Hi,
Wow... just, wow. Lots to address here.
First, it's important to not lose track of why/how these rule changes magically happened.
1) Team USA (in which adults and juniors compete together) very much wanted to have $500 squad leader prizes to boost entries. This would violate previous junior rules, even if they awarded it in scholarships. There are a few people with strong Team USA connections on the Rules committee, and..... TA-DA!!! Suddenly, the youth rule changes, making the $500 squad prize legal. Funny the new rule picked $500, huh.
2) Chris Barnes' Thanksgiving event in Dallas wanted to award Columbia balls and shirts as prizes (heck, we all do). As we know, even awarding a piece of string was illegal. They were 'getting away with it' (probably inadvertantly), until people started pointing out that a tournament advertised on page one of bowl.com was violating their own new rules. And... PRESTO! Shirts and balls are okay again!
The point: If you have USBC's ear, you can change the very fabric of 'youth bowling' to suit short term needs, clearly without any thought process about the long-term effects, in direct contrast to the "necessary inflexibility" the previous 'new rules' were insisted to be based on.
What is infuriating about this from my personal perspective is that USBC used my (and many others') argument as to why the original rule changes were counterproductive in the first place to justify their own rule changes. In the press release, USBC claims to have realized that mandating the strictest high school rules (Illinois, Kansas, etc.) nationwide was "unneccesarily restrictive". Well.... yeah! I'm glad that they realized this. But... wouldn't then the restrictions on SMART, put in place along similar lines, be similarly restrictive? Hmm.
USBC has told me countless times that they know we run a good event, and handle our scholarship programs in a spotless manner. Further, they acknowledge that all of these SMART restrictions potentially affect only a tiny minority (NCAA females) under current guidelines, and may not even affect them at all if rules change yet again down the line. However, they also have justified this over-protection of the few at the expense of the many because they want 'zero risk' for their bowlers- cover everyone and there are no worries...
...that's all well and good, but they have now just done the exact opposite (because it is convenient for them)!!! In the FAQ that goes along with the press release, they say (to paraphrase): "Well, bowling for merchandise and in adult tourneys may indeed mess up your high school or college eligibility, which is the only reason why we've done all these crazy changes, but now that's up to your parents to know each state's and college's rules, not us."
Are you freaking kidding me, USBC? That's not what you've INSISTED to me and other 'dissenters' for the last eleven months!!! That's the exact opposite! It leads to an obvious bottom line for us as an uncertified event that would prefer to be certified: Let certified events who qualify (and agree to the same checks and regulations we previously did for nine years) not bank with "smart" if they feel it does not enhance their program, because it, as it always has been, is up to the kids, parents, and the tournament to protect kids' eligibilities, and not to restrict Arizona kids because of North Dakota's high school football regulations (for example).
It is my fond hope that the right folks at USBC will say, "Gee, you're right," and that this new rule will open the door for more appropriate revisions to the many flawed new rules introduced in the last year. I'll be the verrrry blue guy in the corner holding my breath.
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As far as the new rule itself, and what's been talked about on this thread:
Of course the kids are going to think this is great, and in individual cases it will be. Of course tournaments should be able to give out champs' shirts- thank goodness that's back in. That was as bad as the two-week long no plaques rule.
This may be a great new rule, maybe not... it will be interesting to see the way it plays out.
The biggest problem is, as previously stated, junior tournaments that will give out $499.99 gift cards to Best Buy. Bad idea. Keep it clearly bowling-related only; I think that's what "we" all wanted, anyway.
As far as the 'bowl adult for no money' waiver, I actually like it, except that I think it should be limited- this is an idea we've talked about for a long time out here. Let kids bowl, say, 5 adult events a year max, waiving prizes (or earning scholarships), just to get their feet wet, realize that geez adult bowling is tough (and rude, and alcoholic, etc...), and not make it such a life-or-death decision to go adult. This would be a logistic impossibility to track of course, which is why I assumed it never happened. I never thought allowing unlimited adult waived bowling would be even considered. Interesting to say the least.
I think that tournament directors who do allow youth to bowl will have a lot of extra responsibility to handle situations we haven't even thought of yet- situations I hope never happen but I know will- it's not just the money that they're waiving, they're waiving the fact they're a KID, and as many kids that become more involved in bowling because of this, I fear that more will become disillusioned.
I think the jury is still out on this one....
1) It should have been thought through better first- instead they are trupmeting the fact of how quickly they pushed it through- hopefully they can trumpet again how quickly it's amended.
2) It shouldn't have taken a "USBC's pet" tournament to force a change
3) It should be followed up with more appropriate changes.
4) Bowling merchandise only!!!
5) Kids, this is a never-before seen opportunity. You might as well take advantage of it, if for no other reason than I'd be interested in the feedback. Will kids enjoy adults more, see $$$, and most of them go adult, thus depleting juniors even more? Since USBC is all about youth, will tons more kids sign up for youth bowling, knowing they can bowl an adult tourney whenever they want? Is that the anticipated benefit?
Let's see what happens...
Just one man who cares about bowling...
Jeff Hemer, Executive Director
Junior Bowlers Tour Southwest/Northwest
www.bowljbt.com
