Is league boring ? Why ?

[petebowl]

So often I read on this forum that bowlers find league play boring or not exciting enough to ride their shots etc.......
If this is the case .....WHY do we find the main form of competition in our sport so ordinary ?
Other sports people I talk to, seem to find the weekly competition, that they are involved in,is the highlight of their week. (football, hockey, netball etc. )

QUESTION........
IF TENPIN BOWLING LEAGUES WERE ALL SCRATCH AND ALSO HAD GRADES (as most other sports have)
WOULD THIS
IMPROVE THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION AND INCREASE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE SPOPRT. ????????????

 

[bfcc]

hi pete i think it has alot to do with the length of the season, i am bowling in a 5 man team league on a wed night and we are bowling 43 weeks roughly it is a long time to keep the interest up .

 

[wchester]

I remember the last days of my junior career. (YES, they had bowling back then lol) I was worried that I wouldn't be accepted into the 925 SCRATCH LEAGUE and would have to bowl in the 850 LEAGUE.

BACK THEN, BOWLERS USED TO GET UP FOR ANY COMPETITION BECAUSE IT WAS SCRATCH!!!
Handicap changed all that. When was the last time you had any rivalries in your league?

 

[Sean M]

I think bfcc has hit the nail on its head. What other sport do you know of that runs every week and pretty much all year round. With the exception of usually 2-3 weeks of at Christmas, there is no "off season" to recharge the batteries and get the hunger back and running through the viens. Most sports are a once a week recreation, where as in our sport it is not uncommon to be bowling at least 2-3 times a week. (and then there's Tournaments on top of that)

I know myself after years of bowling I could really do with a good break from it all or at least cut but on the amount of bowling per week.

This may not be an answer to your question but its just my thoughts on why I think league bowling can get a bit boring to say the least.

Sean Marjanovic

 

[GeorgeF]

I'm not one to say if leagues boring or not because I rarely bowl it but I can offer a solution they came up with in the states which re-vitalised the league scene a bit.

It involves playing a different team or person every game. Seasons are divided in 2, Summer and Winter leagues, each going for about 24 weeks I recall. That applies for all leagues, grades and sexes. Here is the format for most of the leagues.

Eg. If you are playing in a 4 man team, you bowl 3 games. You move after every game and play a new team. That means within 1 night you play 3 teams on 3 different pairs.

EG.2. With singles it tends to be a little different, most of the leagues you bowl 4 games, playing someone different every 2. Which means you play 2 opponents every night.

Some people originally complained about moving (mostly the older generation) but after trying it for a little while it was fun to catch up with so many different people in the league and chat, people you probably wouldn't have spoken to that night. You play each team about 5 times more a season and get to mingle a little more.

If your starting a league, give it go. It's a bit of fun and something different. As for standing sheets, they are done weekly just like normal. Your average for that night remains over the 3 or 4 games you play until the week after where it may go up or down.

G

 

[CSP]

Is league play boring? is the question.

YES league play is boring, that is my answer.

The key word is INTEREST. You have to keep the average bowler and the new bowler INTERESTED!

Keeping the bowlers interested in the there weekly competition of Tenpin Bowling is create atmosphere in the centre. Have small prizes for them to compete for, also have music going while they are bowling. Make them happy and enjoy each week.

Don't place new bowlers in leagues where you have bowlers in it that have bowled for 20 years but are just a league bowler and think they know everything about the game. You will loose those new bowlers.

I agree with Pete about having all leagues scratch and have them graded. Average bowlers would feel more comfortable competiting against their average.

If a bowler wants to improve their game and start entering some tournaments, they should be suggested to enter a higher scratch league.

Maybe have junior leagues handicapped with one scratch junior league for your elite juniors in your centre or area.

Tenpin seasons do go too long, I agree. But especially in scratch leagues, their will be no prize fund for the average bowler to compete for. Unless sponsorship is involved.

My answer to Pete's question is:

Yes, this would improve the level of competition and get more people involved in our sport.

Centres are losing bowlers by the dozen, and something is needed to increase the popularity of Tenpin Bowling.

Just my thoughts.
Regards,
Christian

 

[sqeaks]

Is League boring.
Yes i find it very boring as at the moment i bowl a junior league and find it hard to even win one game as of the handicap, the other juniors in the league have high handicap and living in a country town there isnt many junior bowlers and most of them are of a young age so their handicaps are high. Also all the junior comps locally are handicapped so I never bowl them and i only sometimes bowl adult comps. Having a scratch league would be good but you would find many people wouldnt bowl it exspecially junior as they wouldnt think it as being fair. But bowling in an adult league is better as there is more competition and the standard of the bowlers is generally higher. Well this is just what i think.

 

[lukel]

Yes I know what you guys are saying, league does get boring, and yes, especially over long seasons, it is difficult to maintain anyone's interest.

The singles league that I bowl in I think has a rather unique setup... the season goes for the full year, but we only bowl about every second week and have a points system where you can move between 1 and 10th in a matter of a few weeks.
The handicap is also capped - anyone can beat anyone at a given time.

With this setup, we've found that we now have a number of people wanting to join up next year - when we cannot expand over 24 bowlers for lane availability.

It's probably that people are bored with the standard 3 games in a so many person team that's the same from one league to the next and something with those extra differences whether in the league format or just something within the centre as mentioned before with the music going or something, who knows...