Junior Sarah Doughty recently returned from an exciting adventure: trying out for the Junior Team USA in Las Vegas, Nevada. from January 2 to the 7. Doughty earned this feat due to her dedication to the sport, knowledge, and adaptability to any lanes.
The Junior Team USA women’s bowling is an elite group of top American athletes aged 20 or younger that will then represent the United States in international competitions. This group is composed of 18 girls that are selected based on their performance at the Junior Gold Championships and Team USA Trials.
However while Doughty did not earn a spot on the team, the fact that she was selected to try out was an incredible opportunity for her. Doughty shared, “I think it was a great experience to be around bowlers who are as passionate and experienced as me.” Doughty explained how there wasn’t a selection process nor qualifying process for the tryouts; she had gotten a cheaper position in the tryouts.
In the Junior Team USA, Doughty placed 56th out of 132 women, a group of bowlers which consisted of pros and college athletes.
Doughty stated, “It was very calm and collected. Everybody was very focused and you could tell everyone was passionate about what they were doing and how everybody was trying to achieve their goals and get onto Team USA.”
Because Las Vegas is far for some–including for Doughty–coaches often weren’t there. Although, Doughty expressed that while most didn’t have a coach helping them, there would be a few people with individual coaches or a small group with one coach. These coaches gave small tips like moving boards, using different bowling balls or just extra motivational support.
In the end, this opportunity was huge for Doughty, letting her compete in a professional setting against passionate bowlers just like her. This opportunity has led Doughty to strive for goals in her high school bowling career, such as going to state this year, participating in monthly tournaments and going to Minneapolis to compete in the Junior Gold.
