Emery_Paper
New Member
I have been bowling two handed for almost two years now. On most conditions I deliver my strike balls two handed, but I take my right hand spares with one hand, along with some certain other pin combinations. Some people in the travel league that I bowl in have taken issue with my bowling.
On Saturday, a league meeting addressed a protest submitted by these people. They said that the way I bowl is cheating.
They believe the underlined part of the following rule prevents me from bowling the way that I do. It was introduced into the TBA rules in July 2010.
RULE 122 AVERAGE - DEFINITION OF
A bowling average is determined by dividing the total number of pins credited to a bowler by the number of games bowled in one league in a season.
When establishing an average in league play, a right-handed bowler must bowl right-handed at all times. Similarly, a left-handed bowler must bowl left-handed at all times. Penalty: forfeiture of game.
No combination of scores bowled both right and left-handed will be used in computing an average.
The same rules apply to a bowler delivering the ball conventionally or two handed. In any scores used to compute an average, the ball must be delivered the same way.
A new average must be established if the bowler finds it necessary to change his delivery from right to left-handed or vice versa. Refer to Rule 213 for further details on deliveries.
In all cases, extra pins or fractions must be disregarded when using averages for handicapping or classification purposes. The extra pins will be reduced to a percentage of a pin only for the purpose of deciding individual position standings in a league.
When read, this clause says that regardless of whether the bowler bowls two handed or one handed the ball “must be delivered the same way.” Referring to rule 213 on deliveries we see that the ball can be delivered in one of two ways – left handed or right handed.
Also, it does not say that “A new average must be established if the bowler finds it necessary to change his delivery from one to two-handed or vice versa.”
RULE 213 BALL DELIVERY DEFINITION
If the ball is delivered on the right hand side of the body, the delivery will be deemed to be a right handed delivery, regardless of whether any holes drilled for gripping purposes are used or not.
Similarly, if the ball is delivered on the left hand side of the body, the delivery will be deemed to be a left handed delivery, regardless of whether any holes drilled for gripping purposes are used or not.
There is no distinction made between one handed and two handed deliveries in this definition.
Regardless, the result of the meeting was that I am no longer able to do any combination of one and two handed deliveries. Two separate averages for two hands and one hand must now be kept and in addition the H2H points I had won up until that point were stripped from my team.
It came as no surprise that the president of the league had received a reply from the TBA supporting this decision, since my Dad had a one way discussion with John Coxon in the previous week. After the initial email enquiry as to what the rule about two handed/one handed combinations, Mr. Coxon replied with rule 122 with the part that I highlighted above and essentially said “this part of the text answers your questions”
Subsequent to this, the rule’s ambiguity were pointed out. Mr. Coxon essentially dismissed any need for the rule to be changed, implying the rule is as plain as day, and made implication that my father was hard of thinking. He also cited multiple unwritten rules:
“Rule 213 defines that the same rules apply to two handed vs one handed deliveries that apply to right or left handed deliveries.”
“The simple rule is that if a bowler delivers the first ball in a frame with to (sic) hands, then the second ball must also be delivered with two hands. I (sic) delivery is made when the ball is delivered over the foul line into play. For your information, if both hands are on the ball when it is delivered, it is a two handed delivery.”
If it was so easy for Mr. Coxon to communicate these rules, why weren’t they written when the rule was introduced?
He concluded by saying that if my Dad had an issue with the wording he should draft what the wording should be and send it to the CEO, which would then come to his committee for review.
So in other words, Mr. Coxon comes up with a rule that is poorly drafted and doesn’t say what it means, and when this is brought to his attention, he wants the person to do his job for him.
It also raises the issue of how ethical is it to leave those who are in charge of writing the rules to also provide an interpretation of them also? In this case, that which was written had little or no value in the interpretation of the rule.
In any case, the TBA ruling on this is stupid. I deliver my first ball two handed because I have a better chance to strike and shoot some spares one handed because I have a higher chance to spare. If it so happens that the conditions are better to use one hand on the strike ball, I will.
There is less justification to restrict this one/two handed combination than restricting equipment changes depending on condition, which is widely acceptable.
By TBA’s reasoning, should the rule not also extend to make it illegal for someone to bowls a “one handed” thumbless delivery on the first ball and shoots spares with their thumb in?
The TBA ruling is essentially saying that two handed/one handed versatility is not acceptable, but many other “changes of delivery” are acceptable, such as changing number of steps, hand position, backswing, rotation etc.
In other words, I am being legislated from bowling to the best of my abilities.
My one hand only and two hand only averages are no doubt likely to be considerably less than how I was bowling before. On Saturday I bowled with “two hands only” and averaged 140. My average for this league was 180. Needless to say, I’m frustrated in being restricted from bowling to the best of my ability.
Does this rule affect anyone else? How can it be considered good for the sport?
P.S sorry about the length.
On Saturday, a league meeting addressed a protest submitted by these people. They said that the way I bowl is cheating.
They believe the underlined part of the following rule prevents me from bowling the way that I do. It was introduced into the TBA rules in July 2010.
RULE 122 AVERAGE - DEFINITION OF
A bowling average is determined by dividing the total number of pins credited to a bowler by the number of games bowled in one league in a season.
When establishing an average in league play, a right-handed bowler must bowl right-handed at all times. Similarly, a left-handed bowler must bowl left-handed at all times. Penalty: forfeiture of game.
No combination of scores bowled both right and left-handed will be used in computing an average.
The same rules apply to a bowler delivering the ball conventionally or two handed. In any scores used to compute an average, the ball must be delivered the same way.
A new average must be established if the bowler finds it necessary to change his delivery from right to left-handed or vice versa. Refer to Rule 213 for further details on deliveries.
In all cases, extra pins or fractions must be disregarded when using averages for handicapping or classification purposes. The extra pins will be reduced to a percentage of a pin only for the purpose of deciding individual position standings in a league.
When read, this clause says that regardless of whether the bowler bowls two handed or one handed the ball “must be delivered the same way.” Referring to rule 213 on deliveries we see that the ball can be delivered in one of two ways – left handed or right handed.
Also, it does not say that “A new average must be established if the bowler finds it necessary to change his delivery from one to two-handed or vice versa.”
RULE 213 BALL DELIVERY DEFINITION
If the ball is delivered on the right hand side of the body, the delivery will be deemed to be a right handed delivery, regardless of whether any holes drilled for gripping purposes are used or not.
Similarly, if the ball is delivered on the left hand side of the body, the delivery will be deemed to be a left handed delivery, regardless of whether any holes drilled for gripping purposes are used or not.
There is no distinction made between one handed and two handed deliveries in this definition.
Regardless, the result of the meeting was that I am no longer able to do any combination of one and two handed deliveries. Two separate averages for two hands and one hand must now be kept and in addition the H2H points I had won up until that point were stripped from my team.
It came as no surprise that the president of the league had received a reply from the TBA supporting this decision, since my Dad had a one way discussion with John Coxon in the previous week. After the initial email enquiry as to what the rule about two handed/one handed combinations, Mr. Coxon replied with rule 122 with the part that I highlighted above and essentially said “this part of the text answers your questions”
Subsequent to this, the rule’s ambiguity were pointed out. Mr. Coxon essentially dismissed any need for the rule to be changed, implying the rule is as plain as day, and made implication that my father was hard of thinking. He also cited multiple unwritten rules:
“Rule 213 defines that the same rules apply to two handed vs one handed deliveries that apply to right or left handed deliveries.”
“The simple rule is that if a bowler delivers the first ball in a frame with to (sic) hands, then the second ball must also be delivered with two hands. I (sic) delivery is made when the ball is delivered over the foul line into play. For your information, if both hands are on the ball when it is delivered, it is a two handed delivery.”
If it was so easy for Mr. Coxon to communicate these rules, why weren’t they written when the rule was introduced?
He concluded by saying that if my Dad had an issue with the wording he should draft what the wording should be and send it to the CEO, which would then come to his committee for review.
So in other words, Mr. Coxon comes up with a rule that is poorly drafted and doesn’t say what it means, and when this is brought to his attention, he wants the person to do his job for him.
It also raises the issue of how ethical is it to leave those who are in charge of writing the rules to also provide an interpretation of them also? In this case, that which was written had little or no value in the interpretation of the rule.
In any case, the TBA ruling on this is stupid. I deliver my first ball two handed because I have a better chance to strike and shoot some spares one handed because I have a higher chance to spare. If it so happens that the conditions are better to use one hand on the strike ball, I will.
There is less justification to restrict this one/two handed combination than restricting equipment changes depending on condition, which is widely acceptable.
By TBA’s reasoning, should the rule not also extend to make it illegal for someone to bowls a “one handed” thumbless delivery on the first ball and shoots spares with their thumb in?
The TBA ruling is essentially saying that two handed/one handed versatility is not acceptable, but many other “changes of delivery” are acceptable, such as changing number of steps, hand position, backswing, rotation etc.
In other words, I am being legislated from bowling to the best of my abilities.
My one hand only and two hand only averages are no doubt likely to be considerably less than how I was bowling before. On Saturday I bowled with “two hands only” and averaged 140. My average for this league was 180. Needless to say, I’m frustrated in being restricted from bowling to the best of my ability.
Does this rule affect anyone else? How can it be considered good for the sport?
P.S sorry about the length.
