Michael Nyitray of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a USBC Gold coach who has developed a program to provide long-term coaching to youth bowlers, has been selected by the USBC Youth Committee to receive the 2009 USBC Kerm Helmer Horizon Award.

Named in honor of the team founder and longtime bowling coach at Erie Community College, the award recognizes leaders in the bowling community who have displayed the courage, determination and ability to develop far-reaching programs of national scope that provide fun and exciting opportunities for bowlers.

"Being selected for this award is a tremendous honor, especially given for whom the award is named for," Nyitray said. "While I never personally met Kerm Helmer, I know many former collegiate bowlers who had and all of them had nothing but glowing praise for him and all that he did for young bowlers."

Nyitray, 46, has an extensive bowling background that includes stints as head coach of the Thailand and Saudi Arabia national teams. In 2000, he created his "Junior Master Certificate" (JMC) Program for youth bowlers seeking long-term coaching. The program has a unique scoring system in which points are awarded on the quality of performance during specific drills. It takes the student's mind off the score and puts it on the task at hand. Success is rewarded with framed certificates.

Since 2005, Nyitray has been the owner and operator of WorldMike's Pro Shop. During the past few seasons he helped with building a bowling program at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami.

"For the first two seasons Michael volunteered his time to help the assigned coaches (at Gulliver)," said Ana Koff, in nominating Nyitray for the award. "With the school very happy with Michael's performance with both the kids and the parents, they have now hired Michael as their head coach for both the boys' and girls' varsity bowling teams."

Koff, the parent of two children who have trained with Nyitray, mentioned how Nyitray's coaching system gave her kids tangible goals "while simultaneously keeping their attention and enthusiasm during training." Her son, Andrew, recently made 2009 Junior Team USA while her daughter, Ana, earned a medal in each event of the Junior B division at the Tournament of Americas last year.

"For me, it's the ultimate highlight when a client calls or e-mails me to tell of his or her success," said Nyitray, the 2008 USBC David Dahms Coach of the Year award winner. "It doesn't matter if it's to report they finally have their spare game under control or winning their first tournament title or, for that matter, any other type of personal improvement.

"What does matter is that person's quality of life has improved and I helped make that happen. Nothing can be more gratifying. It is a big reason why I coach. I enjoy helping people."

Nyitray will be presented the award at the USBC Convention in Reno this spring. To learn more about USBC awards and this year's USBC Convention, visit bowl.com.