Hello,
Please go read the thread on teh misc. section, it should be required reading.
Specifically on this, if the only reason the new rules make any sense to anyone is to eliminate multiple statements... then, well... yikes.
After a conference call with USBS and other Tour directors, I proposed a middle ground that I and hopefully most Tours could easily live with:
Established USBC approved organizations may continue to not use SMART, but their scholarship statements must ALL use the same basic claiming guidelines. As an easy example, almost every group had a different maximum age for claiming. It would be easy to stanardize that at 21, 22, 23, whatever. All the other differeing points could be easily simplified into a Uniform Claiming Policy.
With uniform scholarship rules, a bowler will at least know the rules are the same for claiming. Perhaps uniform rules will satisfy the NCAA's requirements for NGB status. A bowler would still have to keep track of his multiple statments..but if you're a traveling bowler and can't keep 5 or 10 pieces of paper in good order..... man, college is gonna be tough for you!!!
This would allow for the concerns over SMART's interest that folks like CHuck pose in the Misc. thread, yet adress the confusion bowlers feel over multiple statements. It should also be pointed out that non-SMART organizations are not complete mavericks; they (we) must still provide our claiming rules to USBC for approval, and submit final scholarship statements of each event, etc.
It's obviously more complex than that, but that will do for a message board.
Now go read the other thread for some real fun, lol.
Thanks,
Jeff
