Bowling has a long history according to a British anthropologist, Sir Flinders Petrie. In the 1930’s he discovered a collection of objects in a child’s grave in Egypt that appeared to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, bowling has been around since 3200 BC(1).

So there is no doubt that bowling has been around- when it was introduced to America it got the wrong kind of publicity. It was banned in Connecticut to play a nine pin game because of the gambling that seemed to come along with it. In 1841 quickly after it was banned, people outsmarted the law and added another pin- creating the ten pin game we play today(2).
This is a question though- is bowling a sport?

At Ashland High School on December 15th, 2012 a poll was done out on the quad, about 250 students were asked (no names were recorded).
Yes- 60%
No- 40%

Many participants who answered no used the term “game”. Other sports who fall into the same category,  (more of an activity than a sport) according to Ashland High School students are Golf, Ping-Pong, and Crew.

Others argued that bowling could be considered both a sport and a game depending on if you are playing for fun or if you are competing. For those who think bowling might be a good competitive outlet will be disappointed to know that there is not a bowling alley available in Ashland. The closest being in Medford, which is about eleven miles away.

The conclusion here is clear. Bowling can only be considered a sport if there is competition involved- and no you cannot put it on a sports resume if it is just between your parents or friends… Even if you cream them.

Work Cited

(1) Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum. “History of Bowling.” International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame. 2009. Web.
http://www.bowlingmuseum.com/Visit/HistoryofBowling.aspx

(2) PerfectBowling.com, . “Bowling History.” Perfect Bowling. 2013. Web.
http://www.perfectbowling.com/bowling-history