Late Entry Forms

[froggy]

Hey everyone, Im having a bit of a problem and I was wondering if anyone else is having the same problem, your opinions are all welcome to the comments I am about to make.
Now I am a bowler and have been bowling competitively since 1998. This is my 3rd year out of juniors, so yes I am still a youth bowler.
I finally received an entry form for an upcoming youth tournament in the mail yesterday (3.11.02) and I was looking forward to maybe being able to bowl in a youth event, to find that this tournament is in 3 weeks time. Now I dont know what anyone else feels, but I honestly do not think 3 weeks is enough time to organise airfares if needed, accomodation, plus get the money together for the entry fee, plus living expenses whilst at the tournament. I wish I had the money to just fork out all of these expenses without hesitating, but not everyone can do this.
Now unless I receive an entry form in the mail, im not told about these tournaments, and until recently, I havent had the access to get on the net to check for new tournaments. I would love to get back into bowling the way I used to be, but without knowing whats on around the state, and without receiving entry forms, this isnt going to happen.
Is there anyway that these entry forms can get sent out to bowlers earlier? This may help in getting more bowlers from interstate for various tournaments.
Anyway this is just my opinion, people may think otherwise, or have their comments and please feel free to state them.

See ya's around

 

[Peter Coburn]

Froggy,

I don’'t know who you are, but if you received an entry form for LV and Werribee in the mail this week then you must be on my mail list.

I must apologise to all Youth bowlers for the lateness of this mailout but there were mitigating circumstances.

We actually had this ready to go to the printer in late November and then at the last minute we got the Latrobe Valley event ranked. We had to change the entry form and ultimately delay the printer. The printer was running these off for us for free and I believe this also messed him around a bit.

An electronic form of this entry was available for download in early December. Apart from mailing out a floppy of this file there was no quicker way of this getting to you prior to Xmas (if you don't have the Net).

Even with only 3 weeks notice, there arer still plenty of cheap airfares floating around, especially in January as business air travel is usually light on.

My suggestion to those bowlers interested in bowling some of the 2003 ranked events is to check out the 2003 Tournament Calendar, mark and plan your preferred events.

This calendar was posted on this site on the 31st Oct 2002.

 

[froggy]

Peter,
Yes these were the entry forms I received. Although they were not the only forms I was directing my comments to, they are what made me think and write my comments on here.
For some people, yes 3 weeks is enough time to find cheap airfares and things, as like you stated, this is a good time of the year for cheap flights, but being under 21, my weekly wage isnt exactly flattering, and trust me, 3 weeks notice is NOT enough notice to organise all of the above to go to a tournament.
As I stated before, until recently, I didnt have access to the internet to find out about tournaments and have a look at the calendar. What happens with people who do not have the internet? I know for a fact that not everyone in bowling has the internet, how do they find out about tournaments before the entry form goes out?
Now I am not complaining, at least we are getting the entry forms, for that I am glad, because last year I think I got about 2 entry forms over the whole year, I just wish they came a little bit sooner.

Leanne

 

[Peter Coburn]

Leanne,

Now I know who you are as you are the only Leanne on my mail list.

We also send half a dozen entry forms to each registered centre, but unfortunately not all centre staff actually put these out on display (especially if the tournament is not in their centre). It's a real shame as we spend over $200.00 in postage in doing so and really don't know if many of these actually get to the bowlers. Of course, that's $200.00 out of the prize pool.

Well, at least, we've equalled the number of entry forms received within the first few days of the year.

The lead time for Werribee should be OK. Even more so as we have a female division at that event.

FYI, I also emailed the electronic version of both these forms to you in early December. However, as they were quite large in size, most hotmail.com email addresses bounce back to me.

 

[froggy]

Peter,

I was not having a go at anyone for the lateness of entry forms, I was merely just stating my opinion.
Yes I received the emailled entry form, but I did not receive this until AFTER receiving the form in the mail. As I stated earlier, I did not have access to my email for a couple of months as we were having problems with our computer. Now that my computer is up and running properly, I will have access to all emails again. My main point though, is what happens with people who dont have the internet? Do they miss out because they are not notified early enough?
Anyway as I said earlier, I am not having a go at anyone for this, I was just stating my opinion.