Elliott makes her mark as 2024 PWBA Rookie of the Year
ARLINGTON, Texas- Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida, began her Professional Women’s Bowling Association career at the GoBowling! Twin Cities Open in Eagan, Minnesota, by making the stepladder finals, finishing fifth.
It was only the beginning for her.
Elliott was coming off NCAA and United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team and Singles Championships runs with Jacksonville State, which ended on April 20. With the start of the 2024 PWBA Tour season on May 2, it gave her just under two weeks to go from collegiate superstar to new face on the tour.
Prior to 2024, she had already collected a number of accolades: National Tenpin Coaches Association first-team All-American in 2021 and 2023; 2021 NTCA Bowler of the Year, NCAA Tournament MVP and NCAA Tournament champion with Nebraska; and three-time member of Junior Team USA.
This year saw her win the U.S. National Amateur Bowling Championships to earn a spot on Team USA, earn NTCA first-team All-American honors for the third time and end her collegiate career with another NCAA title, this time with Jacksonville State during its first year as a program. Elliott was also a semifinalist at the Intercollegiate Singles Championships and runner-up at the Intercollegiate Team Championships with Jacksonville State.
Elliott was able to use her collegiate experience to make an immediate impact on tour and make the first show of the season and her fourth overall show in four weeks.
“I feel like the collegiate season really allows you to focus on what you need to get better at to go out on tour,” said Elliott. “When you’re in college, you know you need to work on this and this. Then, you get to the pro circuit, and you go ‘holy cow, now I have a new set of things to work on,’ but now you have the basics of what you already learned in college and build off of that, which allows you to grow as a player.”
Elliott making the stepladder finals in her first event as a member was a preview of the level of consistency that she went on to show throughout the season.
She cashed in every event - making her the only American member to do so this season - made five match-play appearances, authored three top-12 finishes and earned a third stepladder finals berth during PWBA Championship Week at the Greater Detroit Open to solidify her spot as the top rookie of the season.
There is a difference in the type of player she was in Eagan during Week 1 compared to now, having completed a full season on tour.
“If I were to compare myself from then (in Eagan) to now, I’m a totally different player,” Elliott said. “I made every cut, so I got more experience from being able to bowl with players like Kelly (Kulick), Shannon (Pluhowsky), Verity (Crawley) and Diana (Zavjalova). They are some of the top players out here, so any time I made the cut, I went full send because it was going to give me the experience I wanted and might help me in future events.”
Once Elliott had a few events and cashes under her belt, her mindset became clearer for the rest of the season.
“Making a show wasn’t the first picture in my mind,” Elliott said. “It was make the cut and cash, then make top-12, then make the stepladder. It became a progressive stepladder I needed to get through in my mindset. Of course I wanted to make the show my first event. I thought it would be sick, and it just so happened to happen. But as I’ve been out on tour, there’s a process to everything. You have to make the cut because if you don’t, you don’t have the opportunity to make the show. I started layering what I had to do, and I believe that’s what made me so successful this year.”
Elliott considers herself an intense competitor, but she keeps the energy more light-hearted because bowling is not only a job, but a career in her eyes and something to enjoy with the other competitors.
“I want to enjoy the moment and not sit here and mope,” Elliott said. “I feel if I keep a positive energy, it also keeps everyone else’s energy lighter than what it could be. There are times where it’s hard to keep my head above water, but I know it’s going to be fine. It’s just one day of bowling and won’t be the end all, be all of things. Keeping a positive mindset like that, just give it my all, be happy and make people laugh.”
While she didn’t make it to the winner’s circle this season, she’s not too worried because she knows her time is coming after a great start to her professional career.
“It would’ve been nice to win this year, but realistically speaking, I’m competing with the best in the world. When the time is right, the time is right,” Elliott said. “Right now isn’t my time to win, and that’s OK. I can come back next season and hopefully win.”
The 2025 PWBA National Tour season starts in May in Topeka, Kansas.
