What makes Tenpin Bowling different to other sports…

[Jase]

What makes Tenpin Bowling different to other sports…

Why is it that as soon as there is talk of an increase of memberships fees that majority jump up and down and complain that they want MORE FOR THEIR MONEY…

This is a question I often asked myself a lot…I have been involved in many a different sports both Team or individual but Tenpin Bowling stands out so different from others…

Tenpin Bowling won’t survive on pittance…Or perhaps it will, just not at the levels that everyone wants to see the sport reach…

Soccer Australia as much as participation levels are up (since the world cup) at the moment still see that they need TO BOOST the profile and wait for it MEMBERSHIP LEVELS…

How are they going to do it may you ask?

Wait for it INCREASE MEMBERSHIP FEES and this is what they intend to do as a 10 YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN…

A youth league and a women's A-League were part of a 10-year National Football Development Plan unveiled yesterday by Football Federation Australia.

The FFA wants each A-League club, except Wellington, to field a team in the youth league, with the eighth side to be an Australian Institute of Sport XI.
Roar chief executive officer Lawrence Oudendyk supported the concept - set to include the use of four over-age players per team - but said cost was a major issue.

FFA chairman Lowy's vision for the future of Australian football includes a World Cup final between Brazil and the Socceroos at Telstra Stadium in 2018.

I have ambition and a dream to aim to be in the final of the World Cup in 2018 and host the World Cup in 2018," said Lowy, who added that government backing was essential.

"I think we have as good a chance as any other nation to host it. There's a lot of sympathy for Australia and we can do a great job, which is known all over the world.

"Australia has the knowledge, the capacity and the players to achieve very high standards."
The development plan includes an overhaul of Australia's system from the grassroots up, including:

Trying to attract and develop more indigenous and country players.

• Farming Australian coaches to overseas clubs to improve the local standard.

• Work closer with governments to improve facilities and keep pace with demand.

• Integrate futsal (INDOOR SOCCER) more effectively.

• Introduce small-sided games as a standard format for kids under 12 to improve skills.

• Improve schools programs.

FFA's Dutch technical director Rob Baan, who only arrived in January, admitted the plan was delayed because he wanted to get a grip on the Australian system before making his own recommendations.

Baan said Australian children were extremely disciplined but were technically inferior to most developed nations, while the system lacked a pathway.



So i ask the question again...What makes Tenpin Bowling different to other sports

 

[RONALD C]

Hey Jase i see your avatar says you are following other interests? I am flatterred! Since you are always looking at the back of my Kart that means i must be one of your other interests!

In answer to your question though, i have met a lot more ****ers in bowling than i have in any other sport. So i guess that makes it different?

 

[Brenton_Davy]

Hey Jase i see your avatar says you are following other interests? I am flatterred! Since you are always looking at the back of my Kart that means i must be one of your other interests!
In answer to your question though, i have met a lot more ****ers in bowling than i have in any other sport. So i guess that makes it different?

I have played other sports at a high level, and the level of ****ers in bowling is no higher than it is anywhere else. You should try playing Pennant Golf!!!!!!!!

The difference with bowling is to other sports is that it is an athletic endeavour tacked on to a business activity. Bowling is first and foremost, primarily a business enterprise and a sport 2nd, whereas nearly every other sport is a sport first that may or may not spawn some level of business enterprise.

As a result, unless the business of bowling is making healthy profits, the sport will fail. Conversely if, for example an AFL club goes through the hoop, the sport itself will remain healthy with a large participation rate.

 

[bowlrig]

So i ask the question again...What makes Tenpin Bowling different to other sports

One of the main things, I think, with a lot of the sports that we compare to, is that they are spectator sports and at their highest level would not survive without the spectator side. No one watching means no sponsorship, no TV coverage etc......

But in saying that the grass root levels of some sports including football and soccer, the clubs would not survive either without the local fans turning up and paying at the gate to get in and watch a game and their bar and snackshop sales. Local footy and soccer here are very well supported by spectators.

Local golf here is very popular with 5 courses within a 35km radius. Only one has poker machines so the rest rely on membership fee's, weekly tournaments and bar sales to survive.

All in all I suppose I am agreeing with Brenton in that Bowling is first and foremost, primarily a business enterprise and a sport 2nd, whereas nearly every other sport is a sport first that may or may not spawn some level of business enterprise.

Rob

 

[naguda]

It is a game where everyone is getting close, up and personal. I meant just an example in the recent AUSTRALIA-PHILIPPINES FRIENDSHIP GAMES that we did. Everyone got emotional in the sense that it gave everybody enjoyment, exitement, happiness and perhap tears.(Hope that someday politics in sports disappear completely, I hate that!). You're quite right there Rob, do what you do by supporting the sports that we all love.

Nestor Aguda
President
FABLM

 

[sampson1791]

Granted bowling is recognised as a business first before a sport but you must remember too that nearly all the sports mentioned can be played without the use of a course or the actual field/ground to be played on. I can go out the front of my place and kick the footy both round and oval shaped, I can go to the local park (near where I live) and hit a few golf balls then I can go back out the front and play cricket with the kids.

Bowling you need to go and bowl at the lanes in your area. It cost money. Thus the average parent see this as an expensive sport. Especially (juniors) at $10 per week for league then if they need to practice it's another $5 per game and the petrol, food and drinks. Where as I said before if my kids want to practice cricket/afl/soccer the cost is $0.

Social bowlers really don't put money into the TBA, we do as members and I agree that the membership fees do need to be higher. Maybe the TBA needs to have a study done on how many social bowlers bowl on a regular basis & why haven't they joined a league. I believe too that the TBA needs to investigate a schools based program similar to Milo's Cricket Have-A-Go Program or AusKick. Get the kids involved from Primary School level. I believe the TBA or State organisations need to speak to their respective State Government Sports Ministries and get this to happen. Getting the funding to secure a ball sponsor for juniors (similar to the Simpson Leagues) and having a State based program but I would love and prefer the lead coming from the National Level via theTBA.

That's why Ten Pin Bowling is different to other sports.

Sorry it so long.

Jason

 

[amagill]

I believe too that the TBA needs to investigate a schools based program similar to Milo's Cricket Have-A-Go Program or AusKick. Get the kids involved from Primary School level. I believe the TBA or State organisations need to speak to their respective State Government Sports Ministries and get this to happen. Getting the funding to secure a ball sponsor for juniors (similar to the Simpson Leagues) and having a State based program but I would love and prefer the lead coming from the National Level via theTBA.

Jason

I couldn't agree with you more!! Bowling needs a grass roots programs, involving all school (or at least as many schools) as possible!!

 

[mb600]

One of the things i like about this sport is you don't have to be super human fit to be successful at it.

But like most other sports it takes a little bit of practice to master certain aspects of it.

Some people think you just bowl the ball down the lane in a straight line and hit as many pins as possible. That maybe the case for some but for others its a fair bit different.

When you think about it, a footballer kicking a penalty goal has to take into account the direction of the wind, the angle of the ball towards the posts and the amount of force to kick the ball.

In a similar sort of way a tenpin bowler has to take into account the amount of oil on the lanes, which pins have been left standing, the right spot to let the ball go and the right amount of force to bowl the ball down the lane.

Those are just a couple of things i reckon make this sport a little bit interesting from my point of view.

I'm sure some of you might have other points of view.

This is about the only sport i'm pretty good at, becuase as i said before you don't have to be super human fit to be a good tenpin bowler.

 

[Samael]

Not meaning to offend anyone, but a lot of bowlers are tight arses and arent willing to put any money up, thats the difference and has been my experience. I too have played other sports and when things get tough, members have agreed to put up a little more coin to prop up the association but things are different in bowling. Ive seen bowlers on here baulk at the mention of a yearly fee as high as $50, complaining about other associated costs. Come on people, if you bowl a full league year, 1 league a week, it costs you a little over a dollar a week, multiple leagues and its greatly reduced. Thats hardly things hardships are made of.

I cant fathom how everything can go up, how inflation increases yearly and centre operators adjust lineage rates (sometimes each financial year), yet the cost of membership doesnt change and members expect this is normal. Ill have to dig around, but im sure membership costs were higher when i started bowling back in the early 90's under (im pretty sure) the ABC.

Thats why the only proposals i feel have any merit are those which have different membership levels, charging a different fee for different levels of participation.

Either that, or perhaps charge a set fixed weekly fee per bowler for every league (regardless of number of leagues bowled per person), possibly charge centre operators and have them recoup the costs through usual methods, or perhaps add on a small fee to league costs (having a break down of costs so the bowlers can clearly see where the money goes) payed each week as per normal, that way every single bowler in the country bowling in a sanctioned centre is a member of the national body.

I like the idea of the second method, if 1) a proper development plan (id say a minimum of 5 years, but i would like to see 10 years) is constructed outlaying the future plans for operation of the sport, and 2) as part of the above, a real, independant cost analysis is done to establish the full operational costs of the governing body, plus costings for the above established development programs throughout the life of the development plan.

Id vote for either (different levels of membership, or set fees) plans above, essentially which ever plan is shown to balance out in reference to the costing analysis (though both methods could be made to do so, so the method which does so but is most cost effective given time to implement/organise/manage).

IMHO, the difference with bowling is the lack of paperwork. Im not talking all that red tape bull**** morons use to their own advantage, im talking about a real, well developed, constructed operations manual setting out the guidelines for the running, governing and future development of our sport. The idea proposed earlier (perhaps it was you jase?) where a firm should be engaged to go over the financial state of the organisation with a fine toothed combe is a great one. Once established, consultants should be used to help develop the above documents, marketing studies done to find out the community needs and what can be done to get more members of the public back into the sport as paying members (not just casual bowlers) and an entire proposal put forward as to the structure of the current (and future) governing bodies (right down to a state/regional level). Because quite clearly, nothing much has changed in 10 years and nobody (perhaps through no fault of their own) has been able to establish something that even remotely looks to improve our situation.

First and foremost the primary objective should be to get the body back on its feet with paid employees and realistic goals. However i have doubts that any current organisation has the ability to look internally and make the changes needed to put the above into practice, even if it means, as a managing director, sacking the entire board (yourself included) and bringing in an administrator.

So to reply to your question jase, i guess a large portion of the answer to your question is found within TBAL because we just shouldnt keep losing bowlers year after year when the sport is becoming more popular on a social level.

 

[Samael]

reached the end of the edit period, but i wanted to tach onto the above post that for a long time now, as evident by some of the vindicitive things experienced by bowlers (just do a search, im positive you will find plenty wtf?! moments), within all levels of management too many people have too many personal agendas and a bit of arse kicking is a long time coming. All levels need to start working together with the sport being the only consideration, all this petty bickering and nonsense between states, regions and the national body needs to stop, even if it means a mass culling through the ranks. When is the national body going to start acting like one and take charge instead of just going along for the ride? on the other side of the coin, when are bowlers going to start realising they are part of the equation too?

 

[bfcc]

I will list a few things -

1 GOVERNING BODIES - are a joke the ball companies are running bowling with little or no rules to stop them .

2 RESPECT - or lack of it !!!!! the way bowlers act on the lanes . Bowlers need to learn that they are not the only one bowling in the centre and when something goes wrong not to act like a spoilt little brat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 Bowlers are lazy - most bowlers are too lazy to practice they just want to ***** and whinge about conditions (what they now nothing about) or just go out and buy a new ball.

4 Tournament Bowlers - need to know they make up 1% of bowlers but cause 99% of all the trouble.

5 Honor Scores - 300 used to be the holy grail of bowling , now it's just another score. With ditched up conditions and todays bowling balls there is no such thing as an HONOR SCORE !!!!

6 Wrong People leaving- People that are leaving are the ones that do make a difference for those that wont get off there asre to help run the sport...So when they leave and there is only these small ****ers left there will be nothing to bowl in...

ok i have had my little ***** now all you expert junior/youth bowlers can rip me apart.........

 

[jason_doust]

... All levels need to start working together with the sport being the only consideration, all this petty bickering and nonsense between states, regions and the national body needs to stop, even if it means a mass culling through the ranks. When is the national body going to start acting like one and take charge instead of just going along for the ride? on the other side of the coin, when are bowlers going to start realising they are part of the equation too?

Bravo. Bowling needs to stop subdividing into less and less viable sized portions as well. It seems that every year another division gets sliced up that you can be a state rep for, weakening the sport and devaluing the state shirt with each slice.

 

[Brenton_Davy]

Bravo. Bowling needs to stop subdividing into less and less viable sized portions as well. It seems that every year another division gets sliced up that you can be a state rep for, weakening the sport and devaluing the state shirt with each slice.

Never a truer word spoken. No other sport allows state representation at anything less than the elite level, whether it be adult, senior, youth, junior or disabled.

 

[Shoey]

agree Brenton, but its also the amount of organisations. we can't go on taking our bat and ball and going and forming yet another organisation because we don't like the decisions made.

i truly would like to know how many separate distinct and individual organisations there are in Oz all doing there own thing for the betterment of our sport.

lets assume there are 20, that's 20 sets of basically the same resources all pushing for the same goal. how ridiculous is that. if we could get to a point of being unified how much easier would it be to run tenpin in this country. how much money would the ASC then be willing to give us in grants to develop junior programs etc etc etc

Shoey