Daria Pająk

Daria was born in Piła to Bozena and Miroslaw Pająk, the latter of whom is a former bodybuilder.[1] She was 6 years old when the first bowling centre opened in Poznań, Poland in 1999.[2] At the age of 11 she won her first National Youth Championship and was selected to represent Poland in the European Youth Championship.

When she was 16, she won every Major Championship in Poland, both youth and adult. Outside of Poland, she initially struggled. She worked with coach Costas Mitsingas a few years and, in 2012, Daria went to Webber International University in Florida. In four years of college, she was a part of a team who won the NAIA championship twice and the Intercollegiate Team Championship,[3] the biggest title of college bowling.

After college, she participated in a few tournaments on the PWBA Tour and PBA Tour. Daria performed well enough that some bowling companies signed her as a pro staff athlete. She qualified second for the USBC Queens, made match play at the U.S. Women's Open, and finished in the top eight at the PBA World Series of Bowling Cheetah Championship.

Finding success in the professional scene, she applied for a pro card and bowl on the PWBA Tour professionally. She won her first PWBA title in the 2017 PWBA Greater Detroit Open[4] and finished second to USBC Hall of Famer Liz Johnson in the U.S. Women's Open.[5]

She was named PWBA Rookie of the Year in 2017.[6]

In 2018, she continued the PWBA tour in the United States, and also appeared in some European Bowling Tour (EBT) tournaments.

In June 2021, Pajak was invited to participate in the PBA King of the Lanes: Empress Edition event that was televised nationally in the US on Fox Sports 1. She won her first challenge match and held the Empress position for two more rounds, earning $25,000.[7]