Learn to Bowl with Free Bowling Opportunities
Learn to Bowl for Free
Everything — including bowling — is more fun if you can do it well. At Pin Chasers, we like to make things fun and easy for our guests, so we offer our Learn to Bowl program. And now, as we celebrate 60 years of bowling at Pin Chasers, it’s free!
Pin Chasers started Learn to Bowl in the mid- to late-1960s, with classes adaptable for anyone of any age or ability — the casual, occasional player as well as the serious competitor.
In the 1970s, housewives were looking for a way to get out of the house and interact with other women. Pin Chasers created a giant phone room with 10–12 seasonal employees and started a massive callout to people, inviting them to take bowling lessons. The outreach was very successful, and hundreds of women paid to attend the eight weeks of classes. After completing the program, each got a new ball drilled specifically for them and engraved with their names. Pin Chasers’ motto at the time was to put a bowling ball in every hand.
Many of the women enjoyed the activity and camaraderie so much that they formed leagues so they could continue bowling together.
“Those daytime women’s leagues were built on the foundation of Learn to Bowl,” said Anthony Perrone, Pin Chasers’ CEO. “Our Learn to Bowl program is still a big part of our business. Now the classes are completely free and only four weeks long, making it easier for families with busy schedules to participate.”
Also, in the 1970s, Pin Chasers started the nationally accredited In-School Bowling curriculum, another way Pin Chasers, historically and currently, has made bowling fun and accessible. About 25 elementary schools in Hillsborough County still use the In-School Bowling program which includes six weeks of physical education, math and English. Students learn to bowl and keep score and then write about their experience.
Once kids know the basics, they can join youth bowling leagues, which Pin Chasers has offered for 60 years. In fact, in 1967, when Perrone was five years old, he took his first bowling lesson.
“I’m still bowling today, 47 years later,” he said.
MOVE Bowling Academy for Kids
MOVE Academy, at all three Pin Chasers’ locations, is Pin Chasers’ new, leading-edge league bowling program for kids from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Certified bowling coaches teach bowling fundamentals in an eight-week season to get kids moving, healthy and fit.
Students receive skill-based achievement awards as their technique improves. They acquire confidence in an atmosphere of friendly team-based and individual competition, and they learn how to win – or lose – with a good attitude. Many develop a love of this sport that can be played for a lifetime.
“We’ve had youth bowling leagues for the past 60 years, but it’s more important today than ever,” said Perrone. “It’s increasingly easy for kids to stay home and not move, to fall into the trap of their devices and screens, and we want to create opportunities for every child to move and participate in a sport. Kids may find they have an aptitude for bowling — or, at the bare minimum, it gives them an opportunity to get out, exercise and be with others.”
That’s why Pin Chasers is underwriting MOVE Academy and making it free to Tampa Bay families through 2020.
“In addition to our free MOVE Academy and Learn to Bowl programs, our staff is and has always been available every day to provide basic knowledge, for free, to bowlers to make the game more fun,” said Perrone. “There aren’t many things in life that aren’t more fun when you know how to do them well.”
Since 2007, for bowlers who are good but want to reach the highest levels, Lucy Sandelin, a United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer and Silver Level Coach, has taught private lessons to adults and kids at Pin Chasers. She coaches the Junior Gold League, an elite level of youth bowlers who compete to win state and national championships and scholarships, helping them navigate the high-end world of bowling.
“The Morris/Perrone family has welcomed me with open arms to teach the sport to kids and seniors and everyone in between,” said Sandelin. “A lot of people pick up the sport and realize they’re not good at it and want to get better. They want to join a league, but they’re afraid they’ll embarrass themselves, so they hire me. I teach them the fine parts of the sport so they can bowl decent, join a league and have fun with their friends.”
So, come out and join our bowling family! Get some exercise, learn a new skill, improve your game, meet new friends, create memories with your family, have fun — whatever you want to do, we make it easy for you, as we have for 60 years!
Upcoming Dates
September 10th: The next Learn to Bowl session starts and goes for four weeks. It’s totally free.
In October: The Lousy Bowlers Club and Have a Ball Club start. These clubs include a free ball.