Saturday, May 7, 2011

The May Column

Here's the May column, the final one for this season. We've got some good things cooking for the rest of the school year into the Summer. We're going to be working hard to get some more traction for the idea that bowling belongs in the schools as an NSAA-recognized sport. Stay tuned during these next few months!


High School Bowling Confidential
May 2011
For the last column of the season, I would like to prepare you for spreading the word about how cool it would be for high school bowling to be an NSAA sport.
Last month I mentioned that you would run into some nonsensical arguments against this crazy notion of making bowling an NSAA recognized sport. Here’s another one to watch for.
NSAA Recognition Would Keep Students From Participating
I love this one. It has all the ingredients of the short-term thinking that goes into the resistance against making our sport NSAA sanctioned.
The “logic” behind this stems from an assumption that cuts would be made, and there would be a limit to the number of teams formed to compete.
Well, in some programs, cuts are already being made. It happens. How the coach and the bowling center handle this is critical.
The coach and the bowling center need to work together to create a program for students to go into if they get cut. This would be a developmental program, so the students can continue to improve their game.
As far as limiting the number of teams goes, will there be an unlimited number of JV teams allowed? Probably not.
Depending on student interest and budgets, there could be a JV team, Reserve team, and a Freshmen team. Using a roster size of seven for 5-person teams, this would allow 56 students (boys and girls) to be a part of the bowling program.
An Omaha-Lincoln Thing
Which brings us to the other part of this flawed “logic.” Do we think that any other Nebraska community is going to have this problem of too many students? That would be something, but again, a cooperative approach between the coach and the bowling center can deal with this situation, should it arise.
Attitude will determine if these situations are problems or opportunities. For too many years, we’ve let poor attitudes dictate this argument. It’s time to end that streak.
An Interesting Inquiry
            We got an interesting call from an unlikely source, offering support for our efforts to gain NSAA recognition.
            A Nebraska state senator’s office called to see if there was anything they could do to help get bowling the NSAA recognition we’re seeking.
            While this is a very flattering offer of support, we respectfully asked for the state senator to hold off on taking any formal action until we determined if that was necessary. We offered to keep the senator’s office up to date on our progress.
Wrapping Up Another Season
            With another successful high school bowling season behind us, it’s time to say thanks to all the students, coaches, parents, and sponsors for continuing to help move bowling forward.
            Thanks also to those of you who regularly turn to this column for my take on high school bowling in Nebraska. As more news breaks between now and August, I’ll be writing about it at http://hsbowlingconfidential.blogspot.com/
            Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Duane Alstadt for his continued support, and John, Larry, Les, and Steve for their comments on each month’s writing. They are great editors.
            See you in August!

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