Shake it off how my birthdays July 27th..

What I want to know is...(and please don't take this personally),is it really that big of a deal.. Take your personal feelings aside if the rule effects YOU immediately. Is it really that big of a deal that you by law are classified as an adult, being moved to the adult level of bowling. Do YOU, as a 20 year old, really consider yourself a kid, or in this case a youth?

Why do some of the youth bowlers in this country find it okay to compete in Adult bowling tournaments, yet as soon as this age out change is announced, I've read about petitions being started to try to reverse the decision? Are you serious? No matter how you look at it, that's contradictory. To say, "I'm a USBC youth member, I'm going to go bowl the PBA Regional under rule 400 so I can compete against adult bowlers for the same money they are bowling for. Obviously I feel that I am able to compete at that level, because why else would I spent $275. But it's not fair to age me out of youth bowling at the age of 20 to go bowl against those same adults on a weekly basis." Tell me how that makes sense..

So you don't have Jr Gold, USBC Youth Open, etc. We have tournaments up in the old folks range too you know.. Honestly, more fun and challenging tournaments if you want to ultimately become the best you can be in this SPORT..The USBC Open, Masters, US Open, PBA, Team USA Trials, are not events you can just show up at and do well either.. But let me guess, the older kids are not going to be as dominant against the larger adult fields than they would be again Teenagers and Pre-Teens at national events. Ask Andrew Koff about that, he's 17 and still had 2 1/2 years to bowl at the youth level if he chooses to, and he's established himself as pretty capable of bowling against the best the scary adult bowling world has to offer.

wp,

It was nothing personal against any one individual, but against those kids who have taken advantage of rule 400 and don't like this rule change,

that rant was a copy and paste that I took from my post on one of the tournament websites where I used to bowl their youth tour. But I felt that it would carry the same weight here.. On that tour we have a good amount of bowlers who do both the youth events and bowl some adult events, some who have bowled some regionals as well..those same kids came on and were the first ones to complain about the age out change..a lot of kids I have talked to recently feel they are good enough to compete against adults but are mad that they have to bowl against the adults next year..

I was a member of YABA until I was 21. I planned on finishing my last season, but I moved up in March, exactly one month before my 22nd birthday.. Since I turned 19 I was very uncomfortable bowling against little kids. It really hit me hard when I moved to North Carolina and joined a league and tournament circuit where I was constantly bowling with kids who were 12-13 years old.. The whole mentor/teacher thing got old by the time I was 20-21.. And shortly after I qualified for Jr. Gold that year, I called it quits and gave my spot away so a kid who had the "passion" and needed to go for the experience would be able to..

I bowled in juniors till I was 22, and did I think it was a little too old, yes, but I didn't care. Like previously stated, I know I have my whole life to bowl adult, so why should I be in a hurry to get there? Also (FIG-alert), I knew that I could rack in some good scholarship money if I stayed for my full tenure, in which I did, and am still using that money today. I think 21 seems more logical of an age to cut it off than at 20. I do feel bad for those few that this new rule generally affects immediately though. I think those that are 19, 20, 21 should be grandfathered in and still be able to decide whether they want to stay and let this rule only affect the currect 18 year old's and younger.
--------------------
B-Car

Stupid Seven Pin,

You are fine for the rest of the season.  The rule doesn't go into effect until next season starts.

You are correct. Under Rule 400, a youth may bowl an adult tournament if it is singles only AND the tournament director allows it. A sanctioned youth bowler no matter what age cannot bowl in a sanctioned adult league. A sanctioned adult bowler of "youth age" may bowl in youth tournaments if the rules allow it. This is currently done in the PJBT's. I suspect that based upon Brian Graham's responses around the age change that you will see other youth tours like the JBT's change their rules to allow youth bowlers under 22 bowl next year even if they are adult sanctioned. The JBT's are not sanctioned since they do not bank with SMART.