RESULTS OF SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE IUSBC BA, ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2007

 As a point of information, the IUSBC BA held their annual Council of Delegates on the weekend of October 20-21, 2007, with Rock Island-Milan the host association.  The Sunday workshop was conducted by the IUSBC BA.  There were 110 local association officials present, some had one delegate and others more. Members of the Illinois USBC WBA were in attendance as well as other guests.  Not every question was answered, and some called for multiple replies, therefore the totals may not equal the 110 figure.

 At the workshop, each person was given a questionnaire to complete.  They were asked to answer each question as to how they believe their local bowlers would feel, not their personal opinion.  The questionnaire was not scientific, and with any survey, more than one interpretation of the question or answer, could be made.

After completion of the questionnaire, there was a discussion on each question, via inter-action between the audience and the moderators, Wm. G. Chestnut and Jim Zimmerman.  In some instances a showing of hands was called for, to gauge how the majority felt on an issue.

 The people were told that the results of the survey would be posted on our web site, as well as a copy sent to USBC.   Also, some issues provided more comments, and these will be pointed out, later in this report.

 Note: There has been a slight modification of some of the questions for sake of space and clarity.

                                                                                             The questions and replies:

How many salaried employees does the IUSBC BA have?   92 said one, and two each said 4, 10 or 15.   The correct answer is one.

What is the annual salary of each member of the IUSCA board of directors?  78 none, six $50, one $100, one $150, two $200, and ten said more.  The correct answer is none.

 Would bowlers be in favor of state dues for men, even if only one dollar.         64 no              36 yes.

 A question asking how many of our 106,000 certified bowlers bowl in the state tournament, was ambiguous, and the replies will not be shown.   However, three and one half percent would be close.

 How many of our local associations are merged?  29 different figures were given, with 38 the correct one.

 If your association is merged, are the bowlers satisfied?                                                33 yes              17 no

 To the question if your association is merged, would you like to reverse it?             45 no                  8 yes

 The relationship between the men and women’s associations.                                      61 good      25 fair   3 bad

 Would you be in favor of forcing all associations to merge?                                          87 no        12 yes

 USBC dues are $10, the majority of local association dues are?  5 zero   two $2   2 $3    one $4   22 $5
         19 $6    11 $7   8 $20  one $9 and eleven $10.  Our average is $6, not including women state dues.

 Are the USBC seminars mainly beneficial to the larger associations?                           48 yes             50 no

 Do you feel that only a few members of your board of directors contribute, with the others just listening or complaining?                                                                                                                                                            70 yes               27 no

 Would you want a rule for league scores to be used for the association tournament?             72 no    26 yes

 Would you want a rule allowing the association to not have a championship tournament?      80 no  17 yes

 How often should your local association board of directors meet?  
                 46 monthly       42 every three months      11 twice a year        three once a year

 Would you favor eliminating the annual meeting for your local association?                                 91 no        9 yes

 Should lane dressing inspections be eliminated, except for Sport Leagues?                                85 no      16 yes

 After the association has done the initial certification inspection of a center, would you prefer inspections after that would be to only check the gutter depths and pin spots?                                                                                           57 no      39 yes

 Would you prefer National/State officials visit your association on only if asked?                        69 yes   30 no

 What is a main reason for bowling in a certified league? 81 to be with friends   60 for a tournament average   55 meet people  
        18 only physical sport able to do   18 for a night out     11 something to do      4 night for drinking    3 business contacts

 Reason you bowl in the center you currently bowl?                                                        46 closest to where live      34 cleanliness
                      25 where first started bowling    24 lane conditions   15 only center in town

 Reason most bowlers quit certified bowling?  19 change work shift change   20 cost of lineage
                     16 just wanted to      14 moved    11 Pots, drinks, etc., made too expensive   5 not night wanted

 Major reason certifying a league?                                75 rules  45 awards  42 bonding  15 lane/ball specifications   5 education

 Other than league bowling, do most practice?      59 no       28 open bowling once in a while    11 weekly

 What do you consider bowling to be?                      59 sport     30 recreation    13 don’t care what called

 What office title do you feel Association Manager’s prefer?    42 Association Manager 
                    41 Executive Director      8 Manager       2 Secretary    1 Secretary-Treasurer

 Should Association Manager be a member of the board of directors, and a vote?                  89 yes   12 no  

 Satisfied with the cities selected by USBC for the convention?                                    69 yes    27 no     2 don’t care

 Do you agree with how the lanes are dressed for the Open Championship?             54 yes    41 no

 Would you favor the adding of another class of bowlers at the Open Championship, 181-199 range?    80 yes    17 no

 Most lanes seem dressed for scoring/inflated averages, do the majority favor this?     63 yes   35 no

 If lanes were dressed to make more challenging, would the majority favor this?            81 no    20 yes

 Regardless how lanes dressed, you believe a majority of bowlers just want to bowl, with whatever?
                                                                                                                                                                74 yes      19 no

 USBC wishes everyone to call bowling a sport?                 80 agree       17 don’t care what called    4 no

 Would a majority of bowlers want to get bowling into the Olympics?                  81 yes  17 no    11 don’t care

 If bowling got into the Olympics, would this get more people in certified leagues?       52 no    45 yes

 If bowling got into the Olympics, would this get more people to bowling centers?        54 yes   45 no

 Would a majority support bowling in the Olympics if it meant a dues increase?             53 yes     47 no

 Would a majority favor eliminating all USBC achievement awards, except honor scores?      78 no         21 yes

 What achievement awards would you like to see eliminated?  43 none   27 80 thru 250 awards  5 Triplicate
   21 Dutch 200   19 all awards  11 All Spare  6 100 pins over average  5 Big Four split     6 200—700 awards

Achievement awards, other than honor scores, would bowlers favor a rule that unless the bowler requests the award, forget it?                           53 yes      45 no

 If USBC eliminated all achievement awards except honor scores, would bowlers still bowl in a certified league?  89 yes     13 no

 If USBC eliminated all achievement awards, but a bowler could purchase the honor score award, would bowlers still bowl in a certified league?                                                                                                                                  79 yes      22 no

 If USBC eliminated all awards would a bowler still bowl in a certified league?                   80 yes     21 no

 Rate experiences contacting USBC.                                                                             36 fair     28 good     15 improving     5 bad

 What impact on associations since USBC eliminated Field Representatives?                87 none      13 some

 Do bowlers feel USBC devotes too much time trying to standardize lane conditions?                       72 no 26 yes

 Do bowlers feel Sport bowling will have the majority wanting this for their leagues?                          86 no  13 yes

 If your association had a Sport league, how many seasons did it last?                              38 still have  18 one year
                                                                                                                                                                     9 two years    2  three years

 Would a majority favor a rule allowing a bowler to switch hands when league or tournament bowling?       85 no     15 yes

The following drew the most comments.

The age old story of a communications gap between the National and local’s still exist.  Particularly, getting different answers to a rule or shop around until you find the person with the answer you wanted.

 A case in point, on women’s state dues.  Frustration with having to check a box on the membership application to indicate which state association she wants to belong.  The rule regarding the dues is consider by some as confusing.   For some intent is spelled out in the rules, but the larger associations (at least one) have been granted permission by the Rules Department to circumvent how they handle dues.

Another case of a rule being circumvented by who is asked for an answer.   An association cannot use league scores for their association championship, but some associations have allegedly been given permission to do this, and for several years.   While the majority present were not in favor of allowing this, after the discussions, it appeared that it might be viable, except they could a problem with  several bowling centers involved, there would be the lane dressing issue.

The topic with the larger amount of discussion was USBC not putting averages on the membership card, and the various answers from headquarters as to why.  One answer was that it would save USBC about $500,000 a year.   Another, they had to do it because the US Postal service said the i.d. number personalized the card, so USBC could not use the reduced postage rate.  Upon hearing this answer, another person countered this and said this was not true—depends on which person you talk to at the post office.  Another person commented if the number was “personalizing the card”, the person’s name on the card would personalize it.

Another commented that even with the averages are on bowl.com, there are problems with this, different i.d. numbers for the same person.  On this same subject, why can’t USBC with their computer network, clean out the membership list, as there might be three “John Smith’s” with the same address, birth date, telephone number, etc., and have three different I.D. numbers.  

 The issue of lane dressing at the National Open Championship provided a lot of discussion.

The idea of creating another class (181-199) at the National was met with favor by 80 people.  The remarks were that only a very few are skilled enough to compete on the conditions.  At least if there was another class, the majority of bowlers, would at least be competing with bowlers of their like, not the 200 plus elite bowlers.   Further, the majority of the bowlers below 199 are creating the prize list, not the elite.   It was noted that ABC fought establishing a classic division for a long time, and finally gave in.

On awards, plenty of comments.   Basically, the National raised dues and made a reduction in quality of awards, mainly cheap patches for everything.  The most comments were directed to the Eleven in a row award, which some called a cheap sheet of paper slapped on a board.  Also, not too many happy with the award being for either the first or last eleven, where previously a bowler could receive both types.   Many did not want to see any reductions, a few felt that some of the awards could be eliminated.

 In conclusion, our workshop on Sunday was a success, the delegates were more involved, and this type of workshop will be done in 2008, with some modifications.

Personally, I (WGC) feel Illinois bowlers are a barometer of how bowlers across the country feel on issues.

 For the IUSBC BA Board of Directors

Wm. G. Chestnut
Association Manager

 p.s. – Don’t shoot the messenger.