Sherry Spause’s 50-plus years in bowling began as a six-year-old AJBC bowler in California and then as a YABA member in Florida, earning a spot on the local travel team.
When Sherry enrolled two of her children in the Fort Meade Youth Bowling program, it ignited a need to learn more about the sport to coach them. She enrolled in USBC’s Level 1—back when the course lasted eight hours. Soon after, Sherry accepted the position of Fort Meade Youth Bowling director in 2003, eliminating the secretary’s fees and making the position volunteer.
Under Sherry’s directorship, the program grew to 165 youth bowlers through outreach in local schools. The program’s growth even made USBC’s radar, and representatives reached out to discuss the program’s methods for success. Also, Sherry was one of the first—if not the first—director in our area to eliminate age restrictions on SMART scholarships, making them available to every youth bowler in the program. In addition, annual fund-raising efforts allowed her to offer a free tournament entry to every youth bowler for both the NCA-USBCA and state youth tournaments.
In 2012, Sherry completed her USBC Silver Certification after wrapping up the required Bronze Certification.
Sherry coached the MYTC Travel league from 2010 to 2017 and the Junior Gold Prep league from 2016 to 2020. She also served on the NCAUSBCA Board of Directors from 2012 to 2014. Since she started with the Fort Meade program 21 years ago, Sherry has logged more than 11,000 hours volunteering her time and resources throughout Central Maryland.
In 2023, Sherry wanted to ensure access to cutting edge technology support for the Fort Meade Youth Bowling program, so she conceived and executed the donation of a Specto Bowling data collection system to The Lanes Fort Meade. All youth bowlers enrolled in the Saturday program enjoy free use of the system, and coaches can use it during coach’s hours on Saturday mornings.
Each year, the program helps two or three youth bowlers sign with collegiate bowling programs across the country, and it also distributes more than $5,000 in scholarships. In fact, the April program awarded more than $10,000 in a single in-house tournament that included every youth bowler enrolled.
On the lanes, she has rolled five perfect games, with a top series of 809, and a high book average of 220.
Sherry Spause’s untiring efforts in promoting youth bowling have merited her a special spot in the NCAUSBCA Hall of Fame.
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