Ranked events thoughts

[RobbieB]

The '8 pins' thread got me thinking about how the ranked events numbers can be helped. Some random ideas off the top of my head...

Make everyone who bowls eligible for ranking points, but only give cashers points. It should be difficult to get onto the Aussie rankings lists, as it stands anyone can buy points.

If you are not a silver member, add the cost of upgrading to the entry. Don't howl it down yet, there is a reason.

Set up one pair as a video pair. Give every bowler who wants it a cd with their games on that pair, maybe also a dartfish clip on it of them bowling (maybe a small fee to cover cd costs, w/e)

Put aside a 2-3 hr block in the tourney schedule (after qualifying, whatever) where all entrants can have access to people to help them with their games. This might take a 'multi-station type setup, with say Batson giving a spiel on rep pathways, a decent coach on the lanes helping with mechanics, a competent fitter helping with grip checks, and maybe a physics & layout seminar, ball reps etc. Change the programs and modules offered from event to event. Silver members only (hence the fee above). The extra $$$ from more silver mships should cover the cost of sending the cameras about the place, and Chris is at most of these with the NTS anyway. Make it an EVENT.

Have a lower entry fee for lower averages who are mostly donating anyway. Or, set aside some of the prize fund from any entry with less than say 180 average into a graded or handicap pool to be split among those bowlers only.

Friday night pro-ams, to help raise awareness of who our elite bowlers are. Use these as fundraisers for international team support.

Get a ball company to support the event by having a special on a latest release ball that is only available to entrants.

Sunday am Baker event, max 2 cashers/cut bowlers per team. Warmup for matchplay, have some fun, put on a show for the spectators (extra entry fee obv.)

Flame away.

 

[amagill]

Some good ideas there Robbie, whether or not they are feasible is another question, but good ideas all the same.

 

[GeorgeF]

I always wondered why pro-ams werent promoted in this country. I mean how often to the best bowlers in the country get to play in your local centre? If you owned or managed a bowl and you have only 1 tournament for the year in which the best bowlers in the country were going to be there wouldnt you promote the hell out of it? Why wouldnt you run a little pro am for your locals, allow them to see what makes the elite, elite.
It not gives you a little more linage but also promotes the 'SPORT' aspect of bowling which is what we desperately need.

Not a big fan of giving 180 avg bowlers a discount, I know the logic behind it however it instantly spells 'sandbagging' to be..... Best leave it as it currently is

Juniors/Youth however is a whole different story, I think there should be a discounted entry for them

BUT.... ... why dont we run the NSW Junior /Youth Open with the Adult NSW Open? Gives the younger bowlers a chance to bowl against some of their idols, lets them compete in their own seperate tournament and prizefund and makes the transition to adult not so scary as they have already bowled against most of them. They do this in NZ and it works a treat. Also looks better when tournament directors approach sponsors and say 'yes we have 150 people participating', more bang for your buck from a sponsors point of view, more exposure.

Some of your ideas have merit robbie, some not so much.... good thread though

 

[Michael Little]

The '8 pins' thread got me thinking about how the ranked events numbers can be helped. Some random ideas off the top of my head...

Make everyone who bowls eligible for ranking points, but only give cashers points. It should be difficult to get onto the Aussie rankings lists, as it stands anyone can buy points.

If you are not a silver member, add the cost of upgrading to the entry. Don't howl it down yet, there is a reason.

Set up one pair as a video pair. Give every bowler who wants it a cd with their games on that pair, maybe also a dartfish clip on it of them bowling (maybe a small fee to cover cd costs, w/e)

Put aside a 2-3 hr block in the tourney schedule (after qualifying, whatever) where all entrants can have access to people to help them with their games. This might take a 'multi-station type setup, with say Batson giving a spiel on rep pathways, a decent coach on the lanes helping with mechanics, a competent fitter helping with grip checks, and maybe a physics & layout seminar, ball reps etc. Change the programs and modules offered from event to event. Silver members only (hence the fee above). The extra $$$ from more silver mships should cover the cost of sending the cameras about the place, and Chris is at most of these with the NTS anyway. Make it an EVENT.

Have a lower entry fee for lower averages who are mostly donating anyway. Or, set aside some of the prize fund from any entry with less than say 180 average into a graded or handicap pool to be split among those bowlers only.

Friday night pro-ams, to help raise awareness of who our elite bowlers are. Use these as fundraisers for international team support.

Get a ball company to support the event by having a special on a latest release ball that is only available to entrants.

Sunday am Baker event, max 2 cashers/cut bowlers per team. Warmup for matchplay, have some fun, put on a show for the spectators (extra entry fee obv.)

Flame away.

Some interesting points Robbie, giving the cashers only points is potentially not a bad idea, the only flaw being each tournament is different and different places obtain cash. If it were uniform it could be possible, but a better way would be to possibly just adjust the points spots to top 20-30 or something.

All bowlers who play national tournaments should be Silver level to bowl anyway. But I see your point, I think regardless of what part of the bowling industry the focus is on be it tournaments, social play, birthday parties, pro shops, in todays day and age, all businesses or events need to 'value add' to increase participation/satisfaction/return business. Your ideas on value adding to tournaments is a good one and some simple things to complete that have been lost over time. George is also right, the days of pro ams have gone out the window and there is no real reason why they cannot be resurrected the evening prior. I know it used to be done quite successfully back when I first start bowling Rachuig and was always a fun time but gave aspiring bowlers an opportunity to see the skill level state bowlers possessed, unfortunately the eroding of the Rachuig comp has probably screwed this somewhat.

One thing I would suggest is that to value add instead of people coughing up for Silver lever memberships they should already have, is to 'value add' to the tournament with some of the set ups you have suggested, ie adding 10-20 to the entry fee, gets you a 15 min session of video analysis and a CD or web file to keep etc, then people can best choose if it is for them or not. Regardless of what is added to a tournament, advertising is the key though and not just highlighting this feature the week prior to a tournament.

With regard to lower entries for lower averages, I agree again with George on this one, I don't see an advantage to this in encouraging entries (obviously you will get a couple here and there) but I would rather suggest giving those discounts to the juniors and youth bowlers, who need the encouragement and help to save their long suffering parents the dollars too. It also deserves some merit in combining certain events too as George suggested, ie NSW Open and say Melbourne Cup or Australian Open etc. Their used to be junior and youth events with these titles, but unfortunately only a few exist these days. But it does and should give up and coming juniors and opportunity to develop a taste of bowling in tournaments after they age out and potentially give them an increased desire to continue in the sport, I know we have some genuinely talented young kids here in Newcastle, but as per usual, only a handful will probably continue on with the sport to the level they can potentially achieve.

But like everything else, there has to be someone to organise, cough up the sponsorship dollars (can't always be ball companies or distributors) and generally promote a system/event. Much like the push for increased membership, there will be some short term pain for hopefully longer term gain. The problem will be finding people willing to suffer it to start.

 

[Brenton_Davy]

Rob,

Your idea re the Friday night Pro-am would struggle in todays environment as most bowlers fly in on the Saturday morning to save money on accomodation. Usually very few bowlers turn up the day before to practice these days. IN addition, I believe that the pro ams we used to have in the "good old days" are a bit of a thing of the past partially due to the fact that people see high scores on a regular basis every night in league. As a result, there is very little reason in most peoples minds to come out and watch the best bowlers in Australia come out and throw numbers the same or worse than those ordinary league bowlers can see every week night on a THS.

30 years ago we used to get really good numbers turn up for Pro Ams, but thoise numbers dwindled over the years, at a rate commensurate with the increase in scoring at league level. Why do you think the Pro Ams in the PBA are all bowled on THS's. I think we would get better turnouts if there were clinics rather than a Pro Am, aimed more at juniors because I think they would be more likely to get involved and would also be more appreciative.