By Lisa Gentes

Every Saturday morning, they wake up early and head to 558 Columbia Road in Uphams Corner. Up the old staircase, past the renovated pool hall, sits a six-lane, hardwood floor bowling alley nestled in the corner room. There's no eating, no drinking, and no swearing allowed. And no peeking at the handwritten score board. "Are you all through? Do you want to go home?" Mr. Hubbart asks those brave enough to skip past the lanes and check out their scores.

"Second place! Second place! Can you say second place?" chants 14-year-old Eric Norman, who won the senior division second-place title in the Hubbart Youth Bowling Program Tournament held Saturday at Columbia Bowl, the oldest candlepin bowling alley in Boston.

Thirty-one youngsters, ranging in age from eight to 14, practice bowling at the 72-year-old Dorchester lanes as part of the Hubbart Youth Bowling Program, established seven years ago by Roslindale native Benjamin Hubbart. The former professional bowler and International Candlepin Association Hall of Famer, with the help of a small staff of volunteers, teaches the group of schoolchildren bowling techniques, along with discipline and motivational skills, every weekend from September-April.

"The main thing to accomplish our goals is having the kids away from the teen violence, the gangs, the smoking and the drugs," Hubbart, a court officer for the state legislature, said. "What do you want to be? Tell me."

"We polish up some of the new flowers and see them blossom," the instructor said of his students. "These kids love bowling. They've got tons of energy. You've got to know when to tell them to be quiet and when to pat them on the back."

On Saturday, amid the crackling of pins and occasional reprimands, the youngsters received Red Sox gym bags, new radios, cash prizes and lots of pats on the back from their instructors for their performance in the tournament.

State Senator Jack Hart made an appearance to help reward the children and present a $100 check to the organization "for a better year next year." Hart said the bowling program is "such an important part of what our neighborhood is about."

The Hubbart Youth Bowling Program is funded by donations and the staff of volunteers, who often reach into their own pockets to provide for their crop of little bowlers.