Need some advise

Why don't children/youth bowl?

  • Cost?

    Votes: 54 64.3%
  • It's a dorky/nerdy sport.

    Votes: 38 45.2%
  • No bowling centres near by so my parents won't take me

    Votes: 5 6.0%
  • Mum and Dad won't let them

    Votes: 6 7.1%
  • I thought it was for old people

    Votes: 3 3.6%

  • Total voters
    84
S

sampson1791

OK Junior Bowlers answer me this.
If your mates/friends don't bowl why not?
 
most of my mates dont bowl because they see it as a game and not as a sport.
when i say i have to go to coaching they say 'its only bowling i mean why would you need coaching everyone can do it'. thats why i think many junior/youth dont bowl.
 
by the time many people reach their teenage years they think of bowling as dorky & not a sport 'just for fun'..we need to get kids early ...the sport gets in their blood and they love it & keep it up....parents don't like the costs but if a kid loves something parents will pay....it needs to be their favourite sport...it is probably less expensive than some things say..'ballet' for a lot of girls or music or tennis but parents pay because their child is good at it and enjoys it. bowling is a great sport & a great social equaliser..if a kid grows up bowling and has many friends through bowling and enjoys it they will keep at it & love it.......encourage the young kids and eventually the sport will grow.:)
 
I think MR.PWHITE has hit the nail on the head
In the eyes of the general public not just juniors Ten Pin Bowling is regarded as a game not a sport.
Maybe some juniors (and Seniors) need to be taken by the hand and given a bit of encouragement and some coaching
But gee theres a shortage of coaches (well down this way there is)
And trying to get coaching courses run here in Vic to get more qualified coaches is somewhat becoming a joke
 
its true its true.

i started bowling when i was 2 but my first nationals was when i was 6, thats when i first started actually thinking of it as a sport.

when the kids are young, they do it for fun but they end up getting coached and start going to tournaments. but its not only that....

if you ask alot of bowlers, their family also bowled. my dad bowled and was the author of the level 1 coaching course for aus, my mum bowled, all my older brothers bowl, and i do too. it runs in the family. the success rate of people bowling competitively for a long time would probably be higher if they started young and were born into a bowling family.

my theory has always been that once all of todays youth bowlers have families of their own, the number of junior bowlers will increase coz we'll all be teaching our kids to bowl.

until then, its setting up more junior leagues, encouraging more youth and adults to do the level 1 coaching course so they can teach the youngens, more advertising, and more junior tournaments (even ones meant for very young bowlers).

thats what i think....
 
more junior tournaments (even ones meant for very young bowlers).
thats what i think....
That's exactly what we need to develop kids to play our sport. Many kids that start before the age of 10 get discouraged by the sport because the only leagues that are on offer are those without bumpers or they have to bowl against kids a lot older then them (say 15 or 16).
My little sister (who is seven) often gets dragged to tournaments along with me and my brother and often has to sit there and watch other people bowl for a full weekend, most of them with an average 100 pins above her. Although this might motivate her to bowl harder so she can one day make this stage, what happens if she gets discouraged because she can't at that level??? What i'm basiclly trying to say is that she may not be good enough to bowl in tournaments for those higher average bowlers now...but what if she was allowed to bowl in a tournament more her level with the usage of bumpers so that she can get a feel towards this before she makes the step into tournaments like Sydney Cup???
As for everyone else thinking that ten pin is only a game, let people think that, there's plenty of people out there that think skate-boarding is a sport as well, but i see it has a leisure activity. Different people have different oppinons, so let them think what they want, it allows you to do the same.
 
hey,
im 13 and my dad wouldnt let me bowl and then when i moved into my mums house i could bowl. im in a league where it costs $20 to participate. so :confused::confused: so i put my vote on cost and parents wont let them.
 
Many Of My Friends Think Bowling is just for fun... and that there is no Satisfaction or feeling that you have Achieved anything. My mums partner feels and thinks exactly the same way.. He often says "Bowling isn't everything" or "there's more to life then bowling"... I think that if Juniors/Youth Bowlers where Encouraged.. By Telling them.. "hey, there are plenty of Juniors your age Bowling, Bowling is a great way to meet new people, socialise and improve your game".

I Have been bowling for about 7 years. And I have never looked back, i bowl with the best people, have lots of fun and still improve on my game most weeks.
 
I know that there are many reasons that kids/youth do not bowl.
As someone who not only bowls, but works at a bowling centre I can tell you that parents have a major influence on what their children do. There have been an endless amount of times Ive tried to recruit new kids and as keen as the kids are the parents dont even give it a chance. They much prefer their child play something like soccer or tennis...where the big bucks are in later years rather than the kid doing something that he/she really enjoys.
Another factor is certainly the cost. Though personally I dont think there is really too much cost involved unless the child wants to step up and become a more serious bowler ie; Presidents Shield, Nationally Ranked Events etc.
Thirdly, I know that there are people out there who see bowling as a "nerdy" sport. When I first began bowling and kids at school found out they scoffed and thought it was stupid. They soon woke up to themselves when I was practising one afternoon and they saw me throwing the ball, which led to the usual questions "Are you good?", "Whats your best score?", "How do you make the ball spin like that?".

I think all that we need to do to get younger people into the sport is encourage them.
Speak to the parents, let them know what its all about and where their child can go. Set up workshops and training programs for kids so they can develop their style, stuff like that...
 
I have been bowling for awhile, and i love the game. 99.9% of my friends at school. do not bowl. there is the odd 1 or 2. that do as in league etc.
And i have not seen very many up coming, or new bowlers starting this game. which really annoys me, i tried 2 get my friends into it from school, but they say its a weird sport, and its 2 costly. Our centre does try to run free training days a few times a year we have a level 2 performance coach and who comes in free of charge and then runs, drills and hints etc. And then comes the lack of coaches for other centres if u were going to run this sort of idea.

But Just of my own thoughts maybe to try and help get younger people into this sport you could

1. Run free training days, or get to know the sport.
2. Try and get the sport out there, try and get kids to realise that it is actually a sport, and not a game.
3. Where you can end up, Australian Bowler?, making state teams

Some of this may not make anysense but i needed to get this out, and try and tell my opinion on this story, hope if anyone can benefit from this.


Matt.S
 
Honestly, bowling's "just not cool" as a sport. Like others have mentioned, a weekend game with mates is one thing, but going back week after week... it doesn't have status.

Same reason why lawn bowls isn't as popular with young people as with senior players. I'm not putting lawn bowls down either, that's just how it is.
 
Thank you to all.

I am the local association president (first time) and I watch my boy (10) bowl every Thursday. He went from Bumpers (about 5 kids now just 2) to No bumpers and bowling against 2 others (both in high school).
It frustrates me no end when we could even get a Junior Country Cup Team but then one of the girls says "nahh not interested".... so then there's no team.

I am going to get some materials from the TBA and speak to all the primary schools in the area (about 5 or 6) and then do the same to the secondary schools too.

We have just 4 or maybe 5 adult leagues Mon night, Tue night, Fri monring & night and one disability league.

Our Country Cup Team has 5 Senior Shield members in the Men and the Womens is about the same. There are only 4 to 6 men and women in the 19 - 35 age bracket bowling in Association Teams - Geez in 3 to 5 years there won't be any teams coming out of the East Gippsland at this rate!!!
 
I am going to get some materials from the TBA and speak to all the primary schools in the area (about 5 or 6) and then do the same to the secondary schools too.
Might pay to ask you centre if they've done this, so you don't give the appearance of a left hand not knowing the right... We all know AMF != Associations, but the public doesn't...

It's a good idea, and I'd say do it, but be knowledgeable in what AMF's already told them so as to complement it, and work with them
 
Thanks for the heads up JWhitty!!

We have a privately owned centre & no other AMF within 200 kms of us here in Gippsland. I will speak to our centre owner and see what we can come up with.

Like nearly everyone we need junior bowlers!!

Thanks to all once again
 
I know that here in Mildura we had a little bit of success recruiting the younger bowlers (6-13ish) with the promotion of the Simpsons Ball league, where at the end of the league the bowler gets a Simpsons bowling ball.

I think for league it doesnt really matter if they are bowling it as a sport or just for something to do each week. To keep them interested they need to primarily ENJOY bowling.
For eg: if a young teen, 13, joins an afterschool junior league and the bowlers that are alredy there dont say gday, or encourage him/her with high fives for a strike or spare, or talk to them, then they're not likely to want to come back next week..
Its the same with the adults. I bowled in a league last year at Keon Park. I know it's a pretty easy center with pretty high scoring all the time. but the fact is the people that I bowled with and against were some of the best people I have ever met through bowling. I didnt particulary care about the scores, I went first and formost to have fun..

I think another factor more for the teenagers, would be not that it is a dorky sport, i think thats just an excuse, but that they are embarrased to bowl with people that are better than they are. They feel stupid or dumb beacuse they got a gutter, only knocked down 3 pins and bowled a 97 when the person next to them is bowling 150+ each time..

So possible solutions would be;

-Start a new league with completely new bowlers. Possibly use incentives like a Simpsons ball at the end of the season.
-Start it as a FUN league. If the bowler likes it enough then they will eventually ask more questions.
-Try and get your staff to do a Proficiency Course. This way they can help the new bowlers with the basics like, follow through and the 4 step approach. They can also help the coaches.
-Have a staff member or even a more experienced junior/youth bowler with the junior leauges to give the encouragement that they need, answer any questions and tell them about bowling in tournaments.
-To boost recruitment, give your staff an incentive. Eg: for every bowler that bowls the 1st 6 weeks, that you recruited, we'll give you $10. 10 bowlers X 6 weeks X $10 = $100 in pocket.

I was born into a bowling family like Michelle was, so Ive been in this sport for all my entire life. These are just some ideas, observations and experiences of mine and I hope that they can help..
 
for my mates they think that it is a just a game for fun and that they can not believe the cost and that it can be as competitive as it is.. but they enjoy it as fun but think that it is too expensive as welll which i can understand as i have been bowling for tooo long. but on the other hand they think that it is for people who are dorks and nerds cause they see it as some place where they could meet people and plus it hard as bowling alleys are not near a lot of my friends..
 
u have to be broguth up in a bowling enviroment i reackon if i wasnt brought up around bowlin i would neva of done it it's not a cool sport so to speak to most teenangers
 
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