Growing up in the small Baltic country of Latvia, odds were greater an athlete like Diana Zavjalova would excel at a sport that involved ice or snow. It was a trip to the local bowling center when she was 9 or 10 that changed everything, though.
Zavjalova, a rising star on the Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour, comes from a country where bowling is an obscure, mostly recreational, sport that had no pedigree in international competition.
A country of just two million people that borders Estonia, Russia and Lithuania, Latvia had never won a medal in the European or world adult or youth championships until 2008. At the 2008 European Youth Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Zavjalova broke through and won three medals for her country.
"Bowling isn't big at all in Latvia," Zavjalova said. "Most people don't consider bowling a sport. All my non-bowler friends can't believe I bowl, and I have to tell them it's a sport."
Despite bowling's lack of respect in her home country, Zavjalova's road to international and PWBA success was one familiar to most elite-level bowlers. She got the bug for bowling from her father.
"My dad bowled when I was like 9 or 10, and he had one ball and shoes," Zavjalova said. "He was just going bowling for fun, and he brought me with him. I fell in love with the sport from the very first day, and I've been doing it ever since."
It took a few years for Zavjalova to realize she could excel at bowling, but once she committed to the sport, there was no holding her back.
"After three years, I finally got my own balling ball and shoes, and I was fortunate to have a coach from Australia, Sid Allen, and he recognized I had some talent," Zavjalova said. "I'm a very dedicated person, and he said I had talent, so I wanted to be the best at this. I did like pretty much every sport when I was growing up. I was dancing, skateboarding, karate, playing piano, bowling and I had to pick. Bowling was the one I picked."
Her success as a youth bowler for Latvia helped Zavjalova attract not only the attention of her fellow bowling peers, but also college coaches from Webber International. Zavjalova would go on to win the Intercollegiate Team Championships in 2012 and the Intercollegiate Singles Championships in 2014.
"When I graduated high school, my coach told me about college bowling," Zavjalova said. "I didn't even know there was college bowling because there's no such thing in Europe. I picked Webber International because the Kegel Training Center was close, and it worked out very well for me. I loved college bowling because you make friends from all over the place."
Bowling in college helped set the stage for where Zavjalova finds herself today, as one of the stars of the newly rekindled PWBA Tour. She won the 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open over the summer for her first career title.
"The PWBA has been a lot of fun, and it's a challenge," she said. "I love challenges. It's been really tough, but it's been really awesome. I'm really glad the PWBA Tour is back."
