About Tenpin Bowling
Tenpin bowling is a popular sport for people with visual impairments and is played in more than 20 countries around the world.
Regular world and regional Championships are held featuring men’s, women’s and team events. Results from past editions can be viewed here.
Players can bowl in any bowling alley but most totally blind bowlers need sighted guidance or use a guide rail to help with their deliveries.
When sighted guidance is being used, blind bowlers are helped to align on the approach by sighted assistants. The bowlers would normally be aligned on a spot from which they wish to execute their deliveries. Such a reference point may be a certain board on the approach.
A sighted assistant is usually needed to tell a bowler which pins have been knocked down or how the remaining pins were missed. These assistants identify the pins either knocked down or left standing by calling the numbered locations of the pins.
The guide rails used are made of either wood or light-weight tubular metal and can be assembled, disassembled and stored away very easily. They are held in place on the bowling approach by the weight of bowling balls and can be used in any bowling centre without interfering in any way with the bowling equipment.
The rails are placed alongside the bowling approach and they extend back from the foul line. A bowler who needs the assistance of a guide rail usually slides one hand along its surface while delivering the ball with the other. The starting position of the bowler should be carefully noted.
The bowler can determine whether the ball is being released in the centre of the lane or near one edge. The rail is positioned to run straight along the first board outside the width of the lane. Of course, bowlers are free to use the bowling technique that they prefer.
History
Although tenpin bowling has been practiced by players with visual impairments around the world for more than fifty years, there was no single set of rules to govern the sport.
The first step towards this direction was a rule conference organised by the Finish Federation of the Visually Impaired (FFVI) in Helsinki, Finland, in 1998.
The first IBSA Tenpin Bowling World Championships were held in Orlando, USA, in 2004. The hosts finished on top of the medals table with four golds.
