Professional Bowling’s International Influence

This is quite an exciting time to be a professional bowling fan. Whether you’re talking about the PBA or the PWBA, in the opinion of many experts, the talent has never been deeper, and it seemingly gets younger each season.

Not only has college bowling proven to be quite a farm system for the above-mentioned professional tours, but the talent making its way from overseas each year also continues to impress.

There are many considerations that go into traveling to a foreign country and competing at a high level that many of us never think about. I recently had the opportunity to take some time to discuss this topic with Track’s Dom Barrett, Storm’s Jason Belmonte, and 900 Global’s Daria Pajak.

Tips for first-time travelers

First and foremost, I wanted to learn about what went into traveling abroad—things that those of us who don’t often travel to foreign countries wouldn’t even think about.

“Traveling is so adventurous!” Daria Pajak said. “There are always some surprises when traveling outside of your country. All over the world there are different customs, habits, food, manners, behaviors, and languages. If I were to give just one advice to a person who would be traveling for the first time, it would be not to expect that everyone speaks English. It is very important to be patient and kind to strangers who sometimes will not understand a word in English, but still would be willing to help.”

Ms. Pajak went on to give an example. “I remember when last year I flew to Korea and I was looking for a bank. I walked into some office with a map in my hand asking for directions. A security guard, who could ...