Sports Series for Sydney/NSW

[Jabba_38]

Guys,

What is involved in getting a sports series off the ground? I notice Queensland has literally a tournament on every second weekend yet NSW with a larger population has probably 1 every 2 months. Surely through a group effort we could set up something similar to the Totalbowling Sports Series in Sydney and maybe include country areas too.

Graham, I would be particularly interested in your opinion and knowledge on how the Queensland one was setup and anyone else 8)

Cheers
Aaron

 

[steve_jones]

Aaron,

It's very simple - no really it is - all you need do is spend countless hours organising centres, sponsors, media, bowlers, more bowers, more sponsors, replace centres that fail to support their original commitments, talk to the media endlessly [simply because those that promised support failed to come to the party] - oh, speak to more bowlers [same logic as the failed media/centres] - call replacement sponsors [ditto logic, media - bowlers - centres, etc] - do this week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out - with the support of a handfull of loyal friends/family, who ask zero in return other than a kind smile and to see ulimately a successful event [one out of all of this effort] - and there you are - you have a tournament series.

It's so simple really that I can't believe it doesn't just happen overnight.

Aaron - seriously, your question is a fair and reasonable one - given the numbers you might [correctly] think that in NSW there should be a series of event that would by any standard put the QLD tournaments into the backgound - motivation of the players, sponsors and [essentially] organisers is the key. Over the years many have tried and failed in Sydney to set up a serious long term series of tournaments [AMF have in fact gone closer than most to getting it right - but I'll bet it's been frustrating] - maybe others [perhaps you and some friends] are the right people - after all, there is very rarely a new idea - just an old idea that's time has come.

Steve Jones

 

[GeorgeF]

Aaron

As an active participant for 2 years now in the totalbowling sports series I can give you an idea on how Jeff has managed to pull this off. I'm sure Jeff would like to get on here as well and maybe assist you.

First of all, you need a Kelge. Whilst I believe there has been some SPORT patterns created for other machines, the only way to replicate the true PWBA, PBA and FIQ patterns is to use a Kegle. Jeff obtains the programs from the USA (which is freely given out by Kegle) and programs them into the machine. Patterns have varied from 32ft to 50ft. I guess you could contact Kegle about maybe getting patterns for other machines.

Finding a participating centre - Brian Bates who owns Caboolture came to the party. As an active participant in the events he can see the benefit of introducing skill back into the sport and testing one's ability on some of the most challenging patterns in the world. Whilst the sports series has only been conducted in Caboolture in 2002, 2003, this years series takes the tour to Milton and Bundamba (who both own a Kegle). The reason these 2 centres came to the party is that a) we wanted to see the patterns layed at different centres (all centres play different) b) both centres saw the benefit of 30 bowlers bowling 10 games each on a Sunday morning (300 games at a time where most centres are dead).

Reducing the cost - Part of the success of the sports series is the ability to reduce the game cost. Instead of demanding for a cheap game rate we approached Brian about the best time to run an event which would result in a cheaper game cost. Running events on sunday morning is great for most proprietors as most of the time it is dead. So charging a reduced game rate created a win win situation for both parties. The bowl generated income at a time where they wouldn't normally and we the bowlers got the chance to pour money into the prizefund.

Structured Prizefund - As you can see from the Sports series section, we aren't playing for huge money. $75 to bowl, $250 for 1st. Not huge by any means but the whole concept was to pay further down to allow more people to make their money back. I'm pretty sure almost half the bowlers get some form of money back every event, a great encouragement for fringe bowlers to participate.

Helpers! - Jeff runs a group of 2-3 helpers every event who give up their Sunday mornings (when they would normally be in church ) They collect the money, run the brackets, collect and update all the scores. It's not an easy job, organising suitable dates is even hard enough as Jeff has discovered. A huge task, you really need some help.

Sponsors - An integural part of every event sponsors donate anything from stereos to bowling balls to cash. If you can get it, take it. We have points for each event and prizes are handed out at the end of the season. Whilst the top 3 get cash, there are alot of prizes to give out on the day.

Summary - NSW should be able to pull it off, it just takes commitment and time. It's not an easy task but it is acheivable. It's a great series and a great opportunity for bowlers to test their skills on challenging patterns from around the world. We are bowling on the 2003 PBA Tournament of Champions pattern in 2 weeks which is 50ft in length, I can't wait!

I wish you al the luck in creating a series in NSW! Any questions just ask

 

[bfcc]

ok george has covered most things in his post so i won't go over them again.the main thing u need to start a sport series is BOWLERS.

by that i mean bowlers that want to be challenged to bowl on condition that make u pay when u bowl a bad shot!!! i have been lucky and had the support of some of the best bowlers in the state, the likes of carl bottomley, george frilingos, tony hammilton, brando just to name a few. these guys do alot for the sport series with out nowing it, u get the top bowlers to support the series and alot of others will bowl just to have a shot at beating some of the best.

Mary Flower is the one to thank for the sport series and for bowling in queensland looking as good as it does right now. after having another debate with mary she challenged me to get off my backside and do something about it, so the sport series was born.

the reason the sport series runs well is all the help that i am given at every tournament.
Brian Pilkington supplies a laptop computer so we can do the scoring.
Hilary Hardy does all the scoring and takes the money
Neol Stemple collects the score sheets
dwambo runs the brackets and get sponors.

i think the main reason the sport series goes well is because it is run by the bowlers for the bowlers,the pay outs aren't big we keep it to a 1 day format so the bowlers with families aren't stuck in a bowl all weekend and we try and challenge the bowlers at every tournament.

 

[Jabba_38]

Thanks for everyones advice so far, it has been very helpful.

As Jeff put it the first thing that is required is bowlers so for all bowlers who want to bowl in sports style tournaments like the ones describe in the above posts could you please send me an email to jabba_38@yahoo.com indicating your desire to bowl on some great challenging conditions on Sydney lanes.

Secondly, if you are willing to help in getting a sports tournament set up could you please indicate in an email. Help could be anything from distrubuting fliers at your local bowl to providing assistance on game day, sourcing sponsors, etc.

Also being relatively new in Sydney my knowledge of what centres have a kegel lane conditioner or other lane conditioner that can be programmed for sports bowling () is zero so please let me know which centres have these.

Finally, if you happen to be a proprietor/manager of a bowling centre in or around Sydney and you want some extra linage during your quiet times *email me* at jabba_38@yahoo.com

Hopefully if I get enough responses and people are serious I will start to canvas the bowling centres around Sydney to try and get 1 or more (preferably more) of these tournaments off the ground.

Don't let Brisbane be the only place where skilled bowlers can be challenged.