In 1999, during the formative period of goal-setting and policy-making for tenpin bowling’s new National Sporting Organisation, Tenpin Bowling Australia, two Board members - Andrew Frawley and June Voukolos - were concerned with the number of junior bowlers who dropped out of bowling in their late teens. June and Andrew were coaches of both junior and adult bowlers and recognised this did not auger well for Australia’s potential medal status at ABF and WTBA competitions, or the sport’s overall future.

Against a background of disinterest in the adult ranks to encourage youth bowlers to compete in adult events, June contacted other National Sporting Organisations to gain feedback on the rationale for loss of youth competitors. Common themes emerged - social issues, money, girlfriends, jobs etc – and to augment the feedback gained, several forums were conducted in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. During the 1999 and 2000 Junior Nationals, further feedback was also sought from junior bowlers as to what they wanted to see in national competitions.

June then contacted junior Guardians in States where junior competitions were solidly supported. Various aged championships and tournament ideas were considered from as many contributors as possible. There had been a background push from some areas to increase the age limit of junior bowlers and various documentation to support this, but after conferring with other sports and the Australian Sports Commission June and Andrew were convinced that an independent Youth section needed to be created.

At a TBA State Managers meeting in Canberra in 2000, the idea was discussed further. The support for the concept was overwhelming, particularly from North Queensland and NSW. North Queensland had suffered most with the lack of follow on from President’s Shield status by young bowlers and New South Wales was looking to keep its talented junior bowlers as long as possible.

June was also adamant that to prepare the youth bowlers for ABF and WTBA competitions TBA needed to simulate that competition format, so Andrew and June worked out a schedule and then submitted the idea to the TBA Board early in 2002. As a member of the WTBA Technical Committee that was researching and developing the international lane condition policy, Andrew wanted to add simulated lane conditions into the equation. John Coxon and the Rules and Ethics committee then took over to set the rules, State Associations were notified in the first half of that year and the first competition was held at Sydney’s AMF Bankstown Bowl in January 2003.

As with all competitions, the first one was the test case and some rules have been refined but the event is now firmly established as a strong pathway for both youth bowlers and High Performance coaches and an important integration into adult competition for the sport’s youth athletes.