While it is a high school sport that is growing statewide, with increasing college scholarship opportunities across the country, it is a sport that is not seeing much growth in the immediate area. High school bowling is a KHSAA sanctioned sport with just over 120 schools approved by the association to participate in the sport.
The KHSAA bowling alignment is broken up into 8 regions, with the largest of those being the 8th Region, which has more than 20 schools approved for participation.
Most of the areas in the state that have seen growth in the sport of high school bowling center in and around larger communities, where bowling alleys are more easy to come by, such as Louisville, Lexington, Owensboro, and Paducah. However, there are some more rural areas that have seen the addition of teams as the sport has grown.
However, the schools that fall into the 2nd Region breakdown in sports such as basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer, have not made much of a move into the bowling arena as of this time. In fact, if you look at the schools in the 2nd Region in basketball, only one of those has a bowling team, that being Henderson County. Only four schools that fall into the 1st Region in basketball alignment have been approved for the sport, those being Community Christian, Paducah Tilghman, McCracken County, and Graves County, with Community Christian being approved but not competing at this time.
Some may wonder about the availability of bowling alleys for competition in the area. According to a publication on the KHSAA site, the are bowling alleys in locations across the area that include: Fort Campbell, Madisonville, Princeton, and Hopkinsville.
The KHSAA began holding state bowling championships in 2012.
West Jessamine took the team boys title in the 2019 state tournament, while Pleasure Ridge Park took the girls title.
The 2020 state bowling championships will be held February 6 & 7 at the Executive Strike & Spare, in Louisville.
According to the KHSAA website, here is the current breakdown of bowling teams and regions:
REGION 1 – Apollo, Barren County, Bowling Green, Community Christian (Paducah), Daviess County, Graves County, Greenwood, Henderson County, McCracken County, Metcalfe County, Ohio County, Owensboro, Owensboro Catholic, Paducah Tilghman, South Warren, Warren Central, Warren East
REGION 2 – Bardstown, Campbellsville, Central Hardin, Elizabethtown, Fort Knox, Green County, John Hardin, Meade County, Nelson County, North Hardin, Russell County, Taylor County, Thomas Nelson
REGION 3 – Bullitt Central, Bullitt East, Butler, Central, DeSales, Doss, Fairdale, Fern Creek, Holy Cross (Louisville), Jeffersontown, Mercy, Moore, North Bullitt, Pleasure Ridge Park, Southern, Valley, Whitefield Academy
REGION 4 – Atherton, Ballard, Brown, Christian Academy-Louisville, Collins, DuPont Manual, Eastern, Male, Sacred Heart, Seneca, Shawnee, St. Francis, St. Xavier, Trinity (Louisville), Waggener, Walden
REGION 5 – Bishop Brossart, Campbell County, Dayton, Highlands, Newport, Newport Central Catholic, Pendleton County, Scott, Simon Kenton
REGION 6 – Beechwood, Boone County, Conner, Cooper, Covington Catholic, Dixie Heights, Holy Cross (Covington), Lloyd Memorial, Notre Dame, Ryle, St. Henry District
REGION 7 – Anderson County, Bourbon County, Bryan Station, Great Crossing, Harrison County, Henry Clay, Lafayette, Lexington Catholic, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Scott County, Tates Creek
REGION 8 – Betsy Layne, Boyle County, Corbin, East Jessamine, Fairview, Fleming County, Garrard County, George Rogers Clark, Johnson Central, Knox Central, Lee County, Lincoln County, Lynn Camp, Madison Central, Madison Southern, Montgomery County, Pulaski County, Rowan County, Wayne County, West Jessamine, Whitley County
Placed, but not currently offering team – Betsy Layne, Butler, Central, Christian Academy-Louisville, Community Christian (Paducah), Lynn Camp, Shawnee, Whitefield Academy, Whitley County
