland in the Summer of 2019.
Now they would like to start taking bigger risks by participating in bigger tournaments. In 2014, Lucas had the opportunity to participate in a National Tournament when the USBC Youth Open was in Buffalo, NY. He didn't show any interest in going to the Youth Open again until this year, when it was announced that Nationals would be in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that tournament was cancelled, but the boys are ready for 2021 when the Youth Open and Junior Gold Tournaments take place in Indianapolis, Indiana.
They are hoping for bigger rewards by earning scholarships and creating lifelong memories by traveling with their closest friends who also happen to be their sports team. In order to participate in Junior Gold, you need to qualify. The boys were committed to working hard towards qualifying through regional tournaments as they became available this bowling season. All 4 boys qualified for Junior Gold by the end of March this year.
Please help these young bowlers get to the Youth Open in Indianapolis, Indiana in July 2021. Any money donated will go directly towards the costs for registering for the tournament, the airfare to get to Indianapolis, and hotel and food costs while the team is there. Any money beyond that will go towards paying for the chaperones (parents) to accompany the team. Every dollar helps. Every share helps. We appreciate anything you can do to support the boys and support youth bowling.
