MONTANA

Issue XXVI

STRIKE ZONE

December 2008

Libby-Troy Adults Refuse To Let Youth Program Die By Tom Brendgord

Is the youth program in your community starting to show signs of decline? Or worse yet, are the bowling leaders in your community not aware of the status of your youth program be it increasing or decreasing? The fol-lowing story was related to me by Ron Curtiss, who is both a Montana USBC board member and president of the Libby-Troy USBC association. It is an inspiring story that should serve as an example to all local associa-tions about how to best conduct their business and serve their members. The story starts about two years ago during the 2006-07 season. This was shortly after the merger of the ABC, WIBC and YABA creating the United States Bowling Congress. The Libby-Troy USBC association, which is located in extreme northwestern Montana close to the Canadian border, decided they needed to review their youth program because it was “not like previous years when youth membership was up”. Youth membership had, in fact, decreased substan-tially. But worse than that, they identified that the reduc-tion was not only in the typical high school age group, but also among the younger age group as well. The pre-merger men’s and women’s leagues had been raising funds to support scholarships for graduating seniors, but had failed to notice that, admirable as that was, nothing was being done from a funding standpoint to retain and recruit younger youth. A plan was devised with a two-pronged approach. First, benefits of youth membership were identified. Sec-ondly, a plan to pay for those benefits was hatched.

The benefits were: (1) pay as many youth membership dues as possible, (2) provide prizes and trophies for all youth participating in their local tournament, (3) cover entry fees for Libby-Troy youth attending the MUSBC Youth State tournament, (4) purchase T-shirts for those youth attending the state tournament, (5) issue $100 checks to the parents transporting Libby-Troy youth to their state tournament, and (6) provide a $500 scholarship to a graduating senior youth bowler. The fundraising plan was to conduct weekly 50/50 draw-ings in as many adult leagues as possible and also conduct a No-Tap tournament with all proceeds being donated to the youth program. The results for year #1 (2006-07) were $867.50 raised through 50/50 and $550.00 from the No-Tap event. Over 40 youth membership dues were paid that season. The results for year #2 (2007-08) were phenomenal. More leagues joined the 50/50 campaign raising $2,346.25 and the No-Tap yielded another $650.00 for a total of just under $3,000. The association paid for 67 youth membership cards and covered all the same costs as in the first year, plus purchased additional T-shirts for another team attending the Youth State tournament. An additional $500 scholarship was to be issued with plans for those scholarships to grow to $1,000 in the future. This is an endearing story from which we all can learn. I am certain that there are other local associations out there with similar endearing stories. I am also certain that there are many local associations that can learn a lesson from Libby-Troy. Libby-Troy is a small association, but its members most certainly have big hearts.

RENO TO HOST 2010 & 2011 USBC OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS Originally scheduled to be held in Osceola County, Florida at a new 100-lane facility to be constructed on land made avail-able by Walt Disney World, the 2011 USBC Open Champion-ships is now switching to Plan B. The current credit market has delayed funding for a key third party involved with the construction project, thus jeopardizing the completion date. So what is Plan B? Go to the place that built a National Bowling Stadium specifically to house these national tourna-ments - Reno, Nevada. Thank goodness for the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority for making their facility available on such short notice. And this is short notice when you are talking an event of this enormity.

With the Open Championships now scheduled for both 2010 and 2011, the USBC and the Convention Authority are offering unprecedented incentives for bowlers who attend both tourna-ments. At the 2011 Open Championships:

• Every day, one bowler will win a high performance bowling ball

• Every five weeks, one team captain will win a new car or truck

• Team captains bringing four or more teams will receive a VIP stay complete with limo service and luxury hotel accommodations

Participation in both years is required to be eligible for the incentive program. USBC remains optimistic that the Osceola County facility will open by 2012, which means the 2013 USBC Women’s Champion-ship would be the first USBC event held there.

An Inspiring Story To Benefit All Local Associations

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Montana Strike Zone The official newspaper of the Montana USBC Association

Editor

Publisher & Asst. Editor

Contributors

Jo Laughlin, 392 Forest Lane, Lewistown, MT 59457 hglaugh@tein.net

Tom Brendgord, 521 23rd Avenue NE, Great Falls, MT 59404 Fax 406-453-2599 E-mail: t.brendgord@att.net

Laurel Walker, Ruth Sprankel, Arlene Ayers, Jim

Watkins, Ginger Ward, Bertha Crogan, Curt

Baca, Travis Jaynes, Greg McCannel, Rosalie Ded-

more, all MT Big Sky Scribes & MUSBC board

Advertising Rates Inside page Back page

$140 1/2 page $160

$ 75 1/4 page $ 90

$ 40 1/8 page $ 50

This publication is distributed quarterly in March, June,

September and December. Ads need to be submitted to

Tom Brendgord 14 days prior to the month of distribution .

Scholarships Galore BPAA/Qubica International BPAA/Qubica International BPAA/Qubica International BPAA/Qubica International

Family Doubles TournamentFamily Doubles TournamentFamily Doubles TournamentFamily Doubles Tournament

Scholarships last year Regional Finals: $ 3,250

State Finals: $ 500

National Finals: $70,000

Local Qualifying: Roll 1200 score (3 games + hdcp

based on 100% of 440 team average) very easy

Qualifying period: Oct. 1, 2008 - Feb. 15, 2009

Qualifying locations: Any BPAA member center

Advancement locations Eastern Regional: Mar. 7-8, 2009 Town & Country Lanes - Billings Western Regional: Feb. 21-22, 2009 Westside Lanes - Missoula State Finals: Mar. 21-22, 2009 Sleeping Giant Lanes - Helena International Finals: July 30-Aug. 1, 2009 Grapevine, Texas (Dallas suburb)

Entry Fees

Local Qualifying: Cost of lineage + $2

Regional Finals: Parent/Child $45/team Adult/Child $32/team

State Finals: $18 per team

For information, call Tom Brendgord (406) 453-2599

SPARE NOTES By Laurel Walker, President MUSBC

Welcome to winter, and for many of us bowlers, we can say we are well into our leagues and side tournaments. If you have a chance, please check out the latest offerings on our Montana USBC web site, BowlMontana.com. Don Warner, District III Director from Miles City, kindly put my Jamboree pictures on the site, and I think the Youth winners’ pictures came out particularly well. If you have snaps, you might want to send them to Don for inclusion. You might find the forms and ap-plications you need on that site, as well. Have you made certain that your local association has elected both state and national convention delegates? Because the national meeting will be in Reno this spring, it could be that Montana will be very well represented. It isn’t too far to go for driving, and with luck, the price of gasoline will continue to fall, making Reno a more affordable location than sometimes. Chris Dunbar of Billings, who recently served a term on the national Youth Board, will be running for a directorship at that meeting, and it would be wonderful if we had a lot of Montanans there to back his candidacy. If you have any suggestions that might make either the State Senior Tournament or the State Mixed Tournament run with more attendance, please don’t hesitate to tell Guy Rolison. He is the chair of the MUSBC Tournament Committee, and you will find he is always approachable with good ideas. As always, we bowlers are vying for time and recreational dollars with soccer, football, basketball, volleyball, and all the other school events in our towns. I extend my sincerest thank you to all who help make bowling a major priority by coaching youth leagues, accepting association responsibilities, and offering to serve where needed in the bowling community. Happy holidays to all, and may your New Year be filled with good bowling!

Merry Christmas & happy new year

from the Montana USBC Association Board of Direc-

tors and the Montana Strike Zone staff

Hall of Fame Applications

Many bowlers are not aware of the Hall of Fame process here in Montana. Hall of Fame applications can be obtained from MUSBC Association Manager, Roz Gallup; Hall of Fame committee chairman, Bert Stiles or it can be downloaded from our web site, BowlMontana.com (click on MUSBC tab). The deadline for submission is February 1, 2009. This application pertains to both women and men, but not youth. Contact Bert or Roz with questions.

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On My Mind………On My Mind………On My Mind………On My Mind……… BowlMontana.com Two Year Anniversary By Tom Brendgord

It was exactly two years ago that our web site, BowlMontana.com was established. Like a baby bird it started small and slow. But in the last few months it has taken off in flight and is now soaring with the eagles. Hopefully, most of you reading this article have had the opportunity to view this site that is a combination of both Montana Bowling Proprietor Asso-ciation and Montana USBC Association news and informa-tion. It provides a great deal of invaluable information to our bowlers mostly on two different tabs - the Tournament tab and the Montana USBC tab. Nearly 50 events, most of which are tournaments, are displayed on the tournament tab. Not only are dates and locations available for these tourneys, but also, for many of them, there are download-able entry forms, rules and results. Two things have happened recently to generate vast im-provement to this site. First, Montana USBC director Don Warner from Miles City volunteered to serve on the public-ity committee. Don possesses a vast knowledge of com-puter technical skills. He has personally transformed the Montana USBC tab from a disoriented lackluster cluster of information into a pristine highly organized array of data that is beneficial to all who view the site. You really need to see that tab to appreciate all of the information available and how user-friendly it is. The second thing that happened involved a restructuring of the Tournament tab to make it more user-friendly. With 50 events or more available to chose from, it was becoming more difficult to navigate that tab. Now a viewer can go to the Select feature and “dial in” the event they want by se-lecting an event type, location or date range, any of which will bring up a shorter list that will presumably get them to where they want to go easier. Additionally, advertising is now available to purchase on the right side of that tab. For only $35 per year an advertiser can put their logo or some-thing of similar size on that tab. A viewer will be able to click on that image and receive more information such as a contact address and phone number plus be able to link to that advertiser’s website if available. Anyone interested in such advertising should contact me at (406) 453-2599 or email me at t.brendgord@att.net. If you are not interested in this kind of exposure, you are missing one of the great opportunities of a lifetime, for only two short years into this website, we are now receiving close to 250,000 hits per year and growing. Please take the time to view Montana’s premier bowling website. Let me know what you like the most and any sug-gestions for change. Don’t be afraid to join the 21st cen-tury. It is the now thing.

SLEEPING GIANT LANES Presents

26th Annual

Miller Masters Jan. 10-11, 2009

Estimated Added Money

$2,000+ ♦ Scratch singles ♦ Top 32 qualify ♦ Prize Ratio: Top 32, or 1:3

if entries exceed 96

♦ $145 entry, $105 re-entry

♦ Qualifying - 6 games 9am, 1pm, 5pm, Jan. 10

♦ Dbl elim matches, Jan. 11

COMING IN MARCH

• State Finals: Int’l Family Dbls Tny- March 21-22, 2009 • Finals: Youth Traveling League-Mar. 22

Junior Master/Masterettes Scholarship Tournament

Jan. 17-18, 2009

$1,200 AWARDED IN SCHOLARSHIPS

♦ 2 divisions: Scratch/Hdcp

♦ 6 games qualifying

♦ Top 16 advance each div.

♦ Qualifying shifts: Jan. 17: 9 AM, 1 PM & 4 PM

♦ Re-entries allowed

♦ Hundreds of dollars in scholarships per division

♦ Entry Fee: $30.00

Sleeping Giant Lanes-3355 Highway 12 E.-Helena, MT 442-1004

Youth Scholarship Application Deadline March 1st MUSBC Adds $1900 To Last Year’s Total

By Tom Brendgord

More and more the opportunity to win scholarships is what drives youth bowling. Literally hundreds of thousands of dol-lars are available every year to be won in youth bowling tourna-ments. This season youth bowlers should also be aware that thousands of dollars in bowling scholarships are also available here in Montana for those bowlers that have strong scholastics, community service achievements and a willingness to be in-volved in our sport as well as have a great competitive bowling resume. Three of these scholarships have even doubled. A universal scholarship application is used by the Montana USBC association to determine the recipients of up to ten schol-arships totaling $7,000. This application is normally available from your youth program director. For those who don’t want to wait, you can download it from BowlMontana.com. Click on the Youth tab and then again near the bottom of that tab where the application is mentioned. There is a March 1st deadline for submitting this application, so don’t get closed out. The follow-ing list shows the scholarships that are available through this process.

2 - MUSBC Youth (1 boy & 1 girl) $1000.00 ea 1 - MUSBC (boy or girl) $1000.00 1 - MUSBC Harvey L. Pierce (boy) $750.00 1 - MUSBC Harvey L. Pierce (boy) $500.00 1 - MUSBC Isabel Cummings (girl) $750.00 1 - MUSBC Isabel Cummings (girl) $500.00 2 - MBPA/Steve Ryan Memorial (boy & girl) $500.00 ea 1 - MBPA/Gary Gerhardt Memorial (boy or girl) $500.00

Go to BowlMontana.com for more tourney info.

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NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MONTANA STATE 600 CLUB TOURNAMENT By Ruth Sprankel

The annual Montana State 600 Club Tournament will be a Mail-a-Graphic tournament format again in 2009. The handicap tournament will be held February 1st - Feb-ruary 14th, 2009 and bowlers may enter once in each league of which they are a member. The entry fee will be $12.00 and entry blanks will be mailed out by January 1, 2009. Women bowlers who have scored a 600 series are eligible and non-members of the State 600 Club may join by paying a $5.00 one-time membership fee. Mail-a-Graphic tournaments are a great way to bowl without having to travel to one central site. Please contact Ruth Sprankel at 406-252-5090 or e-mail

iluvbeaches@msn.com for additional information. ***********************

Montana Strike Zone Special Commentary By Curt Backa

I’ve come to praise league bowling, not to bury it. For years league bowling has been the bread-and-butter for pro-prietors. Unfortunately, that is beginning to change as avid bowlers are slowly abandoning their passion and finding entertainment in other venues. Just in Great Falls itself, three leagues have gone by the wayside, including one that had been in existence for over 50 years. More will certainly follow. The problem with league bowling is that it hasn’t changed — in the last 50 years. The format of league play has been the same. Nothing has changed. Thirty-three weeks of play, three or four games a night, team with the best record wins the title. Bowlers have changed, their game has not. Proprietors, local associations and league secretaries must find ways to attract new league bowlers and more impor-tantly, keep the ones they have. Here are a few suggestions: First, alter the length of the league, 33 weeks is proving too long of a commitment for most bowlers. Perhaps shorten it. Twenty-eight weeks with two 14-week blocks, for example, taking three or four weeks around the Christ-mas holidays off. Giving bowlers a break during the holi-days certainly couldn’t hurt. Introduce more short-season trio or four-person leagues that run seven or eight weeks. Give bowlers a taste of league, perhaps they will want more. Second, change and alter formats. Award a first-place prize for each quarter or third of a season. Too many times in 33-week leagues, a team gets off to a slow start and grov-els in the bottom half of the league for most of the season with no real chance of moving up. There is no motivation to keep bowling, and absenteeism and bowling blinds begin to happen. Some teams even drop out. Have a quarter winner and start again, giving all teams a fresh start at 0-0. I’d be willing to venture a few more teams will return the next year, and who knows, may bring their friends.

Special Commentary (continued)

You can still keep individual stats and averages for the full length of the season. If you break your league up into thirds or quarters, allow new teams to enter at each break. What’s wrong with that? If a team wants to bowl the first eight weeks, and take eight weeks off, and come back, let them. I don’t see anything wrong with it. Yes, proprietors will howl about change, especially in the winter-driven locals, when they say they have only a short window to hold their leagues. They will say money is be-ing taken out of their pockets — and losing leagues isn’t. Most proprietors have seen a rise in open bowling with the advent of bowling novelties, like a Thunder Alley or Monte Carlo bowling that entertain both kids and most adults, alike. Proprietors, it’s time to take a quick look at what ways are out there that will keep league bowling alive —before we bury it.

(Curt Backa is a Great Falls Tribune sports writer,

who has been penning a bowling column for over 13

years. He can be reached at 791-6569, 800 438-6600 or

e-mailed at cbacka@greatfallstribune.com)

BUD LIGHT

& Little’s Lanes Present the

40 & Over Scratch Classic Tournaments

40 & Over Scratch Classic Saturday, January 3, 2009

$600 1st Place Based on 50 entries Limited to 96 entries

Lanes will be oiled prior to 11 AM shift and Match Play

♦ This is a one day tournament ♦ 5 GAME QUALIFYING ♦ Shifts at 11:00 AM & 2:00 PM (Enter both shifts if you wish)

♦ ENTRY FEE - $85.00 ♦ Double elimination match play

begins at approximately 4:30PM ♦ One game matches - Top 24 Qual. ♦ Top 24 GUARANTEED to cash Little’s lanes-517 1st Ave. N, Great Falls

40/90 Doubles Classic

Sunday, January 4, 2009

$1,100 1st Place

Based on 32 team entries

ENTRIES LIMITED TO FIRST 32 TEAMS TO PAY IN FULL

• No qualifying. Eligibility based

strictly on age. All entrants must be 40 years old by January 6, 2008 & combination of ages per team must equal or exceed 90 years.

• ENTRY FEE - $80/ PERSON

• Start 8:15 am - PRIZE RATIO 1:4

• FORMAT: 4 divisions bowl 7 rounds

of match play; round #7 is a combined position round. Top 5 bowl stepladder final using the Baker Scoring System.

(406) 452-4116, Fax 454-3290

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YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME

10% Discount For Bowling Tournaments. Mention “BOWLING” To Get Discount.

No Other Discounts Allowed.

Deluxe Breakfast Featuring:

Make-Your-Own: Waffles, Bagels, Hot & Cold Cereal, French Toast, Breads, Muffins. Fruits, Juices, Milk, Coffee, Tea

♦Hot Tub & Sauna

♦Exercise Room

♦Out Door Pool (Seasonal)

Located within 3 miles of all Missoula bowling centers.

3530 Brooks - Missoula, MT

Toll Free Reservations 1-800-247-2616

COUNT THE LANES!

Odd Is Strange, But Not Necessarily Bad By Tom Brendgord

Pictured above is a snapshot of Hawk Alley located in Broadus, Montana. This 5-lane bowling center, formerly known as Powder River Lanes, used to be an 8-lane center. That was before new owner Mark Wiltse purchased it and decided to add a billiard room. Since a bowling lane is 43 inches wide, removing two lanes (approximately eight feet) was not enough to give pool players the elbow room they need to play. So it was only logical to remove three lanes creating the oddity of a 5-lane center. My nephew took this picture for me. When asked about availability of league play there, Mr. Wiltse stated in a casual interview that he had a hard time getting six teams anyway, so this was a perfect fit. I tried to Google for information about other odd-numbered lane bowling centers, but could come up with nothing. I still believe that there are some out there, so if any readers know of any, I would appreciate the information. Email me at: t.brendgord@att.net. In the mean time, good luck to Mark. Sometimes it pays to think outside the box.

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2008 MONTANA STATE MIXED TOURNAMENT RESULTS - Bozeman, MT

Total Prize Fund

Team $1,207.80

Doubles $1,445.70

2008 MUSBC State Senior Championships Results - Laurel, MT

Open-Super Senior (Men) Name City Score Prize 1. William Hrouda Helena 1333 $110.00 2. Larry Melech Helena 1329 $ 61.20

Open - A (Men) 1. Les Comer Dillon 1331 $ 85.00 2. Leslie Essex Belgrade 1319 $ 43.40

Open - B (Men)

1. Bernie Briggeman Helena 1465 $135.00 2. Robert Heiser Laurel 1422 $ 66.00 3. Gil Ravan Kalispell 1366 $ 23.70

Open - C (Men) 1. Thomas Shea Billings 1407 $140.00 2. Gary Rettig Ft. Benton 1371 $ 70.00 3. Ron Mossness Helena 1354 $ 25.40

Open - D (Men) 1. John Brown Troy 1545 $ 65.00 2. Gordon Allen Absarokee 1328 $ 31.30

Super Senior - (Women) Name City Score Prize 1. Helen Schaffer Deer Lodge 1307 $110.00 2. Eva Rieker Boulder 1287 $ 61.20

A - (Women) 1. Janet Anderson Helena 1291 $110.00 2. Shirley Christianson Great Falls 1281 $ 61.20

B - (Women) 1. Barbara Campeau Townsend 1368 $128.00 2. Ruth Sprankel Billings 1333 $ 64.00 3. Shirley Yorke Columbus 1331 $ 22.00

C - (Women) 1. Sharon Heiser Laurel 1294 $140.00 2. Raye Shaw Whitehall 1271 $ 70.00 3. Donna Mitchell Park City 1268 $ 25.40

D - (Women) 1. Karen Zaiko Gallatin Gtwy 1344 $120.00 2. Kathy Brown Bigfork 1325 $ 60.00 3. Judith Burke Laurel 1321 $ 23.30

Total prizes - 173 entries @ $10.70 = $1,851.10

Team Event Name City Score Prize 1. Miller Low Lifes Bozeman 2575 $400 2. The Alley Kats Belgrade 2559 $280 3. BBNF Belgrade 2558 $200 4. Chapter One Bozeman 2557 $140 5. RM Plastics Park City 2538 $100 6. Stars and Strikes Billings 2525 $ 87.80

Doubles Event Name City Score Prize 1. Kym Roberts/ Livingston 1348 $ 300.00 Izzy Kadrmas 2. Michelle & Frank Calley Billings 1341 $ 240.00 3. Mira & Jeffrey Williams Bozeman 1337 $ 200.00 4. Jill Zimbric/ Belgrade 1321 $ 160.00 Steven Johnston 5. Mona Paulas Troy 1300 $ 140.00 John Brown 6. Michele & John Schoolcraft Belgrade 1291 $ 120.00 7. Doreen & Edwin Nyby Belgrade 1287 $ 100.00 8. Karen Zaiko/ Bozeman 1285 $ 80.00 John Guthmiller 9. Lynette & Lloyd Seavey Belgrade 1283 $ 60.70 10. Gloria & Joe Zeleski Bozeman 1282 $ 22.50 10. Lori Kottwitz/ Bozeman 1282 $ 22.50 Brian Clausen

Hi Game Scratch - $25 Each Men: Jeffrey Williams, Belgrade 269 Women: Doreen Nyby, Bozeman 245

Hi Series Scratch - $50 Each Men: Brian Thomas, Bozeman 679 Women: Doreen Nyby, Bozeman 673

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High School Bowling By Tom Brendgord

High school bowling continues to be developed in Montana, but at a snail’s pace or so it seems. A series of “meets” that started two years ago have actually become fewer and fewer. Dave Sears, from Missoula, conducted a High School tournament at Westside Lanes in Missoula on November 8, 2008. It is anticipated that Butte’s Debbie Martinich will be running another High School tourney on February 7, 2009 at Star Lanes in Butte. Both Dave’s and Debbie’s events are being held in conjunction with the state Youth Traveling League stops on the same weekends. Both of those high school events will consist of trio teams bowling a mixture of regular and Baker bowling. A High School tourney has been anticipated for Billings, but so far has not materialized. This year’s State Championship meet is scheduled for Star Lanes in Butte on May 3, 2009. It will be a modified version of the new format that I conducted this past year at Little’s Lanes last April. Trio teams will bowl a qualifying round on Sunday morning consisting of 4 regular games. The top 8 boy’s teams and the top 8 girl’s teams will then bowl a double elimination match play format consisting of all Baker bowling immediately following the qualifying rounds. There will be two qualify-ing shifts on Sunday, so there should be no need to restrict entries. The four regular games bowled during qualifying will also be used to determine the Singles event winners. This will be a one-day event. Bowling continues to be the largest-growing high school sport in America. Last year, more than 52,000 students competed at the 4,656 schools offering high school bowling. That represented a 16% increase over the previous year and a 290% increase in the last dec-ade. Twenty states currently offer high school bowling as a varsity sport. Hopefully, Montana will join that list sooner than later.

COMING EVENTS December: 1st Annual Great & Greatest, Ronan 12/13-14/08 27th Annual Doris Jennison Hol. Mixed, Ronan 12/20/08-1/1/09 January: Westside Lanes - 25th Mixed Dbls Calcutta 1/10-117/09 Little’s Lanes (Gt. Falls) - 40 & Over Scratch Classic 1/3/09 Little’s Lanes - 40/90 Doubles Classic 1/4/09 Sleeping Giant Lanes (Hel) - 26th Miller Masters 1/10-11/09 47th Annual Lucky Strike Lanes Invite, Ronan 1/17-25/09 Sleeping Giant Lanes - Jr. Masters/Masterettes 1/17-1/18/09 Snowy Lanes - Budweiser Hdcp 1/24-2/227/09 weekends February: Swiss Trio (Msla)-Westside Lanes 2/1/09 Super Bowl “Bowl”, Ronan 2/1/09 Women’s Young & Youngest-Westside Lanes 2/14-2/15/09

Sleeping Giant Lanes - U.S. Open Qualifier 2/28-3/01/09 International Family Doubles Tournament: Local qualifying ends 2/15/09 West Region Final - Westside Lanes (Msla) 2/21-22/09 March: East Region Final-Town & Country Lanes (Blgs) 3/07-08/09 Sleeping Giant Lanes (Hel)-Family Tourn State Finals 3/21-3/22/09 Gary Gerhardt Memorial, The Bowl (Boz) 3/14-15/09 2nd Annual Striketime Scratch Classic, Ronan 3/21-22/09 MUSBC Hall of Fame Banquet, Anaconda 3/27/09 MUSBC Delegate Meeting & Election (Anaconda) 3/28-29/09 Cedar Park & Copper City (Ana)-MUSBC Open Championships Mar 28-May 17, 2009 weekends Ringin’ Ten Classic Star Lanes (Butte) 3/28-29/09

April: Star Lanes (Butte)-Pepsi YBC State Finals 4/03-05/09

Glenn Rose Scholarship Tourn, Little’s Lanes (GF) 4/04-05/09 3rd Annual 20-game Marathon, Ronan 4/04/09 Sunset Bowl & Fireside Lanes (Blgs) MUSBC Women’s Championships Apr. 18-May 17, 2009 weekends & some Friday nights Westside Lanes & Five Valley Center-MUSBC Youth State Tournament April 18-26, 2009 weekends (Missoula)

May: High School State Championships, Star Lanes (Butte) 5/03/09

2009 STATE TOURNAMENTS By Tom Brendgord

Every year there are some changes to the state tournaments that bear mentioning. Here is a brief rundown of the pertinent information for the 2009 state events. The Open State tournament is scheduled for Anaconda with the team event at Cedar Park Lanes and the Doubles & Singles at Cop-per City Bowl. It runs for eight weekends starting March 28 and end-ing May 17. Of added interest, the first weekend also includes the state Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, March 27; the next Montana USBC association board meeting, March 28; and a Montana Dele-gates meeting and MUSBC board election on Sunday, March 29. The 2009 Women’s State tournament will be held in Billings begin-ning April 18 and ending May 17 for a total of five weekends. Both the Open and the Women’s State have added another optional event - Scratch Team with the cost being $5.00 per person. Entry forms for both events will be available in December. They will also be downloadable on our website, BowlMontana.com Some major changes have occurred in the two Youth State tourna-ments. The Pepsi YBC will be held April 3-5 at the Star Lanes in Butte. There will no longer be a national final for this event. Since we will not be advancing any handicap bowlers, we will be sending twice as many scratch bowlers (2 boys & 2 girls) to the Junior Gold Champi-onships in Indianapolis, Indiana. Scholarships will still be awarded in all divisions at the state level. The Montana State Youth tournament will be contested in Missoula starting April 18 and running for only two weekends ending on Sun-day, April 26. Entries have declined for this event the last few years making it possible to be conducted in two weekends instead of three.

Corrections to State High Awards

The September 2008 issue of the Montana Strike Zone listed the state high award winners for the 2007-08 season. Unfortunately, there were some errors that need to be corrected. In the 151-350 membership category, the Most Im-proved Female award was shown as won by Joann Pruett of Thompson Falls with a 23 pin increase. Actually, there was a tie for that award, as Robin Potvin of Anaconda also had a 23 pin increase. In the same membership category, the Most Improved Male award also had a mistake. John Hall of Anaconda had a 22 pin increase replacing Larry Littrell of Bigfork, who had an 18 pin increase. In the Over 350 members category, the Most Improved Male award was correctly shown as Frank Belegarde, but his town was listed as Belgrade. Frank is actually from Helena. The Montana Strike Zone regrets errors in reporting and sincerely apologizes to those bowlers affected.

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Westside Lanes & Fun Center

25th ANNUAL MIXED DOUBLES CALCUTTA JANUARY 10 & 11, 2009

$1,100 Added Money Calcutta auction

Saturday approximately 30 minutes after end of 6:00p.m. shift

TOURNAMENT RULES: 1. Teams will bowl 3 games in the qualifying round. 2. Bowlers will use highest average of the following: End of season 2007-08 or January 1, 2009. 3. All averages must be verifiable. All bowlers with averages in associations other than Missoula must

present verification before bowling. 4. Hdcp: 80% of 420. 5. Westside Lanes employees are eligible to participate. 6. Top 32 qualifiers advance to Sunday finals 7. Lanes reconditioned between 3 p.m. & 6 p.m. shift 8. Tournament management reserves the right to rerate or reject any entry. 9. Both team members must be present at Sunday check-in or be replaced by alternate.

Name

____________________

____________________

$100 for HIGHEST RE-ENTRY SCORE Qual. Shifts, Jan. 10 ___ 1pm, ___ 3pm, ___6pm

Address

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Check-in and practice

Top 32 Qualifiers Sunday: 9:30 AM

Telephone

___________

___________

Average

_________

_________

MAIL OR PHONE

ENTRIES TO: Westside Lanes-1615 Wyoming-Missoula, MT 59801

Email: funcenter@onewest.net

406-721-5263

Regular and Sport League Statistics Are In for 2007-08

And The Winner Is……… By Tom Brendgord

It will be a long time before the number of Sport Bowling league honor scores approach the number of honor scores rolled in regular leagues, but the trend is certainly favoring Sport Bowling. Another increase in membership in Sport Bowling leagues meant another rise in Sport Bowling 300 games and 800 series in the 2007-08 season completed July 31, 2008. Sport Bowling membership hit an all-time high of 31,582 bowlers in 2007-08, up more than 13 percent from the 27,834 in 2006-07. In the same period of time, the number of leagues increased from 693 to892. At this point comparing honor scores in Sport Bowl-ing to those in regular bowling is almost like comparing apples to oranges. The optimism regarding Sport Bowl-ing is generated primarily by the percent of increase more so than by the actual numbers. For example, the number of Sport Bowling 300 games increased from 60 to 104 and the number of 800 series increased from 8 to 23. These numbers pale in comparison to the number of regu-lar league 300 games recognized last season at 52,229 and the number of 800 series at 16,872.

What is more important according to the USBC is that the number of Sport League 300s increased by 73.3% compared to regular league 300s that increased only 1.3%. Sport League 800s almost tripled (up 287.5%) compared to regular league 800s that increased 1.4%. Sport League also recognized 36 299 games and 87 11 strikes-in-a-row awards. For the last couple of years, USBC has been emphasiz-ing the return to the good shot making skills that used to characterize this industry. They had to start with baby steps, but it looks like the fruits of their labor is showing. Here is a list of some of the other regular league statis-tics from last season:

Triplicates 10,133 Big 4 Splits 2,130 7-10 Splits 1,862 All Spare Games 3,526 Dutch 200’s 2,020 75 Pins Over Avg. 241,220 100 Pins Over Avg. 30,053 140 Pins Over Avg. 109,293