Scoops, Bowltech & Sandor..please read!
To Scoops, Bowltech and Sandor....and evertone else who cares about the future of bowling in Australia.
It is just this kind of dunderheaded thinking that has got our industry in the mess it's in. By your line of thinking, all lanes should be walled up so that novices can shoot big numbers without learning even the basics of the game and without practising or getting instruction. Let the 180 bowlers shoot bogus 300's and average 220. Allow the more experienced bowlers to shoot 300's at will. Let them post season averages of 240, 250, or even 260.
THEN, we should publicise this fraudulent insanity to keep experienced bowlers happy, and to recruit new bowlers.
WELL that is exactly what fools like you, the TBAL, WTBA, ABC/WIBC, BPAA and much of the leadership in our industry have been doing for the last 25 years. Look how well it has worked!!!
If we keep following the logical progression of your thinking, instead of 40,000 300's per year thrown by 2.5 million US bowlers, we will have 100,000 300's per year bowled by less than a million bowlers in the USA--why not?--one 300 for every 10 bowlers --including seniors, women, and novices. That is not a sport!!! You are the one who has been brainwashed!!!
What you guys are describing is recreational bowling, and there is nothing wrong with glow bowling, lousy bowler leagues, holiday leagues, and any format which brings bowlers to the lanes.
But, don't confuse this type of bowling with bowling as a SPORT.
Our proprietors and the powers that be in America, the ABC/WIBC/BPAA etc. have spent vast sums of dues monies...many, many millions of dollars, over the last 25 years promoting bowling as easy, fun and something that anybody can do....which is true!
They, and guys like you, have spent huge amounts of time and money trying to recruit new bowlers each season to join the national and world membership organisations, but the facts are that 70% of all new league bowlers quit within their first season. Plus over 10% of existing bowlers leave our sport every year.
So all we are really trying to do is replace some of the ex-bowlers with new recruits. But as any marketing person can tell you...it is a whole lot cheaper, less time consuming and a lot easier to KEEP existing bowlers than to recruit new ones. But, what have our proprietors done to keep existing bowlers happy so they want to return next season? In most centres, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED INTO BELIEVING THAT HIGHER SCORES WILL KEEP THEM RETURNING...and keep them from going to the lower scoring house down the road.
Not better service, not cleaner facilities, not more competitive conditions that keep the higher average bowlers from totally dominating their leagues with bloated averages. Not clinics, or promotions designed to improve their skill levels.
NO! JUST HIGHER SCORES!
Let's just imagine for a minute that your centre has done a fantqstic recruiting job and league participation numbers are up in the upcoming season. The battle has been won..but what about the war? What will you do to ensure that they have an enjoyable and fun experience in league bowling so they will return? Will you be setting up a mandatory orientation session which would teach new bowlers about lane courtesy, league fees, how to score, encourage them to go to the pro shop and purchase equipment that fits, or make sure they are in a league with bowlers of commensurate abilities? NO, you won't--that's the proprietor's job, right? WRONG!!!!
That is why 70% of new bowlers quit each year. They are signed up with enthusiasm, then put in leagues with experienced bowlers-...often including many high average players...given no instruction, and usually placed on the team with the guy (or couple) that nobody else wants to bowl with, they get their butts kicked every week, their hands hurt because they are using house balls or nobody has told them that your supposed to put the middle two fingers into the holes. These very same new bowlers are sometimes derided for lack of courtesy for walking up on another bowler, and made to feel embarrassed as their team is 100 points out by mid-season. Bowling, for them, suddenly is no longer fun and becomes a hated, sometimes painful chore and often an embarassing commitment. It is no wonder most quit!
It is more a testament to the beauty of our game that 30% do return. Most because they enjoy the social atmosphere of a night at the lanes. While you applaud the fact that bowling is on the rise because of glow bowling--how many of those glow bowlers become regulars, buy equipment, take lessons, or can be counted upon to come back over and over? Some, to be sure. But, many proprietors have found that glow bowling is in fact a fad. While it has certainly enhanced many centre's bottom lines, when the novelty has worn off, and the new cool trend is in vogue, how many new recreational centres with weak league bases will be decrying the loss of their guaranteed lineage? It is already happening in some centres, and will get much worse as glow bowling goes through the cyclical life of all 'fads'. Their certainly is an important place in our sport for the casual bowler, but the league and tournament player has been the backbone of our sport for over 100 years, and unless the losses of our most loyal participants/customers are stabilised, it will be a very rude awakening for those owners who have staked their considerable investments on the whims of casual bowlers with no emotional attachment to our SPORT.
If you doubt my qualifications or experience on this subject, I have been involved in the bowling industry for 30+ years, as an top-elite bowler, centre manager of four different bowls, certified instructor, pro shop owner and board member of several trade organisations, as well as being either sec'y/treas. or president of virtually every league I have bowled in for over 30 years.
upyours
