Other than CFL football and maybe box lacrosse, is there a sport more Canadian than 5-pin bowling?
Nope, because it's pure Canadiana to roll a palm-sized ball (not a giant with three holes) with hopes of knocking down five pins (not 10) at the other end of a 60-foot lane.
Surrey residents Ken Tyers, Jordon Schuss and Kelly Gorsek know well the thrill of a 5-pin strike, because they're national-level bowlers competing at the 2025 Masters National Championships at Scottsdale Lanes and three other bowling centres in the region, June 23-28.
Bowlers from across Canada will be bused from the Guildford Sheraton hotel to Scottsdale, Galaxy Lanes (in Abbotsdord), Poco (Port Coquitlam) and Grandview Lanes (Vancouver) for six days of games and national bragging rights.
Such bowling alleys are disappearing in B.C. towns at an alarming rate, thanks to sky-high land values and development pressures, and the national championships are a reminder of a great Canadian game of splits, spares and occasional gutter balls.
Scottsdale, where eight of 24 lanes were converted to 10-pin under neon lights three years ago, is where Schuss bowls for fun and practice. The longtime Guildford resident, a national 5-pin champ a decade ago, is a longshoreman whose pals don't really understand his passion for bowling.
"I never thought I would love it until I got good at it," said Schuss, who's been bowling since the age of three.
"I am the only guy who bowls, the outsider (among) friends, and even family — this crazy bowler who wins money and competes at a high level," he added with a laugh. "There's cash tournaments, but it's not like we're in it to make a living, you know?"
Masters bowlers aren't "seniors," as classified in some other sports, and the six divisions at nationals are full of bowlers in coaching/teaching ranks.
"We have eight provinces represented at nationals," explained Kevin Jewell, tournament media rep and locksmith by trade. "Each province sends a men's and women's team in both the tournament and teaching divisions, a mixed seniors team, as well as singles competitors in the open or tournament side of things. Each contingent is five teams of five plus two singles, so 27 bowlers from each province. Do the math, that's around 200, 220 bowlers here."
Jewell, Tyers, Schuss and others tell stories of bowling since a young age, and all worry about the lack of a "next generation" learning and playing the game.
"I've been involved in bowling since I was four, and I'm 58 now," said Jo-Anne Borgford, nationals tournament co-chair and former Surrey resident.
"With bowling, the world becomes smaller, Canada becomes smaller. This is a Canada-only sport, other than a few 5-pin lanes located just across the border at a few places. Five-pin is so Canadian, and because of it I have friends across the country, so it brings the country together like that.
But at one point 5-pin was in every small town, and it's disappearing in some places, Borgford lamented.
"Kids don't seem to be into such sports anymore, same thing with adults, too many things going on, and it's tough to get people to commit. And then with the bowling centres, there are too many taxes on the land. A bowling centre has to be big, with the 60 feet of lanes and 15 feet of approach, not including the space for other stuff like washrooms, food, all that. The value of land is so expensive in B.C. and it's tough to make money."
Five-pin bowling is a small world, agreed Tyers, who lives in Newton, began bowling at a young age, quit, came back to the game 25 years later and now bowls with B.C.'s seniors team at masters nationals.
"I'm not anywhere near Jordan's league, right?" Tyers said. "I'm on what's called pins over average, so if I have an average of 200 and I bowl a 210, I'm plus-10. If he's a 250-average and he bowls 250, he's plus zero. I win. It's system to keep guys like me in there and competitive because, I mean, I would have zero chance of beating (Jordon) otherwise. He's too good."
Schuss, the B.C. rep in the Tournament Singles division, will bowl 21 games over the three days at nationals, against tough competition from other provinces. Look for tournament details on masterbowlersofcanada.ca/nationals.
"Scottsdale is one of the last 5-pin places left in Surrey," said Schuss, who grew up bowling in Whalley at Dell Lanes, now closed. "They have some (5-pin) lanes at Sandcastle (in South Surrey), but it's much more about 10-pin there. Here (at Scottsdale), they do a ton of birthday parties and they have leagues. Right now it's slower on a Friday afternoon but on the weekend, it'd be full and you couldn't get a lane. It depends on the season, and it's probably busier in the fall and winter."
Jewell, who lives in Maple Ridge, says the type of wood lanes at Scottsdale are disappearing at other 5-pin places, in favour of armour-plate or acrylic surfaces that don't require polishing.
Whatever and wherever the lanes are, he'd like to see more young bowlers get rolling on them.
"I'm in my mid-60s, so I have a few years left of bowling, hopefully, but a new generation has to come up," Jewell said. "We have to promote the game to the younger players and get them coming to places like this."
