What will the tournament scene look like this year?

[westy]

Is there going to be a tournament calender for this year or is it a pointless exercise? Is the tournament scene be non existent?

We have lost most of our best tournaments in the last few years and they haven't been replaced. This is very sad for all our bowlers who like to compete, but can't afford or aren't up to the level to compete interstate. It seems bowling is becoming purely a social sport in this state.

I haven't picked up a ball since the final Perth Cup and hearing that fairlanes was closing down was the last straw for me so I have pretty much quit, but keep my eye on the forums from time to time to see if anything is happening.

If by some miracle there was to be a handful of well run tournaments I would consider getting back into it. Without something to achieve in bowling you might as well spend your money on an activity you enjoy AND get fit doing it (like rock climbing Yeah!)

In the meantime, I will pray something might spark tournament bowling off in WA again.

 

[Ososober]

westy, kelmscott tenpin bowl is attempting to start a couple of tournaments this year, the first one being a junior youth event as already mentioned on this site, and providing we get the numbers to run the tournament, we will most likley be planning a similar tournament for adults later in the year.


So, if you know bowlers in the under 23 age group, and want to continue to see tournaments held at Kelmscott Bowl, please encourage them to participate in our first one.

Any future events will depend on the success of our first tournament.

Ian Jones
Tournament Director
Kelmscott Tenpin Bowl
08 9399 4400

 

[ratty133]

Ian, The ideas you have for your tournaments definately have merit, and you should be thanked for your efforts in trying to generate some tournament interest, however, the main way to attract the more serious tournament bowlers is to run scratch events, or at worst, handicapped ones with a limit of say 30.

I was interested in bowling the junior/youth cup you are running, until i read your post saying there is no handicap limit, suffice to say im not bowling it now......................this is why you will not attract the more serious bowlers.

As i stated earlier, your ideas definately deserve merit, but maybe you should rethink the formats and handicap limits for your future tournaments.

Good Luck

Matt Watson

 

[Luke D]

The tournament scene for this year looks great............



.......... in other states!!

 

[Mr_RG]

The tournament scene for this year looks great............
.......... in other states!!

ROFL!!!

 

[Ososober]

Matt, i will take all suggetions on board, and I will look forward to yours, and others input and idea's for tournament formats.

However, i did need a starting point something to get going.

I am willing to host a meeting of fellow junior, youth and adult tournament bowlers, so that this question of format, prices handicapps ect, can be sorted out for all bowlers, not just the "elite" or high average but for anyone that wishes to compete.

I also realise that the Western Australian Tournament Scene is almost but not quite dead, and i hope, through the efforts of myself, yourself, and others, that we can resurrect this situation.

Ian

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

You are right, the way bowling has been taken over by accountants wanting to have more social bowlers on the lanes simply because of a belief in revenue farming via these "socials" and the contrary belief league bowling offers little money, has decimated the tournament scene.
we know that each bowler in a standard league will bring about $500 per year to the bowl a normal league of say 28 bowlers will bring about $14,000 to that bowl in bowling fees only, not to mention the extras, tea, alcohol etc.
The way the owners are looking is similar to the Macca.s KFC chains offer social bowlers the same stuff but with different coloured packaging, why not they are gullable, they'll come back once or twice more in a year, and that is all they need to meet and exceed the revenue generated by league bowling - we all know that league bowlers supply the base funds for the centres, and socials offer the cream / profit. Centres learn slow!
When it comes to tournaments if they fill the centre with social bowlers they will make 5 times as much, so centres are reluctant to have tournaments at the prime times, thats why the Sydney Seniors Cup was told to go to Penrith and the NSW Open to Mt Druitt, and at times AMF decided (obviously less busy times)
In Perth there was a move away from tournaments because the bowling scene here was not as developed as the Eastern states, it was not viable, now Fairlanes has closed there isn't a major here.
ATBSO WA have a decent calender where all their tournaments are open, so anyone, even under the age of 45 can bowl, this is each month, sort off like a mini tournament, they will also be having a two day teams event scratch and handicapped divisions similar to how Gold cup was run, at Craigie June long weekend. so have a look at those ones if you want a little bit of competition.. them old buggers still can roll a ball or two (ave 190-205)

 

[ShadowWolf]

hey guys i know what you are going thru. nsw is going thru the same thing,

here is a idea, read the sports series that da_cowman has going, $85 bowl 10 games first past the post wins, i know it is a pain but if you can get something like that started who knows where you can take it

 

[AGE]

as a victorian moving to perth in about 2 weeks its a shame to hear that the tourney scene is non existant. victorians are spoilt with the amount of tourneys run. i was wondering if any of the bowlers interested in tourneys would take some time to maybe form a commitee of sorts to get some quality tourneys organised. a seperate committee to approach the centres and negotiate game rates, prizes and formats etc. a tourney committee run by bowlers for bowlers and not for centres. if there are quality ideas put forward and centres reject it you move to the next centre. their loss not the bowlers. just an idea anyway, any thoughts? maybe get some bowlers to put their money where their mouth is and if people are truly serious about tourneys this may be the way to go...

 

[Ososober]

what W.A. needs, in my opinion, is more dedicated bowlers from the mid range averages, 150 - 200, not just the highend bowlers 190+ as there are not enough of those bowlers in W.A to make a tournament scene happen.

Saying that, we also need to target those mid range bowlers with tournaments that they can no just participate in, but have a good chance of winning (ie handicap events)

 

[Tintam]

ATBSO have a tournament this Sunday, 18th March at Melville.
9.30am check in for a 10am start.
6 game scratch and handicap.
Handicap based on 90% of 200.
Cost $45.
We have over 40 bowlers turning up for our tournaments, all ages, all averges
This is tournament open to ALL bowlers who hold a TBA card.

 

[Ososober]

Timtam, unfourtnatly, ATBSO does not advertise there tournaments too well with the centers, perhaps in future, you(ATBSO) could send out a couple of tournament entry forms to each center, and that may generate a few more, non ATBSO bowlers bowling.

 

[Luke D]

Ian,

They do however get a good number of entries every tournament. Perhaps you could take a few things from them to get your tournaments up and running too?

 

[Tintam]

55 turned up today at the ATBSO Tournament at Melville
Results will be posted later this week
not bad eh,,,

 

[Ososober]

But where were the entry forms for non ATBSO members, you state that the atbso tournaments are open to all, however, we (Kelmscott Tenpin Bowl) are never given entry forms to display to our bowlers who may be interested in bowling, how many more bowlers may have applied for the tournament if the entry forms were available to all?

Also, are these tournaments TBA approved?

Ian Jones

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Ian, I know you believe in having as many people going into tournaments as possible, however take a minute to think of the logistics.... yes ATBSOWA tournaments are now open to everyone, however look at what the centres want, not a centre booked out for 4 - 6 hours at $30 / bowler) $5 a game, they want the social at $12 - $15 a game that lasts maybe 1 hour... because of the popularity we do not advertise in all centres, through email and word of mouth - can you imagine...taking up 14 lanes.. this is the amount we are allocated from the centres... 6 people per lane (84 people) 6 games... that equates to Uuhhh.... 6-7 hours... I dont think people wanna do that.. so we keep it at 7 per pair..maybe 8 if pushed.. gets us out in about 3-4 hrs.. we have an open and graded division, next year we hope to introduce a grand prix type tournament cricuit that will be run by ATBSO and cater for those of us yearning for solid competition play...keep your eyes on this site and our website... actually go take a look at the webpage... www.watbso.org.au (turn your speakers on) and see what we are about.. remember we are the only open mens team to ever win a national championship for WA.. wonder why that may be... our graded also won last year, and previously our women have won it.. the Nationals will be at Craigie bowl this year.. come along and support your seniors team, we are not old.. just mature, besides we CAN bowl too

 

[Ososober]

im not knocking the ATBSO, I think what they are doing is brilliant for the tenpin bowling tournament scene in W.A.

but i also think that They(the atbso) could improve on what they are doing.

Im was happy when the atbso mens won the national teams challenge last year.

Unfourtnatly, not everyone who would like to bowl in tournaments has access to internet or various websites.
It would be nice, even to put a entry form up on totalbowling, so that it can be printed off and given out to various bowlers that may wish to bowl.

Also, most of our tournament bowlers (me included) wants to be able to read the entry form and conditions of entry before participation.

Maybe, if the numbers are right, ATBSO could "host" a Nationaly ranked tournament or a Major Tournament that we are lacking here in Western Australia.

Ian Jones

 

[Ososober]

also, think of it this way, the more bowlers you get to your tournaments, the more likely other centers will want the tournaments and open up more lanes for your availability.

if you (ATBSO) could get around the 60-70 or more bowlers each and every tournament that should help convince the centers to be more generous with their lane allocation, for fear of losing the event to another center that will give the greater lane allocation.

Ian Jones
Bowler

 

[Milena]

the Nationals will be at Craigie bowl this year.. come along and support your seniors team, we are not old.. just mature, besides we CAN bowl too

Looking on the TBA website, and in other posts here, i thought that the Nationals are over in Altona, ?
and the The W.A. Seniors team will be travelling to altona, so what is this tournament at Craigie all about, if the TBA Nationals are in Altona Victoria?

 

[rum]

CRAIGIE IS THE VENUE FOR THE ORIGINAL SENIORS, NAMELY THE "SENIORS WEEK" FOR BOWLERS OF ALL AVERAGES (45 YEARS AND OVER) AND CONDUCTED BY THE A.T.B.S.O AND IT'S A BLAST FROM THE PAST

KJ