A small, dedicated group of adults in the early 1970’s began the Niagara Youth Bowling program at Midtown Lanes, Niagara Falls, ON. One of those dedicated people was Gail Navarroli, who this scholarship is named after.
From Midtown the program grew, with Gail and some others starting a new league down the road at Cataract Bowl where she would be the Head Coach for many years to come. Along with her dedicated spirit to organizing this Saturday Morning Youth Program, she was very involved with many other facets of the sport of bowling such as Secretary/Treasurer of Woman’s Leagues, Youth Associations both local and provincially, travel leagues, running various tournaments, working at Cataract Bowl part time, and being an amazing mom!
Gail was there to lead, resolve problems, plan many provincial youth tournaments and yearly banquets. Youth bowlers of the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s were undoubtedly mentored by her. One of Gail’s passions was to advocate for a yearly Scholarship program to assist youth bowlers in the Niagara region in furthering their post education studies. With the help of the Niagara Woman’s association, this program began in 1996, with the first recipient being Marnie Ceccato. Since then, the program has awarded over $10,000 in scholarship monies to Niagara Youth Bowlers. Today NTBA is still offers this program.
So, in her memory we want to see as many youth bowlers take advantage of this scholarship program.
In the 2003/04 season the name was changed to the Gail Navarroli Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund was continued with the joining of the men’s, women’s & youth associations. The scholarship fund honours a senior bowler in the Youth Bowling program (one female and one male) with a $300 scholarship. In 2008, the amount was increased to $500 and in 2008 it was changed that if we have applicants of the same gender apply they will receive the scholarship but that one female and one male will take precedence.
A full list of application & submission requirements can be found in the link below. The full application and essay are due on the 30th of April each year to the Scholarship Committee. Best of luck to all applicants on the application process and in their chosen field of study.
Gail Navarroli Scholarship Fund – Application Form
Gail Navarroli winners