Fairfield youth - where were they?

[da_cowman]

The recent Fairfield youth challenge series had a new format and quite good prize money. It was therefore disappointing to see the low number of entries for the Tournament that was ranked and had had good publicity and a lot of work put into it by the organisers.

There were only fifteen entries in the ladies division, of these 7 came from outside of NSW (Vic, Qld & ACT). Of the 8 remaining 4 were juniors who will bowl/eligible to bowl in the 2007 presidents shield and 2 were juniors that will become youth bowlers next year.

Therefore, for a tournament in the middle of Sydney only 3 Youth lady bowlers participated.

To the organisers credit they maintained the prize money fairly high, all lady bowlers got at least $75 back and bowled a minimum of 14 games. To my reckoning the prize money in the ladies section exceeded the entry fee income by $ 1,300 and that takes no account of lineage for about 300 games. Thank goodness for the sponsors:- Challenge Property Investments Group & AMF.

The ladies & gents who did participate put on a good competition and the format was interesting and different.

So why were there so few entries? maybe people would like to put forward ideas.

Too close to Christmas?
Uni exams?
Just not enough youth bowlers?
Too expensive?
End of year - so rankings decided?

Good bowling

John Cowland

 

[KANAFA!]

John, financially for myself, the flights were killer which made it hard to come up. Also because of the two brunswicks in December, sometimes I just cant bowl in everything!

Matt

 

[da_cowman]

thanks Matt. I dont wish to put any blame on anyone just try to make it better for all in the future

John Cowland

 

[coastboy76]

And it's a good point John. My thoughts are that the juniors that move into youth are often involved in a new career or find an interest outside of bowling since they turn 18. When I moved from Junior to Youth I found that my work took priority and even though I did not work on weekends, working 5 days a week made me appreciate my weekend a lot more than I did before.

However, having said that - there are still a lot of great tournaments put on for Junior/Youth and for those who are still interested they are a great opportunity to not only pick up some extra cash but also catch up with friends who you might not see that much anymore.

 

[Easy Tiger]

And it's a good point John. My thoughts are that the juniors that move into youth are often involved in a new career or find an interest outside of bowling since they turn 18. When I moved from Junior to Youth I found that my work took priority and even though I did not work on weekends, working 5 days a week made me appreciate my weekend a lot more than I did before.
However, having said that - there are still a lot of great tournaments put on for Junior/Youth and for those who are still interested they are a great opportunity to not only pick up some extra cash but also catch up with friends who you might not see that much anymore.

Ditto.

Plus accomodation and food expenses, and a new job for me (plus moving house), just wasn't viable this time.

 

[~Mrs STORM~]

I had a Rachuig hangover haha!

Nah...just a bad time for me. I had TAFE stuff to concentrate on and money was also a factor this time around. Looking at the format and all that, I would really have loved to have bowled though. It looked like a great event.
Hopefully, in 2007 events similar to this will be held and I will be able to make an appearance.

See you on Sunday John.
Jen

 

[lgt]

Thanks for the questions John, as an organiser I am interested to know why tournaments are popular or not. I feel there were too many youth ranked events this year and this spread the attendance regards $.
We wanted to hold the events here and assist the NSW youth bowlers with less costs, but this was not the result. Many attend interstate events and not NSW events. Even though we have held on (at great cost) to the female divisions, it was not well supported.
Suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Leanne.

 

[BELMO]

Le-anne,

First off the formatt really needs to be simple.

people want to know what they are getting themselves into and know exactly what they have to do to win or make the cut or make some money back.
the most popular events are those where formatts are so simple you never hear anyone say..."Umm, so what do i do next"

The presentation of the event needs to be more professional....for example. When i travel to the Europe or Asia, advertising is everywhere (i understand you recieved some much needed funds???) then that compnay should be show cased everywhere in the bowl.
Perhaps also a sign in the bowl saying "Welcome bowlers to the Orange Open".

What's missing in almost all of our tournaments today is the 'feel' of a tournament. You need the first time tournament bowlers and those who have not done too much travelling to say......"wow, im actually here and am bowling in the biggest tournament i ever have. Im apart of this event"
What happens now is bowlers meet at the bowl, we talk for 10 minutes about the rules and then we go to our lanes and bowl......HYPE IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a Mike in everybowl.......USE IT, thank your sponosors all day on it, advertise your next event, congratulate good bowling, make the bowlers feel like they are bowling in a TOURNAMENT, make them realise they can win the title, the money and the fame......
Simple huh hahaha

If you want to talk more about it Le-anne, call me at the Orange Bowl, if im not there they will tell you how to contact me.

Belmo

 

[Rayzer]

Hey John
Uni exams were part of the reason why i didn't show up to the youth cup... timing from the Brunswick Cup was also an issue for me, 2 tournaments this time length apart is good because bowlers could use this as a lead up event to toughen themselves up, but the entry fee for both of them does sort of add up....
R

 

[jhk67]

Belmo makes a good point of making a tournament structure that you do not need to think about. But I do like the knockout stage as it gives underdogs a chance to get up over the more fancied bowlers. But the most important thing is to just go out there and bowl your best and not to worry about "what I gotta do to get through".

 

[lgt]

Comments appreciated Belmo.
I have attended several youth events and I know that the atmosphere was sadly lacking at Fairfield. Not enough experience, not enough support.
The format was different but confusing for some, although never boring. We wanted to get away from the usual matchplay.
The intent was to support our youth bowlers and perhaps we need to look at other events, not ranked.
Thanks, Leanne.

 

[always 3rd]

Belmo makes a good point of making a tournament structure that you do not need to think about. But I do like the knockout stage as it gives underdogs a chance to get up over the more fancied bowlers.

Shouldn't you look at the fact that knockouts are good for underdogs to bowl and perhaps have some sort of chance at doing well in a tournament that they have potentially paid alot of money to be in??? Just think without the "UNDERDOGS" you don't have too many bowlers and without them your numbers in the tournaments lack.

Just my thought

Craig McCloskey

 

[jhk67]

I agree that's another reason knockouts are great tournaments, can definetly increase the numbers.