I have a few questions about the college bowling teams. First, what type of lane patterns do they bowl on? Are they just house or what? Also, how exactly does the team play together? is it like highschool leagues or different in scoring system? I think thats all the questions I have now, but I may have more sometime soon.

I don't know how it works exactly, but I know they bowl on Sport/PBA patterns for competitions. Not sure about the practice. as far as format I imagine there being regular match play and also Baker games.

Alright, are the baker games where each person bowls a frame? Like on the six flags PBA team shootout? And by sport/pba patterns you mean patterns like the cheetah, shark, viper and all those, right? Lol and thanks for your help

Yes, they each bowl a frame and then then start over with bowler one after they've all gone. I assume in that case, 5 people are on each team. Just like the Team Shootout. Yes those are PBA patterns, but I believe stuff like U.S Open and Tournament of Champions is considered Sport patterns. There's also some sport patterns I recently found out about called Highway to Hell and Dead Man's Curve. There's more but don't know them all. There's also patterns that can be sport compliant but don't have a name.

Sport patterns? Like exactly what are they like? Im guessing they are harder than house patterns but easier than PBA maybe?

When I was bowling in college, we bowled on modified house patterns. Most of the time, it was whatever the house decided to put down except for the bigger tourneys. Now, they have their own patterns. I bowled a sport league this summer and we bowled on 2 of the NCAA patterns. I had 2 of my lowest series for the summer on their patterns. Lots of oil.

Same things apply for bowling on those patterns as the PBA patterns. Stay out of trouble, watch your speed, and pick your spares.

Sports pattern can be harder or same level as PBA pattern. All depending on the pattern. Join PBAX League might help you get ready. Hopefully Guns and few other chime in cause there bowling in College and would know much better.

The Reverse Block is an example of a sport pattern. Sport patterns, as was said, could vary in difficulty for you, just like the PBA patterns. PBA patterns are sport patterns but we call them PBA because that's where they originated from. If all you ever bowl on is house shots then some sport patterns will seem impossible to you. You will learn how to read lanes better with experience.

Unless the lane man is a complete and utter idiot they never oil a reverse block on purpose. A flat oil pattern may evolve into a reverse block, but a reverse block doesn't fit the rules of sport bowling, meaning not more than a 3 to 1 ratio across the lane horizontally, so no kind of block is sport rated, a block is where you have an 8 to 1 ratio or more across the lane.

Many inexperienced bowlers get confused when playing a flat pattern and think it is a reverse block because the ball doesn't come back on misses to the gutter and doesn't hold on misses to the inside. I have bowled on a reverse block and the lane man that put it down was a complete moron and scared everyone away from sport bowling in the house I bowled at.

Lol, scared everyone away huh? Thanks for telling me that though, I didn't know it wasn't sport rated. I think the Reverse Block should never be used though, except maybe just to practice on. In the tournaments I bowl in, I'm pretty sure the patterns are sport compliant though so I don't need to worry much about that. Hopefully this year I can take what I've learned about the PBA patterns and flatter patterns in general and apply that to the tournaments I do.

How can I get in a PBAX League? There isn't one in my hometown and I can't find one anywhere around me. Any suggestions? Since i'm just a sophomore I probably won't be in one this year but hopefully my junior and senior year.

I would talk with a few of the alley owners in your area. If there is enough interest, they may start one up. Best thing you can do is make it known that a sport shot is what you want. Also, where your HS team practices. I would talk to them. They may work with you guys and put down a sport shot time to time.

I used to bowl two years ago for Oberlin College's bowling team in Ohio. Most of our tournaments were formatted in the following way:
5 team games, where in each one, each member would roll one game, and then all 5 scores were added up - and after the 5 team games, we would do 15 Baker games in blocks of three at a time against another team. In the Bakers, one bowler would bowl in the first and sixth frames, the second bowler in the second and seventh frames and so on.

Earlier in my college bowling career modified house shots or sport shots were typical, but toward the end of my college days, it seemed like almost every tournament was either a PBA pattern, or a modified PBA pattern. I remember the modified Shark pattern and the modified Cheetah patterns. Hope this helps answer the initial question a little more in depth. - SimplyAmazuring

Thanks Sa, and you guys bowled a total of 20 games every match??

Justin, this is the setup for tournaments. Within those 20 games it'd be against a bunch of different teams. Then all the teams are ranked according to team averages, which is elaborate and I don't know the details.