There has been a lot of talk that the high scores have driven away bowlers. Not sure who I saw say it first but they said..... "If easy scoreing has caused the decline in tenpins then Duckpins should be growing and not all but disapeared". Like I said not sure who said it but it sticks in my head like a nail from a nail gun. Point is there are many many many reasons. The best way to find out a cure is to ask the ones that have left the bowling as to the reason or reasons. Also what would it take for them to come back.
Good Point!
Any guesses on how many league secretaries call every team in person before each schedule starts to invite them back for the new season?
How many associations do those surveys and then follow up with phone calls?
In how many associations are the "dropped bowlers" from winlabs contacted individually at all?
How many members invite all the people they know to bowl in their leagues?
In how many centers is every customer informed of league times and openings, asked to join, and then helped to sign up?
I know of darn few bolwers who walk away from the sport because it's "too easy".
Frank
Welcome back Frank
Frank, nice to hear from you again, hope all is well with you and your association.
The most solvable reason why men and women left the game in the long ago survey I took while promoting a mid season hole filler was men and women whose teams or leagues had dissolved, noone asked them and they just did not try to find a league or team themselves. Others that were solvable included leagues too long, leagues not suitable for skill levels (couldl not get the hang of it so were not comfortable and noone around to help them), too expensive with top heavy prize lists, not comfortable with boozers, gamblers, civility. Problems that bowling centers should be able to deal with included cleanliness, safety (especially in parking lots), delays due to breakdowns, employee courtesy. ..It did not show up at all in the survey but the main problem with competitive bowling participation decreases I hear are from those who give it up because they cannot afford or do not want to play the 'arsenal' game.
Don Gates
atl10pnr:The best way to find out a cure is to ask the ones that have left the bowling as to the reason or reasons. Also what would it take for them to come back.
There is still a flaw with this philosophy. While you are putting all of this time and energy in attempting to get REAL answers as to why people have left, people are STILL LEAVING. The first solution is to stop the constant decline. That can only happen by finding out what problems CURRENT bowlers have with their situation and addressing those. Perhaps, the problems CURRENT bowlers have are the same, or very similar, to those of people who have left bowling? If those problems are first corrected, perhaps some will come back.
What good is making 17,000 survey calls to ex-bowlers, maybe getting 20-50 to come back IF another 400 are walking out the door because no one paid any attention to THEM? Perhaps we should STOP worrying about those that left and concern ourselves with those that are STILL HERE?!
Eaglehunter, there is no good reason not to do it all. Work to keep the ones in bowling continuing, the ones that come in continuing and the ones that have quit for solvable reasons back by solving the solvable reasons.
Don, you are correct...there is no good reason not to do it all. However, given the limited resources at work within the industry, at least as it pertains to this very topic, can anyone REALLY do it all? Is anyone doing all of this right now? Can USBC or BPAA really target the 5+ million bowlers who have left, then the 100s of thousands leaving yearly, then the 2.5 million still here?
Theoretically, yeah it should be done. Realistically though, you know in the REAL world, whose resources are going to get put to use to do it?
EagleHunter: Don, you are correct...there is no good reason not to do it all. However, given the limited resources at work within the industry, at least as it pertains to this very topic, can anyone REALLY do it all? Is anyone doing all of this right now? Can USBC or BPAA really target the 5+ million bowlers who have left, then the 100s of thousands leaving yearly, then the 2.5 million still here? Theoretically, yeah it should be done. Realistically though, you know in the REAL world, whose resources are going to get put to use to do it?
Eaglehunter,
I respectfully submit the local associations should be doing most of it using the volunteers who are elected and who volunteered their time to promote and support the game and sport. (At least that's what they are supposed to be doing)
I am talking about orphan bowler lists, etc.
League secretaries should be contacting every bowler who does not return.
The state associations should be working with national to get the necessary surveys made up and put in the hands of the local associations.
USBC at all levels should be making sure that happens. Period.
There is NO advertising and marketing program or campaign that substitutes in any way or compares to a simple personal phone contact or in person invitation from a bowler's peers, sincerely made.
Frank Britt
Thanks Cicada!
I have been around, but very busy and traveling a lot.
prunenow: Frank, nice to hear from you again, hope all is well with you and your association. The most solvable reason why men and women left the game in the long ago survey I took while promoting a mid season hole filler was men and women whose teams or leagues had dissolved, noone asked them and they just did not try to find a league or team themselves. Others that were solvable included leagues too long, leagues not suitable for skill levels (couldl not get the hang of it so were not comfortable and noone around to help them), too expensive with top heavy prize lists, not comfortable with boozers, gamblers, civility. Problems that bowling centers should be able to deal with included cleanliness, safety (especially in parking lots), delays due to breakdowns, employee courtesy. ..It did not show up at all in the survey but the main problem with competitive bowling participation decreases I hear are from those who give it up because they cannot afford or do not want to play the 'arsenal' game. Don Gates
Thanks Don,
All is well here except the state of the sport in general. The new center has experienced multiple construction delays but should open in the next few weeks, we are revisiting the local merge question and there is some membership support for that this time, so we may get it done. (for the right reasons and not because anyone mandates it)
Traveling, grand-kids (and great-grand-kids), along with bowling and association details keep me more than a little busy, and there have been few conversations here that I felt compelled to join in to........
frank_britt:There is NO advertising and marketing program or campaign that substitutes in any way or compares to a simple personal phone contact or in person invitation from a bowler's peers, sincerely made.
An ABSOLUTELY TRUE statement by Frank Britt.
Frank, while you are discussing merging don't forget the possibility of merging with other local associations, especially if they share newspaper, radio, tv media outlets and even if they don't where having a shared yearbook, shared inschool bowling kits, shared equipment needed to check and certify lanes, one office for office stuff, etal.
Frank, if you get arguments from any of your bowlers, if they are like skullpants and a few other posters, who think easy bowling conditions are linked then it follows that the gutter to gutter even distribution in place when bowling was on the rise should have been kept in place and returning to that would be good for bowling, none of this 3/1 instead of 2/1 now for sport conditions, get back to 1/1 which real bowlers and everyone else flocked to bowling centers to enjoy and quit when it was no longer available.
Frank, I agree with most of what you stated. But here is the problem with what you stated...simply "SHOULD." This goes right back to what I was saying to Don. I will give absolutely no argument that these types of things SHOULD be happening. The point is ARE they happening?
I would suspect that they are not. And I would argue (based on conversations/meetings within my association) that resources (time, money, etc.) are the main reason that these things are not done. So again, SHOULD it be done...absolutely. Is it being done currently...probably not.
That said, good luck with the merging process. Hopefully everything works out!
What the heck is going on?
Greetings, from the extremely irritated writer from Helena, AL. We have issues to cover today and I can promise you I am going to make some people mad and quite frankly that’s just too bad. It’s the start of the new league season and I have made it a point in many if not every article to say how much I absolutely hate Redenbacher Bowl (aka the Popcorn Mecca on 280). I don’t like the fact the counter people don’t pay attention to what is going on, although they have been getting better, I don’t like the fact the only time you see the manager is in the bar or when they are trying to sign up for new leagues. I don’t like the fact that they decided to completely change the shot last season in December, and I certainly don’t like the fact that announcing of “Popcorn is Ready” has become a trademark of a bowling center. Its apparent that I am not the only one who does not like it based on the fact the league that had 18 teams last season is down to 11 possibly 12 or if Oak Mountain could get their act together possibly 10. Here is how much Riverview is concerned with the Birmingham League Bowler: This year it is their turn to host the tournament and instead of giving the tournament full access to the house this center has allotted only 28 lanes. Are you kidding me? If Open Bowling and Birthday Parties are that important to your bottom line then why not pass on the tournament? Better question why even have league bowling? It’s no secret that previous management made the comment she didn’t care if she had league bowling or not. That was evident during previous tournaments and it is more than apparent than ever now. How could anyone in the USBCGBBA allow this to occur? How can we the league bowlers allow it to occur? It’s an easy answer no one knew it and whoever was on the tournament committee didn’t step up and tell Riverview that if they could not allow the tournament full access to 40 lanes then they would not be hosting the tournament. People once asked me to get involved in the Association, I told them that would not be a very good idea, and it is because of crap like this. You might think I am biased and that’s fine but you go back to last year at Lightning Strikes and you look how many times they used the full house. Speaking of Lightning Strikes, I heard something the other day that I honestly, can’t believe was said. I was told someone made the comment that last year at the City Open it looked like it was 1963 with white bowlers on one pair and black bowlers on another pair. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?!!!! There are things called friends and normally friends like to bowl together and there are things called clubs and clubs like to bowl together. Last I checked the KKK, Black Panthers or Chinese Triads (forgive me if I left any known racist organizations out) didn’t have bowling clubs and were not very active participants in the Birmingham Bowling Association, so for anyone to say that that looked racist is about the dumbest thing I have heard from anyone RED, YELLOW, BLACK, WHITE OR THE LITTLE GREEN MEN FROM MARS, regarding the city tournament. So help me if the Association Managers separate groups and friends to look politically correct this year I will not sit quietly and you may kick me out but I will not allow my friends to be intimidated by the ranting of an idiot. I will do it for you and tell anyone who is reading this or organizing this tournament if you think people who are the same race bowling together because they want to bowl together is bad thing, then you should seriously take a close look at yourself in the mirror because you are the one with the problem. So here is the bottom line regarding the City Tournament that is run in February and its only September: You are letting a center dictate to you that there will be one buffer lane between the tournament and some screaming bunch of kids, or some retards trying to see if they can hit the masking units, or the 80 year old grandmother with the screaming kids who is going to take forever or anyone of the many people Redenbacher Bowl sees as its priority customer, because it sure isn’t the City Open. Shame on you Riverview, shame on you Brunswick for allowing it to happen and shame on you Tournament Staff for allowing this to happen. Maybe I should forward this article to Brunswick Corporate and see what can be done to instruct their center to get their act together. What can be done to get out of this center, that answer is easy join another league in another house. So that is what I intended to do, I had decided since it was only 5 minutes from my house I was going to bowl the Trio League on Monday night at Oak Mountain. We arrived for the meeting at 8:00 and the goal was to get 28 teams. Guess how many show up? FIVE. Once again, are you kidding me? You put up a $6,000 first prize for a 3 man team and 15 people show up? What is going on? Is it the economy? Is it the time of day? Well let’s see: On Wednesday night at Vestavia the Karaoke Store League has a $20.00 fee and it starts at 8:30, I will answer my own question. No, that’s not it. Is it because it’s Oak Mountain? Oak Mountain is only 9 miles from Riverview, so that’s not it. What is it? I am honestly asking, because there is no excuse that the league was not only full but there should have been a waiting list. Tom Barberini had the idea that his early Sonic League would stay and bowl the late league as well. Well that didn’t happen. At our meeting we discussed possibly the people that were there to bowl late could bring teams into the Monday Night Sonic League, who oh by the way gives $5,000 for that league. I looked into it and then the Oak Mountain Aficionado himself, Paul Ealy, told me there was an average cap of 840. They are going to have 9 teams and could have a lot more but instead they have put a cap on the league. If I was the sponsor I would want to have as many people as possible bowling in the league, but it appears the league is not on the same page. Average caps in this day and age do nothing but promote sandbagging, and I am not even going to start beating that dead horse. I can’t say anything about this league I am not a member, my team has too high of an average. I hear they are meeting on Monday of next week to try to build the league up in order to retain the sponsor for next season. Here is an idea: Get rid of the average cap, publicize your league and promote to people who can get the word out. It looks like the late league as a Trio is not going to happen, now Tom wants to go to a Petersen Point League or try to see if more come put to the late Monday Trio next Monday in either case it looks like there is going to be something happening at 9:00 at Oak Mountain on Monday nights. In this day of hook in the box 200 average bowlers I do not understand the point of an average cap and if I was the sponsor I would question it as well. I have a responsibility to you my readers and Alabama bowling community to get things right and if I make a mistake I will glad to correct it. I take this article very seriously and most of the times you will see my opinions are strictly my own. Some times I point out things that are going on that not everyone may know about. A fellow journalist has made a mistake and but the research is confusing one part of the profile says one thing but yet the Sport Bowling site says differently: The first PBA Experience 300 in the State of Alabama was rolled by Daniel “The Gap” Meeks on January 31, 2007 in the PBA Experience League at Vestavia Bowl. Congrats to the bowlers in Dudley Mask and Don Best on your recent achievements and in no way am trying to diminish your accomplishments. I only wish I could bowl that well on a PBA Experience condition. I hope that will clarify the issue for everyone. In closing let me say this: This town does not support tournaments and that’s not a secret but it is beginning to look like this town is starting not to support leagues. The proprietors, managers, owners, and especially corporate offices need to look at the centers and try to find out what the heck is going on. Until next time…Its September GBBUSBCA get the tournament fixed NOW! Personal Thanks to everyone’s well wishes for my father, he is feeling much better and will be back bowling in 8 weeks. He appreciates everyone’s well wishes. I copied this article from www.alabamabowling.com and thought some of you might like to comment on it.
Greetings, from the extremely irritated writer from Helena, AL. We have issues to cover today and I can promise you I am going to make some people mad and quite frankly that’s just too bad.
It’s the start of the new league season and I have made it a point in many if not every article to say how much I absolutely hate Redenbacher Bowl (aka the Popcorn Mecca on 280). I don’t like the fact the counter people don’t pay attention to what is going on, although they have been getting better, I don’t like the fact the only time you see the manager is in the bar or when they are trying to sign up for new leagues. I don’t like the fact that they decided to completely change the shot last season in December, and I certainly don’t like the fact that announcing of “Popcorn is Ready” has become a trademark of a bowling center. Its apparent that I am not the only one who does not like it based on the fact the league that had 18 teams last season is down to 11 possibly 12 or if Oak Mountain could get their act together possibly 10. Here is how much Riverview is concerned with the Birmingham League Bowler: This year it is their turn to host the tournament and instead of giving the tournament full access to the house this center has allotted only 28 lanes. Are you kidding me? If Open Bowling and Birthday Parties are that important to your bottom line then why not pass on the tournament? Better question why even have league bowling? It’s no secret that previous management made the comment she didn’t care if she had league bowling or not. That was evident during previous tournaments and it is more than apparent than ever now. How could anyone in the USBCGBBA allow this to occur? How can we the league bowlers allow it to occur? It’s an easy answer no one knew it and whoever was on the tournament committee didn’t step up and tell Riverview that if they could not allow the tournament full access to 40 lanes then they would not be hosting the tournament. People once asked me to get involved in the Association, I told them that would not be a very good idea, and it is because of crap like this. You might think I am biased and that’s fine but you go back to last year at Lightning Strikes and you look how many times they used the full house. Speaking of Lightning Strikes, I heard something the other day that I honestly, can’t believe was said. I was told someone made the comment that last year at the City Open it looked like it was 1963 with white bowlers on one pair and black bowlers on another pair. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?!!!! There are things called friends and normally friends like to bowl together and there are things called clubs and clubs like to bowl together. Last I checked the KKK, Black Panthers or Chinese Triads (forgive me if I left any known racist organizations out) didn’t have bowling clubs and were not very active participants in the Birmingham Bowling Association, so for anyone to say that that looked racist is about the dumbest thing I have heard from anyone RED, YELLOW, BLACK, WHITE OR THE LITTLE GREEN MEN FROM MARS, regarding the city tournament. So help me if the Association Managers separate groups and friends to look politically correct this year I will not sit quietly and you may kick me out but I will not allow my friends to be intimidated by the ranting of an idiot. I will do it for you and tell anyone who is reading this or organizing this tournament if you think people who are the same race bowling together because they want to bowl together is bad thing, then you should seriously take a close look at yourself in the mirror because you are the one with the problem. So here is the bottom line regarding the City Tournament that is run in February and its only September: You are letting a center dictate to you that there will be one buffer lane between the tournament and some screaming bunch of kids, or some retards trying to see if they can hit the masking units, or the 80 year old grandmother with the screaming kids who is going to take forever or anyone of the many people Redenbacher Bowl sees as its priority customer, because it sure isn’t the City Open. Shame on you Riverview, shame on you Brunswick for allowing it to happen and shame on you Tournament Staff for allowing this to happen. Maybe I should forward this article to Brunswick Corporate and see what can be done to instruct their center to get their act together.
What can be done to get out of this center, that answer is easy join another league in another house. So that is what I intended to do, I had decided since it was only 5 minutes from my house I was going to bowl the Trio League on Monday night at Oak Mountain. We arrived for the meeting at 8:00 and the goal was to get 28 teams. Guess how many show up? FIVE. Once again, are you kidding me? You put up a $6,000 first prize for a 3 man team and 15 people show up? What is going on? Is it the economy? Is it the time of day? Well let’s see: On Wednesday night at Vestavia the Karaoke Store League has a $20.00 fee and it starts at 8:30, I will answer my own question. No, that’s not it. Is it because it’s Oak Mountain? Oak Mountain is only 9 miles from Riverview, so that’s not it. What is it? I am honestly asking, because there is no excuse that the league was not only full but there should have been a waiting list. Tom Barberini had the idea that his early Sonic League would stay and bowl the late league as well. Well that didn’t happen. At our meeting we discussed possibly the people that were there to bowl late could bring teams into the Monday Night Sonic League, who oh by the way gives $5,000 for that league. I looked into it and then the Oak Mountain Aficionado himself, Paul Ealy, told me there was an average cap of 840. They are going to have 9 teams and could have a lot more but instead they have put a cap on the league. If I was the sponsor I would want to have as many people as possible bowling in the league, but it appears the league is not on the same page. Average caps in this day and age do nothing but promote sandbagging, and I am not even going to start beating that dead horse. I can’t say anything about this league I am not a member, my team has too high of an average. I hear they are meeting on Monday of next week to try to build the league up in order to retain the sponsor for next season. Here is an idea: Get rid of the average cap, publicize your league and promote to people who can get the word out. It looks like the late league as a Trio is not going to happen, now Tom wants to go to a Petersen Point League or try to see if more come put to the late Monday Trio next Monday in either case it looks like there is going to be something happening at 9:00 at Oak Mountain on Monday nights. In this day of hook in the box 200 average bowlers I do not understand the point of an average cap and if I was the sponsor I would question it as well.
I have a responsibility to you my readers and Alabama bowling community to get things right and if I make a mistake I will glad to correct it. I take this article very seriously and most of the times you will see my opinions are strictly my own. Some times I point out things that are going on that not everyone may know about. A fellow journalist has made a mistake and but the research is confusing one part of the profile says one thing but yet the Sport Bowling site says differently: The first PBA Experience 300 in the State of Alabama was rolled by Daniel “The Gap” Meeks on January 31, 2007 in the PBA Experience League at Vestavia Bowl. Congrats to the bowlers in Dudley Mask and Don Best on your recent achievements and in no way am trying to diminish your accomplishments. I only wish I could bowl that well on a PBA Experience condition. I hope that will clarify the issue for everyone.
In closing let me say this: This town does not support tournaments and that’s not a secret but it is beginning to look like this town is starting not to support leagues. The proprietors, managers, owners, and especially corporate offices need to look at the centers and try to find out what the heck is going on.
Until next time…Its September GBBUSBCA get the tournament fixed NOW!
Personal Thanks to everyone’s well wishes for my father, he is feeling much better and will be back bowling in 8 weeks. He appreciates everyone’s well wishes.
I copied this article from www.alabamabowling.com and thought some of you might like to comment on it.
I'll comment:
...the first two paragraphs are absolutely huge and I got a headache trying to read through the first one alone, so I gave up trying to follow the rest of that mess.
