SFA To Add Women's Bowling
1/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Bowling
Sept. 25, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin athletics department announced Thursday plans to add women's bowling as the program's newest NCAA sport. The bowling team will begin competition in the 2009-10 academic year, and, with the addition of women's golf -- also set to initiate next year -- will bring the total number of varsity sports at SFA to 17.
The two sports are being added to aid in the department's move toward gender equity in athletics as defined by Title IX legislation. They will fill the void left when women's equestrian transitioned from a varsity to a club sport last spring.
"We chose bowling partly because of interest shown by other Southland Conference schools," SFA director of athletics Robert Hill said. "We need six schools to sponsor a conference championship, and we already have two, so getting four others to participate is something we will be working on."
SFA is the second SLC member to add bowling. Sam Houston State recently announced plans to add a team, and other member institutions are expected to follow suit.
Currently, bowling is an NCAA sponsored sport with 28 schools participating at the Division I level. Area universities that already sponsor the sport include Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Texas Southern, Grambling, Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Hill said his timeline involves hiring a full-time coach to run the program before the first of the year. He is also in the process of arranging use of the local bowling center for practice and competitions. Once the new coach is in place, he or she will use the remainder of the school year to recruit athletes and develop a schedule.
"Texas has a very active high school bowling program with growing participation," Hill said. "We feel that recruiting can be done primarily in the Houston and Dallas areas."
-- SFA --
