THE
10TH
ANNIVERSARY
OF
YET
2019.06.24
The Youth Euro Trophy celebrates today its 10th anniversary! For us it is of course a reason to look back to 2009, the year that YET was created and entered its first year of existence.
The idea of YET, to create a tour analogue to the EBT but for youth players, came up for the first time during the EYC 2005 in Wommelgem, Belgium. It was an idea of Gerard van Dam and Arny Goossens.
When Gerard van Dam died two years later to early the idea was put into the freezer until Arny found with Louis van der Heijden the perfect person to replace late Gerard. Louis and Arny worked during the next 2 years to find a playable format for the tour. In the beginning the idea was not supported by ETBF, today it is fully supported.
The first committee members of YET
On 25th of October 2008, during the 13th International Youth Tournament of J.I.C. Sinjoor in Wommelgem, Belgium, a meeting took place and it was decided to kick-off officially the YET-tour in the season 2009-2010. The first committee members of YET were:
- Arny Goossens, President YET
- Renate Robeyns, Secretary YET
- Ben Pottiez, IT-responsible and webmaster YET
- Herman Rousseau, Treasurer YET
- Eric Courault, DHN French National Teams
- Patrick Hunter, Organizer Jeff de Bruges, Paris, France
- Louis van der Heijden, Organizer BBWZ, The Hague, The Netherlands
- Bettina Lund, Secretary of the NBF
- Alex Hamilton, Organizer Brittish Open, Nuneaton, UK
- Michael Holzapfel, Organizer German Open, Duisburg, BRD
- Phil Gleeson, Junior Bowling UK
The first edition of YET
The first edition of YET (2009-2010) consisted of 5 tournaments, played in England, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Germany. The success was unexpected! More than 200 players participated in the first edition. YET was born and meant to live for many years!
During the following years a lot of changes occurred to the original version. A lot of committee members of the first moment disappeared, a lot of tournaments were moved to another bowling alley.
The only 2 tournaments, which after 10 years are still played in the same bowling alley are the Junior Open in Dublin, Ireland, and the International Youth tournament J.I.C. Sinjoor in Wommelgem, Belgium.
Today the tour consists of 7 tournaments
Today the tour consists of 7 tournaments. In the season 2019-2020, the anniversary edition of YET, the tour will have following stops:
| September | 2019 | The English Red Rose Open, Southampton, UK |
| October | 2019 | The J.I.C. Sinjoor International Youth Tournament, Wommelgem, Belgium |
| November | 2019 | The Junior Irish Open, Dublin, Ireland |
| November | 2019 | Jeff de Bruges, Moussy-le-Neuf, France |
| February | 2020 | Columbia 300 Open International Youth Tournament, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands |
| March | 2020 | Koge Youth Masters, Koge, Denmark |
| March | 2020 | Youth Challenge Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |
| May | 2020 | The YET Grand Finals, Berlin, Germany |
The Grand Finals have been hosted in France
The Grand Finals have been hosted during 8 years by the Company Valcke in France, first in Rouen, later in Reims. After the season 2016-2017 Valcke stopped the support to the tour.
In May 2018 the Grand Finals were organized in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands, and in May 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In May 2020 the Grand Finals will be played in Berlin with the support of Bowling World Germany as an introduction, because Bowling World Germany will add its own tournament to the tour 2020-2021, most probably in September 2020 and in Berlin, Germany.
10 years later, YET is composed
Today, 10 years later, the Daily Board of YET is composed as following:
- Arny Goossens, President
- Louis van der Heijden, Treasurer
- Ole Kristensen, Secretary
- Monica Koudstaal, General Organization and Rules
- Geert Huyskens, Score keeping and Rankings
The Daily Board is completed with the managers of all participating tournaments.
After 10 years more than 2000 players participated in at least one of the tournaments, a reason for the Daily Board to continue for another many years with the organization of the YET tour. Long live YET!
Arny Goossens
President