The United States Bowling Congress recently set a new policy making all junior bowlers have to turn adult earlier.

For as long as I can remember, the rules were that as soon as you turned 22 you would have to turn adult. But, everything has been changed and now it stands that if a bowler will be 20 before August 1, then that is their last year as a junior.

So, for example, I am 19 right now and my birthday is on May 4. So, as of August 1, 2009, I will be 19. This means that I have until July 31, 2010 to be a junior. By the time August 1, 2010 rolls around I will officially be an adult as far as bowling is concerned. If we were still going by the previous policy, however, then I would have until May 4, 2012 to turn adult.

I don’t understand why the congress is doing this, as it takes off a full year-and-a-half off of the time people have to be considered a junior. When something major like this happens, speculation is inevitable.

One rumor that I have heard is that more and more juniors are becoming phenomenal bowlers, sometimes even at adult level, and this makes it unfair to all of the other junior bowlers who have not reached that level.

But, of course, no one knows for sure and people are mostly just trying to make sense of something that is drastically altering their bowling future.

I doubt that this is the case, however, because, in junior tournaments, there is handicap, which evens out the high-average and low-average bowlers.

But why all of this fuss over whether or not you are a junior or an adult?

If you are a junior, then the tournaments you get to compete in are all lower cost, most of them costing anywhere from $25-$50. Also, the junior gold tournament, which is one of the biggest tournaments in bowling, is only open to junior bowlers, and I am extremely sad to only have one more year after this one to have a chance to compete in it. Another junior-exclusive event that I will miss is the junior travel league.

One final thing that I will miss is all of the friends that I have made who are younger than I am. I won’t be competing with them anymore, and they are part of what makes my bowling experience really fun.

The main reason for why I don’t want to turn adult is the tournament fees. They increase dramatically, ranging anywhere from $100-$400. There are many tournaments that I will want to bowl, but I don’t think I will be able to afford them all.

So, the bottom line is that I do not feel that anybody should shorten the years a bowler has to be a junior because, once you turn an adult, there is no going back to being a junior.