June 7-10, 2012
Doubletree Hotel Sacramento
CONGRATULATIONS
Karen Smith
Hall of Fame Superior Performance
Nancy Arvanitis & Carol Mancini
Hall of Fame Meritorious Service
Dennis Fanucchi
Distinguished Service Award
Charlie Kinstler
Proprietor of the Year Award
Joe Jiminez
Coach of the Year Award
Ryan Peden
Star of Tomorrow $1000 Recipient
By: Bette Addington
The CUSBC (California United States Bowling Congress) held its annual State Convention the weekend of June 8-10 at the Double Tree Hotel in Sacramento, CA. Registration opened Friday night along with the Annual Meeting of the CBW (California Bowling Writers). Saturday was filled with Workshops. The CBW Luncheon was a welcome break from the Workshops. Saturday night’s hospitality featured an introduction of the 2012 CUSBC Hall of Fame Inductees and the game of “Let’s Make A Deal”. Sunday was the CUSBC Annual Meeting and introduction of Hall of Fame, Special Awards and Star of Tomorrow. Plenty accomplished in a fast-paced weekend! Here are some of the highlights:
Friday, June 8
CBW Annual Meeting: Election—Joan Romeo was re-elected President; Tina Martin re-elected Treasurer and Frank Weiler was newly-elected Director. 2012 CBW Phone Card Drive was able to raise enough money to send 685 phone cards to our service men and women overseas this past Valentine’s Day. Phone Card Drive is underway now for 2013 with funds of over $150 already collected. For further info go to www.calbowlingwriters.org.
Saturday, June 9
Youth Workshop/Seminar – Pepsi: CUSBC’s Lynn Matsubara presented this workshop as she runs the CA Pepsi Championships and coordinates with all the other Youth State Directors. She went over the Pepsi qualifying forms and format of the tournament. She noted Girl’s Scratch division is really down in numbers. Also stressed importance to have our youth bowlers qualify in the November window, if possible, so paperwork can be turned in early and you can pick the dates and times you want for your District Finals. 2013 Pepsi State Finals will be at Classic Bowl. Lynn also has a record of all youth winnings for SMART funds if anyone needed that information.
Bowling Proprietors/Bowling Centers of So. Cal. present “Social Media Today” with Chris Holmes: Chris took us through a journey of life beyond the traditional media, newspaper and radio to Facebook. It is estimated in 2014 that 75% of adults will be using it. Tripled use by adults aged 65 and older. And, not surprisingly, 90% of kids aged 9-18 use it. Bringing bowling into this seminar, Holmes stated that 34% of teenagers between the ages of 11-18 will change their life’s direction (if we as adult bowlers influence them to stay in the sport), whereas only 24% of teenagers between the ages of 17-19 will change. As far as using Facebook to promote bowling, he encouraged use of Bowling Fan/Facebook Ads where you pay per click (if others click on, they pay for it). Budget $100 which works out to 23 cents per click. Facebook now has Time Line which logs all your entries. You can create a visual story of your organization and even go back years before Facebook was created and show your organization’s history from the beginning. He then went into Twitter and its purpose and use. Twitter is for micro blogs. 70% of tweets are from outside the US. You can use Twitter as a news source—i.e., Tip of the Week. Or, you can use it to follow other people in your industry. For help setting this up, contact Carey Tosellin at bowlingwebdoctor.com.
Youth Seminar/Youth Development with David Prange: David Prange was at this convention representing USBC. His position is Association Development and he is also our Regional Manager. He represents the International Bowling Campus and Youth Development in Arlington, TX.
He first showed us the Youth Ladder and with this we saw that our current youth membership is 191k bowlers which show the numbers are down. Junior Gold, however, is doing well. He also added that 41%/21 million youth bowl per year (open play bowling). What we need to do is get them excited about bowling and this is a big struggle.
For youth 8 years old and younger, there is Bowlopolis and this has been a hit as kids like patches.
New items for upcoming season: New Youth awards: 11-in-a-row acrylic trophy; New Youth jersey; and New Youth membership forms.
YES = Youth Educational Services.
USA Bowling is trying to get youth leagues like other youth sports with games, practices, and competition for these bowling leagues. Leagues will run only eight weeks and cost $75-$100. First two weeks are practice and then remaining six weeks are practice and competition. Four to five youth per team. They bowl one regular game and then two Baker games. Idea is to have them there each week for no more than one hour and fifteen minutes. Then have party last week and call it Championship Saturday.
Best place to find youth to recruit to bowling? Parents who bowl??
Contact Gary Brown at 817/385-8427 for materials to get into schools for High School Bowling.
Youth Tournaments:
Weber International.
2013 USBC Youth Open in Detroit, MI, July 13-19.
RVP (Registered Volunteer Program) is a required certified background check for coaches working with youth. Must be renewed every two (2) years. NCSI fees are $21.50 to get this. Go to www.bowl.com/RVP. Those who pass will receive a green badge. As of Aug. 1, 2012, ALL coaches (18 and older) have to be RVP certified.
CBW Media & Publicity Luncheon with keynote speaker, Chad Murphy:
Each year the CBW (California Bowling Writers) strives to offer a keynote speaker that will appeal to all delegates and since this year’s CUSBC Convention was focusing on youth bowling, then who better to address this than Chad Murphy who is the Director of Youth Development for the International Bowling Campus in Arlington?
Chad is a “lifetime” bowler and before committing to working for USBC, he had a career in competitive bowling and even made Team USA, as did his wife and worked for Ebonite. He is originally from Clarksville, TN. He saw there was a serious need to get youth bowling going and the “possibility to make bowling better by moving it forward.” And so his calling came and he voiced his concerns to USBC and they saw what he had to offer and offered him a position.
Here are some of his concerns: Do people who work in bowling centers have the needed experience? Concerning youth bowlers – do we give them things that kids like? Saturday morning leagues for youth are in conflict with other sports. He feels centers should try other options like Thursday afternoons or Sunday afternoons for offering youth leagues. The number one response for a survey given to youth bowlers on when would be the best time to have youth leagues was after school! Youth leagues should be shortened. Soccer and baseball teams are only one hour to an hour and a half maximum per session.
Bowling is the number one choice for birthday parties for youth 10 and under. Bowling is also a “generational” sport; however, it was found we missed a generation and it is now showing with lack of youth bowlers in our centers.
BPAA & USBC are coming together to work on youth and building our youth program. 40-50% of youth leave after first time in program. USA Bowling 101 Program targeting 10 year olds is currently being launched by USBC. 20 states currently have high school Varsity Bowling. Collegiate bowling builds our sport and takes away gap of youth transitioning into adult league bowlers. Go to www.bowl.com\youthresourcecenter. Password: Youth.
Fact: If a male youth doesn’t pick up a sport by age 14, they never will!
Target today is 30 year olds and their children to get family into bowling—i.e., Grandfather teaching his grandson to bowl.
USBC Afternoon Jamboree with David Prange:
(Unfortunately I missed the first part of this due to CBW Luncheon running over.)
Activate your membership on bowl.com; give them you email address to receive updates weekly.
New awards – bag tags and key chains to replace magnets. New 11-in-a-row acrylic trophy. New ladies 300 ring.
We have seven collegiate programs in CA.
Now there is online entry system for National. Under consideration is changing women’s team to four-person teams from five.
USBC has webinars; check bowl.com for schedule.
Associations – 10 Things to Remember:
10. Check Bowl.com regularly.
9. Read USBC E-news.
8. Update your Bylaws and Policy Manual.
7. Create good relationships with bowling centers.
6. File required tax documents. Every year file 990 forms before Dec. 15, $20 every 2 years to file Inc. papers.
5. Recognize new members.
4. Process and distribute awards/memberships promptly.
3. Promote and grow tournaments.
2. Think coaching.
1. Have fun.
Effective Aug. 1: After March 15th; July 31st have to buy new sanction card. They are considering having a Summer-only card.
Consider doing tournaments with 100% of 240 handicap.
Sunday, June 10
CUSBC Annual Meeting: Morning session was dedicated to introducing the CUSBC Board of Directors, Approval of 2011 Minutes, Officer and Director Reports, Credentials Report, Committee Reports and Award Presentations. The Credentials Report showed a total of 126 present and eligible to vote—this total includes officers (5), directors (20), association delegates (87), proprietors (2) and youth delegates (12).
The following information was presented during the Committee Reports. Please note although there was a lot more presented, this is information I was able to jot down:
Website/Publicity: CALUSBC.com website is currently under construction to make it new and improved. You will be able to use credit cards in paying for your advanced entry forms or official entry forms to bowl State. This is set to be ready for the 2013 Youth, Open and Women’s Championships. Paypal accounts will be set up prior to this new site going live. Part of these new changes will enable team captains to be able to have their own login to the registration site. You will be able to enter your roster info and then pay by credit card. Your information will also be saved so that in future years all you have to do is update your team’s averages or you can replace teammates easily and quickly.
Prince/Princess Tournament: New for 2013—The Prince & Princess Tournament will be renamed to be the “CA State Singles Championships” and will be adding a scratch division as well as allowing youth to enter to earn scholarships. The 2012 Prince/Princess Tournament will be held Oct. 20-21 at Tyme to Bowl in Oroville up north.
Senior Singles Tournament: 2012 event will be held Aug. 17-19 at Santa Clarita Lanes in Saugus. Saturday squads are full! New division this year—Division “E” for bowlers 50-54 years of age.
BVL-Bowlers to Veteran’s Link: Since 1950, CA bowlers have donated eight million dollars ($8,814,986.22 to be exact!). And, CA is still number one as we were the highest state to submit donations again in 2012–$131,611.02!! Golden Empire USBC donation this year was $3,419.00 and we have 1,765 members so that works out to $1.94 donation per bowler!!
Youth State Scratch Tournament: 2012 event moved from October to Aug. 11-12 and event will be held again at AMF Visalia Lanes. Two qualifying squads on Saturday (am and pm), lower entry fee and is a Gold Qualifier event for 2013 in Detroit, MI.
Special Awards: The CUSBC gives these awards out annually and this year the Coach of the Year went to Joe Jiminez. Jiminez is the Youth Director at New Yorba Linda Bowl. Proprietor of the Year went to Charlie Kinstler. Kinstler is from Southern California and owns several bowling centers—Del Rio Lanes, Forest Lanes, Cal Bowl, Bowlium, Keystone Lanes and Saddleback Lanes. (The 2012 Open Championships were held at Cal Bowl and Keystone Lanes and the Youth Championships are to be held at Saddleback Lanes and Forest Lanes.) And, the Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dennis Fanucchi. Fanucchi is from Northern California and long-time owner with his family of Granada Bowl in Livermore.
Star of Tomorrow: Ryan J. Peden of Sanger received the 2012 Star of Tomorrow Scholarship Award. He will begin his college career at UC Berkeley this summer to pursue a degree in Engineering Physics with a minor in Mathematics. He began bowling at the age of six and has five 300 games so far in his career (the first at age 14) and high series is an 820.
Hall of Fame: This year three ladies were given the honor to be inducted into the CUSBC Hall of Fame. Karen Smith was the first to be honored and is being inducted for Superior Performance. Next was Nancy Arvanitis, who also is a CUSBC Board Member and was honored for Meritorious Service. Her involvement with youth promotion through the years was recognized. And, last, but surely not least was Carol Mancini who also was honored for Meritorious Service. Mancini is the driving force behind the CA Bowling News newspaper and has put in years of service to promote bowling.
Legislative: There was only one proposed amendment to the CUSBC State Bylaws and it involved the number of youth delegates being allowed. Original Bylaw stated one (1) youth delegate for the first 1,000 members and the proposed amendment was to change this figure from one to two to give more representation for the youth delegation as well as promoting a buddy system for youth delegates to attend convention together. This proposed amendment was approved.
(Thanks to the use of electronic voting devices, all delegates were able to vote and results were posted on a big screen quickly which really speeds the process up.)
Nomination/CUSBC Board Elections: No nomination forms were submitted at Convention prior to the Annual meeting so the slate of remained the same. The office of President was up first. President Linda Johnson was running as the incumbent and 2nd Vice-President, Kathy Bruegeman, was nominated from the floor (her nomination papers had been filed previously to run for President). A vote was taken and President Johnson won in a close race (52% to 48%). The remainder of the election for the various positions up for election was held with no opposing candidates. No one new was elected to the CUSBC Board this year.
For the 2013 delegates for the USBC Convention in Reno, NV, President Linda Johnson and 2nd VP Kathy Bruegeman were elected to represent CUSBC with 1st VP Rosie Parker and Director Larry Peppers as alternates.
Dates for 2013: USBC National Convention will be April 30-May 4 at the Silver Legacy in Reno, NV. USBC Open Championships will start March 30 in Reno; USBC Women’s Championships will open April 12 also in Reno.
CUSBC State Convention will be June 8-9 at the DoubleTree in Ontario. Helen Duval/BVL Classic will be held March 30 at Double Decker Lanes. Women’s Championships will start April 3 in San Gabriel Valley; Open Championships will start April 20 in Central Sonoma and the Youth Championships will start July 20 in Marin County/Rohnert Park.
USBC National Convention notes: “Blazing New Trails” was this year’s theme for the Convention that was held April 25-27 in Arlington, TX. New rule books for the 2012-13 season. A total of 767 delegates were registered. 13 proposals were presented; 7 of these related to bylaws; 4 to league rules and 2 to proposals related to tournament rules. Most controversial was PA B2 that would give USBC Board authority to adjust national dues caps B3 for state and B4 for local association. They were presented/amended/reconsidered and all three were rejected. Seven of the eight approved pertained to league and tournament rules. All proposals that were approved will be effective as of August 1, 2012.
Association officers need to pay special attention to changes that will be made especially to leagues. Article IV, membership dues, which removes the provisions that a membership purchased in a summer league receives next season’s membership. Also, be aware about the addition and changes in Rules 106g (NEW); 113b & 113c; 118b and 120, also tournament rules; 319a—adding the use of composite average; and 319c average adjustment.