Thank you Junior Gold staff for the changes to registration and practice squad times. 

 Now when a bowler chooses his or her squad time, that time locks in practice at all three houses (two fresh patterns and one on breakdown) and registration is no longer tied to home state, rather the squad the bowler chose.  

 Kudos to the Junior Gold event staff for their efforts.  I have a dozen *very* excited bowlers.

bowling fans, great!!  that's a change I lobbied for directly and had replies that there would be changes.

Another change I have lobbied for probably will not get far, and you probably don't think it should, but I think the scholarship awards should not go to those making the junior team and others in contention but should be up for grabs for all skill levels, match play for everyone based on how they do in qualifying right down to the very bottom.

I hope your son has improved and is ready to compete near the top but if he still falls short think he should be able to experience the fun of match play and maybe win a scholarship, competing in match play with his qualifying peers just as the very best compete for a spot on the junior national team. 

One of the major reasons I think it has little chance is my coupling of that with a thought that the entire bowling costs should be picked up by BPAA who should be involved in the site selections with BPAA involved in making bowling center cost deals that they pick up.

Junior gold members spend far more money than the average junior bowler and to reward them for that increased lineage, increased spending on bowling equipment I think BPAA and the ball companies could show their thanks for that support with greater support for the national tournament.

Don Gates

p.s., there was a time when AMF and Brunswick bore the costs of installing lanes for the national ABC tournament, a time when BPAA bore the costs of installing lanes for the national all star tournament.