USBC Central Alabama Delegate Report
Reported by Delegate Hilda Quinones

USBC’s Annual Convention was held June 29, 2011 thru June 30, 2011 and the Annual Meeting on July 1, 2011 at the Gaylord Texan Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.

Youth Information:
USBC has introduced new programs. The first one is USA Bowling. It is a Team based structure like other youth sports where each team has a coach. The teams would be made up of 4 or 5 members. They would have a practice session separate from competition. The season cycle is short (8-12 weeks) and provides a fun and social environment.

Another program is a membership program for kids age 7 and under.  It is called the USBC Roll ‘N Grow Program.  It is for regular or bumper leagues and the membership is $8.  Membership benefits include Bowlopolis DVD Series, Bowlopolis Magazine, Bowlopolis Kid’s Club, Progress card with award stickers, USBC Membership Card, USBC and League Awards, Eligibility to bowl in USBC certified tournaments, Non-Bumper bowlers get a USBC Official Average based on a minimum of 12 games and bumper bowlers will have their averages listed on bowl.com with a bumper designation. 

Under Youth Development, they have broken youth bowling into several tiers. First tier is the Bowlopolis level. This will include all youth bowlers ages 8 and under. The next tier is called Bowler’s Ed, which includes youth bowlers up to the age of 12. The next tier is USA Bowling, which includes all youth bowlers through the age of 14. The last two tiers are the High School ages 15 through 17 and Collegiate ages 18 through 20. 

USBC has partnered up with Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, Global 900, Hammer, Qubica/AMF, RotoGrip, Storm, Track, Kegel, Bowlers Journal International, High 5 Gear and other big name industries and created the program Youth Education Services Fund (YES).

More information on these programs is available at bowl.com. There is also a Youth Resource Center located at www.bpaa.com/YouthResourceCenter  When asked for the password use the word youth.

During one of the Youth Program seminars conducted by Mike Larsen and Barbara Armstead, it was brought to light that there were changes made to the way the Youth Committee members and Youth Directors on the Board are elected. They apologized for not ensuring the changes were publicized to the field better. The change was transparent because it was adopted into the template of the Association Bylaws and went into effect August 1, 2010. The changes are as follows:

Local Merged Associations: At least 20% of the total number of Board members will be elected by majority vote, unless plurality vote is adopted, by the Youth Representatives and officers and directors who hold youth membership from a slate and/or nominations from the floor.

The Youth Committee is elected by majority vote1, unless plurality vote2 is adopted by the Youth Representatives and officers and directors who hold youth membership from a slate provided by the Youth Committee and/or nominations from the floor.

State Merged Association: At least 20% of the Board is elected by majority vote, unless plurality vote is adopted from a slate or nominations from the floor by the Youth Delegates and officers and directors who hold youth membership.

The Youth Committee is elected by majority vote, unless plurality vote is adopted by the Youth Delegates and officers and directors who hold youth membership.  A slate provided by the Youth Committee.

The important factor in both cases is that the Youth Committee no longer determines who will serve on the Board as Youth Directors and the individuals who are voted in as Youth Directors do not need to be a member of the Youth Committee to be eligible to serve as a Youth Director on the Board. They are not saying that Youth Directors cannot also be Youth Committee members; they are saying they don’t have to be.

USBC Delegate:
There was one Proposed League Rule Amendment to lower the age for seniors in leagues to 50. This proposal was defeated.  There were two Proposed Amendments to the National Bylaws. The first was to require all non-merged state and local associations to be merged by August 1, 2012. An amendment to the proposal was made to change the deadline to August 1, 2013, which was passed, but the overall amendment was defeated. The second Proposed Amendment to the National Bylaws was to change the requirement for credentials to be filed with USBC from 24 hours to 30 days. This proposal was accepted.

USBC has stated that the same person cannot represent a Local Association and a State Association at the same time. One person, one vote sort of speak. This proved to be vital when voting on the amendment to have non-merged associations merge. Each proposal must receive 2/3 of the votes to pass, so each association should send at minimum one delegate to represent them. This particular proposal has been submitted the past three annual meetings and no doubt it will come up again. Each time it gains more votes.

League Officer Certification:
USBC will be launching three certification programs, League President, League Secretary and League Treasurer. I was asked to take part in the League Secretary Certification during the Convention as part of validating the program.

Each program lists and describes the duties of each office and the importance of carrying out the duties as well as the penalties for faulting on the duties.

Because of the information contained in the program, it was my recommendation to USBC that anyone voted into these positions should be required to complete the course within 30 days of being voted into office in order to remain in the position. I make the same recommendation to the Association. If nothing else, having the league secretaries complete the course will assist the Association Manager in getting the leagues and members processed easier. The training is done online and the individual must pass a written test to be certified and will be awarded a certificate stating so.