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Associations will be crucial to helping "Grow the Sport of Bowling"
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Growing bowling as a sport is USBC's new focus and state and local associations will be key players in helping accomplish the new goal. That's what nearly 1,700 attendees at the 2007 USBC Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn., learned in many ways in late March.
Through speeches from organization leaders to the announcements of new television events to a new partnership with a major professional athlete, everyone in attendance or watching live on bowl.com, should have come away with the fact that USBC is headed in a new direction.
"We are talking about dramatically changing our focus from a member benefit organization to a sports organization," said USBC Chief Executive Officer Roger Dalkin. "We need to redirect your passion to the sport more than to the membership organization."
The message actually started to be communicated earlier in the day, first by Darlene Baker, chair of the USBC Strategic Planning Committee, and later by USBC President Michael Carroll.
Baker noted that the new vision will be achieved when more people are recognizing bowling as a sport and more people are participating in bowling as a sport. Within those priority issues are three goals:
Increase USBC youth membership in certified leagues and programs
Increase the number of USBC members participating in bowling as a sport
Increase the number of people who recognize/perceive bowling as a sport
"This change is one of the first actions we can take to be that different organization, the organization of the sport of bowling and to be the sport that deserves the recognition and respect of the public, as other sports," Baker said.
Among the ways USBC will help increase the number of people who recognize/perceive bowling as a sport is through television with the announcement of USBC reviving the U.S. Women's Open and sponsoring the new Professional Bowlers Association Summer Series and Women's Tour Trials which will create a 16-bowler exempt field for a 2007-08 PBA Women's Tour. All events will be televised in the fall on ESPN.
In addition, pro basketball star Chris Paul, an avid bowler, will be USBC's newest spokesperson. He will be involved in a number of projects to help broaden the visibility and participation of the sport of bowling.
"Today, bowling is in a period of transformation or evolution," Carroll said. "The true measurement of turning the corner will not be as much in our membership numbers as it will be in the recognition of bowling at the national level; of truly seeing bowling as a sport again in the eyes of the general public."
How that will be done, Carroll envisioned, starts with the national organization with help from the associations.
"We don't need to revitalize our association network; we simply need to modify it to meet the new needs and desires of our new customers of tomorrow," Carroll said. "While the national level concentrates on growing bowling as a sport, at the local level there has to be a true desire to organize for the benefit of the membership.
"USBC's effort to lead that charge will be by developing the awareness of what a great sport we have. This ultimately should create a greater demand for our local association network to provide different and unique services from what is done today as bowling returns to prominence."
Many of the attendees liked what they heard.
"Being an athlete, it's way overdue," said Don Griffin of the St. Louis USBC. "From the elite bowler standpoint, we need ideas from national, state and local to help."
"Growth of the sport is good," said Richard Loughlin, vice president of the Greater Jackson (Mich.) USBC. "We in Jackson also believe youth is the direction that makes sense."
"This is awesome," said Great Plains (Kan.) USBC President Marci Williams. "The announcement of women on TV almost made me cry. I was so happy.
"We need to find stars, ideally local stars, and promote them. For example in Wichita, we created an all-star team."
Delegates uphold Board decision on integrity of the game
The 1,377 eligible voting delegates spent about 90 minutes debating 17 proposed amendments, approving eight and rejecting nine.
The key vote that was approved upheld the USBC Board of Directors' decision last summer to exclude scores bowled in unopposed pre- or post-bowling from USBC honor score award eligibility. Another approved amendment will clarify that absentee and proxy ballots will not be allowed at the USBC Annual Meeting.
One of the key rejected proposals would have required one association serving men, women and youth in each geographic area to be established by March 15, 2009. Also rejected were an amendment that would have allowed legislative sessions to be conducted in even years starting with 2008 and three amendments proposing changing state dues from the current $1 maximum to $3, $10 or nothing.
Complete legislative session results are available on bowl.com.
USBC raises more than $1 million to help cure breast cancer
USBC for the first time has contributed more than $1 million in a year to help the fight to cure breast cancer as announcement during the seventh annual Meet for the Cure™ ceremony.
Breast cancer survivors Bonnie Ruffin, Shalimar, Fla., and Pauline Armstrong, San Diego, presented a symbolic check for $1,003,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Cause Marketing Manager Lori Rayfield and Vice President of Resource Development Cindy Schneible. It brought the total from USBC and the former Women's International Bowling Congress to more than $6 million.
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