The world of bowling is very niche but at the same time very complex. Many people in the world see bowling as a fun activity to do on a weekend but to others it is a lifestyle. One aspect in bowling is the way the ball is thrown otherwise known as the delivery of the ball. In bowling there are many different types of styles that professional bowlers have. There is not one specific style that everyone must follow. Some examples of different types of style or throwing deliveries are one handed otherwise known as the traditional way. Then there the more unique deliveries that have surfaced in the last decade and become more popular such as one handed but not use a thumb, so the bowler just uses two fingers, then there is also two handed. The only rule that is important to know is that you cannot have hole in the ball if it is not used in delivery and must be released before the foul line. For example, I bowl with one handed no thumb so my bowling ball cannot have a thumb hole drilled in the ball otherwise that would be considered an illegal throw. Also, the Foul line is the line on the lane that separates the lane from the approach. The approach is what you walk up on right before you throw the ball onto the lane.
There is a professional bowler by the name of Jason Belmonte. Jason Belmonte has been credited in one of the bowlers who has pioneered the two-handed style/delivery for his significant success and media attention. Some other notable two-handed bowlers that have played a role in the rise of two-handed bowling are Chuck Lande and Osku palermaa, but Jason Belmonte has been the been the most successful out of the three. Jason Belmonte is a professional bowler from Australia, is 41 years old and joined the tour/become professional in 2009. Jason Belmonte has a long list of achievements as a two-handed bowler that separates him from a lot of people. Some most notable achievements include being the only bowler that has won all five major professional bowling association (PBA) major titles. The Five major titles are the USBC masters, the PBA world championship, the tournament of champions, the U.S open, and the PBA players championship. This is also known as a Super slam. One other notable achievement that Jason Belmonte has is being the only professional bowler in PBA history to have 3 televised 300 games which is a perfect game. Jason has accumulated 32 PBA titles and is the only 30-time winner in PBA tour history who is not a member of the PBA hall of fame because he has yet to meet the requirement of being on the tour for 20 years. That just goes to show how much successes he has from having 32 PBA tour titles which ranks 7th on PBA all-time list but he has been on tour for less then 20 years.
With the strides that two handed bowling has made for players such as Jason Belmonte people still have disagreements about this style. There is a lot of controversy in the bowling community about the style of 2 handed bowling because some people believe that using this style is cheating because it provides an unfair advantage. This is interesting because this is a legal style because the professional bowling association and the United States bowling congress (USBC) has determined that it does not. I have been an avid bowler for the past three years and it is an interesting controversy to me. I think if it is legal by the USBC rule book it should be ok. I think that some people get upset at the increased success that it has given some players, but I don’t think the overall delivery is something that should be not allowed. I do recognize where the other side of people are coming from, from the traditionally standpoint. I think that two handed bowling style opens the possibility to the future of the sport. Every single generation may bring something to the sport that was not thought of to implement or add in the sport prior history, and I think breaking the industry with new styles and techniques provide the upcoming generation/future athletes that may bring in a new audience that was not there before because of that new interesting technique that inspires the youth and shows that there is multiple ways to becoming a professional bowler but still stay true to your unique self.
List of Jason Belmonte career statistics