Hi Paul

The Charleston Association has tried talking to Athletic Directors in the past. They did not show any interest whatsoever. There are a few people on our board that want to try again with some new ideas. On of the new ideas is to talk to the school boards. There has been some success in other areas around the country with this. I have appointed a committee to head this up. Michelle Smith, Byron Doan and Ben Derosia. With Michelle , Byron and Ben pushing this, I have a good feeling that it might work this time. If you would like to assist them I am sure they could use your help. Let me know and I will get you their information. I will also let Michelle know that you would like to help with this. Columbia currently has a system in place for High School Bowling and I also heard that Spartanburg now has one. You can call me if you have any questions, 729-9488

Thanks

Jerry Hill
President
Greater Charleaton Association

I think that this is a great topic. Especially since I coached High school bowling in the State of Ohio for 3 years. I think everyone must remember a couple of things. First, the schools are afraid of the cost of adding another sport during these tough economic times. I understand that the associations are behind this, but are the Bowling centers really behind this. Are they willing to give out bowling time to schools for practice and matches? A typical match is 5 bowlers bowling 2 games along with 4 baker games. Normally an two to two and half hours of a centers time. They cannot expect to receive any income from this for the first 5 years. After five years they might receive as much as $1000 per year from a school for upwards of 100 hours of their time. If this point is accomplished.
The next thing that has to be done is to determine which season to have it in. While it may seem that the Winter is the optimum season, it may or may not be. The opitmum season is the season with the lowest amount of sports, this will give better turnout for tryouts and a better interest from the AD's. For example, at the school I was previously at. They had 7 falls sports, 4 winter sports, and 2 spring sports. When they added bowling to the winter, the AD's would have prefered the Spring. They are thinking about changing it there. It is something that has to be discussed. IF you can get the AD's interested, then you can get the school board's interested.

This is a very tough prospect, and even after getting the league going, you have to ask yourself, what about the Junior leagues. I am not sure about the State athletic association, but I am assuming that it is the long range goal to make this a state sport. If you are going to do that you have to follow there rules which means, that you can only compete on the school team during season. Which meant that when in season the athletes could not bowl in the local junior leagues and tournaments. This would mean a loss of revenue for the centers. I they willing to accept that? I love the thought that High school bowling might happen here, but I think that everyone needs to proceed cautiously and understand what are the potential issues.