Recently, the United States Bowling Congress has announced changes its youth program, including but not limited to the lowering of the maximum age for bowler eligibility from twenty-one to nineteen as of 1 August of the current bowling season - a change which is to take affect immediately with the 2009-10 bowling season. This change has seemingly been made with little-to-no correspondence with those who are directly affected and has not allowed appropriate time for those who are affected to either A) articulate an appropriate response to the situation by voicing their opinions on the matter or B) change their plans for the future of their bowling careers, which might have already been decided some time prior. In fact, this change was only announced this past February - a whole six months prior to the start of the new season and only a little over a month prior to the end of most league seasons. However, even though it has been just over a month since the announcement of this change, it is still widely unknown to most members of the USBC - youth and otherwise. In fact, many associations are not even aware of this change and therefore cannot inform their bowlers that they may have to join an adult league next year, so they had better make the best of their last few weeks of the season. It seems that this new change to the USBC Youth program has slid under the radar as it has not appeared in any bowling magazines - USBC related or otherwise, has not been directly addressed via a newsletter or mailing, and has not even been made a top news story on Bowl.com, even though it affects such a large portion of USBC Youth Members - especially Junior Gold. The circumstances regarding this issue are largely responsible for its blatant unfairness, although it cannot truly be said that this new change is all that fair to begin with.
It is our duty as active members of the USBC to voice our opinions and make ourselves heard. The USBC has made this decision without consulting those affected, and we cannot tolerate that.
The silence from the USBC remains frustrating as they continue to act without considering the bowlers who built this program. I am working behind the scenes to gather more information but progress feels slow against such a large organization. I am exhausted by this lack of transparency yet I will not drop the matter while so many of you are being pushed out without warning.
March 12, 2009
Seeing this much energy behind the cause is honestly exhausting but it gives me the fuel to keep pushing forward. We have effectively dragged this issue into the light and that is progress I did not expect to reach this quickly.
6 Comments
K
Kevin Rhodes
17 years ago
Featured
The lack of communication is what gets me. how do you just spring this on everyone with zero notice?
B
Brian Thompson
17 years ago
Featured
Totally disagree with this. Bowling is one of the few sports that lets kids compete longer. dont take that away from them.
M
Mike Sullivan
17 years ago
Featured
This is total garbage. My son was counting on those last two years to get his scholarship money. You cant just change the rules mid-game like this.
J
Jessica West
17 years ago
Featured
SO UNFAIR!!! these kids have jobs and school and bowling is their main outlet. keep it at 21.
S
Sarah Walton
17 years ago
Featured
Ridiculous. My daughter has been planning for this since she was little. Why the rush? This is unfair to every youth bowler out there.
D
Dave Fuentes
17 years ago
Featured
Bad move usbc. way to kill the sport for the older youth. nobody even knew this was coming.
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Recently, the United States Bowling Congress has announced changes its youth program, including but not limited to the lowering of the maximum age for bowler eligibility from twenty-one to nineteen as of 1 August of the current bowling season - a change which is to take affect immediately with the 2009-10 bowling season. This change has seemingly been made with little-to-no correspondence with those who are directly affected and has not allowed appropriate time for those who are affected to either A) articulate an appropriate response to the situation by voicing their opinions on the matter or B) change their plans for the future of their bowling careers, which might have already been decided some time prior. In fact, this change was only announced this past February - a whole six months prior to the start of the new season and only a little over a month prior to the end of most league seasons. However, even though it has been just over a month since the announcement of this change, it is still widely unknown to most members of the USBC - youth and otherwise. In fact, many associations are not even aware of this change and therefore cannot inform their bowlers that they may have to join an adult league next year, so they had better make the best of their last few weeks of the season. It seems that this new change to the USBC Youth program has slid under the radar as it has not appeared in any bowling magazines - USBC related or otherwise, has not been directly addressed via a newsletter or mailing, and has not even been made a top news story on Bowl.com, even though it affects such a large portion of USBC Youth Members - especially Junior Gold. The circumstances regarding this issue are largely responsible for its blatant unfairness, although it cannot truly be said that this new change is all that fair to begin with.
It is our duty as active members of the USBC to voice our opinions and make ourselves heard. The USBC has made this decision without consulting those affected, and we cannot tolerate that.
The silence from the USBC remains frustrating as they continue to act without considering the bowlers who built this program. I am working behind the scenes to gather more information but progress feels slow against such a large organization. I am exhausted by this lack of transparency yet I will not drop the matter while so many of you are being pushed out without warning.
March 12, 2009
Seeing this much energy behind the cause is honestly exhausting but it gives me the fuel to keep pushing forward. We have effectively dragged this issue into the light and that is progress I did not expect to reach this quickly.
6 Comments
K
Kevin Rhodes
17 years ago
Featured
The lack of communication is what gets me. how do you just spring this on everyone with zero notice?
B
Brian Thompson
17 years ago
Featured
Totally disagree with this. Bowling is one of the few sports that lets kids compete longer. dont take that away from them.
M
Mike Sullivan
17 years ago
Featured
This is total garbage. My son was counting on those last two years to get his scholarship money. You cant just change the rules mid-game like this.
J
Jessica West
17 years ago
Featured
SO UNFAIR!!! these kids have jobs and school and bowling is their main outlet. keep it at 21.
S
Sarah Walton
17 years ago
Featured
Ridiculous. My daughter has been planning for this since she was little. Why the rush? This is unfair to every youth bowler out there.
D
Dave Fuentes
17 years ago
Featured
Bad move usbc. way to kill the sport for the older youth. nobody even knew this was coming.
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Share it with friends to help reach
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The lack of communication is what gets me. how do you just spring this on everyone with zero notice?