The United States Bowling Congress and Bowling Proprietors' Association of America will bring BowlTV, the USBC's livestreaming platform, to BPAA member centers starting in April 2021.

The partnership will allow every BPAA member center to receive a complimentary subscription to BowlTV, giving proprietors the ability to broadcast live events from the Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour and USBC short-duration tournaments, pull from thousands of hours of archived coverage or select on-demand videos to display on television monitors throughout their centers.

“We believe this is a great opportunity for BPAA member centers to showcase the sport during open play, leagues and tournaments,” USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy said. “We are hoping the additional exposure to these events being broadcast at the center will highlight the opportunities for bowlers of all skill levels to compete and encourage them to want to take their games to the next level.”

Proprietors will receive an access code to activate their subscriptions, with technical support provided by the BowlTV staff.

The BPAA Education and Training team will begin rolling out this complimentary subscription immediately to coincide with the second swing of the 2021 PWBA Tour season, which starts April 22-24 at the PWBA Twin Cities Open in Eagan, Minnesota.

“We are really excited to be able to offer BowlTV complimentary to BPAA centers,” BPAA Executive Director Frank DeSocio said. “BowlTV is a premium product for our sport, and we hope it's something that enhances the experience for each bowler walking into those centers.”

For more information on BowlTV, visit BOWL.com/BowlTV or BowlTV.com.

Ed's Outlook

Lavoie Wins Guaranteed

Rate PBA Super Slam

François Lavoie bowled a 247 game in the championship match to win the Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam. Lavoie, who qualified for the Super Slam by winning the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions in February, defeated PBA Players Championship winner Kyle Troup to earn $100,000.

“This is the most comfortable I've ever been on the lanes,” said Lavoie. “I feel like things are coming together after working hard in the offseason. I'm feeling more comfortable and confident.”

Lavoie defeated Troup in the final match Sunday afternoon on Fox sports, 247-202.

“My two shots into and out of the commercial break were my first sigh of relief,” said Lavoie, referring to his strikes in the fifth through eighth frames. “When (Troup) didn't strike on his next two shots, I knew all I had to do was stay clean.”

Lavoie struck three more times after the eighth frame, locking up the victory.

The Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam, a non-title special event featuring all five major champions from the 2021 Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour season, aired live on FOX Broadcast Channel and featured Lavoie, Troup, Tom Daugherty (Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship), Thomas Larsen (USBC Masters) and Chris Via (U.S. Open).

“We're all bowling really well,” Lavoie said of his competition. “I knew this wasn't going to be easy by any means. Coming here, I was thinking this was just going to be a fun event and we're all going to have a good time. Once we started bowling, all of a sudden I'm in competition mode and I really want to win and need to do what I can do to get through.”

The Super Slam began with all five players bowling a single game. Daugherty, who bowled 179 as the lowest score, was eliminated. The other four players were seeded into the semifinals based on their first-game scores. Lavoie was seeded fourth.

“When the first match started, all I wanted to do was make the top four,” said Lavoie. “I started with a double, but three of the other guys started with a four-bagger, so I needed to figure something out pretty quickly. I was fortunate to get that fourth spot.”

As the fourth seed, Lavoie drew No. 1 seed Via in the semifinals. Lavoie defeated Via, 212-209. Troup advanced to the final match with a 268-214 win over Larsen.

Lavoie, the fourth overall seed for the PBA Playoffs that begin Apr. 24 on Fox Sports' FS1, will face Dick Allen in the opening round.

“I'm excited,” said Lavoie. “This tournament today was obviously a big boost in confidence going into the Playoffs, but I'm only as good as I'm bowling on one specific day. None of this will matter next week. I'm going to have to figure out the lanes all over again.”

The PBA Playoffs begin airing Saturday, Apr. 24 at 11 a.m. ET on FS1.

Bowling Tip

By Mike Luongo

What has performance bowling balls given to todays's bowlers?

These balls are made of urethane, urethane with reactive additives, with or without particles.

All performance balls come out of the box with either some degree of matte finish, a compounded finish or polished finish.

When a manufacturer chooses a box finish for a bowling ball, many times it is for shelf appeal. All companies want you to choose their products. What you need to know as a customer is that the cover of your performance ball can be adjusted to best fit your needs.

What does this mean for a customer? To maximize your scoring ability on a given lane condition , the cover stock of your bowling ball should match the lane condition. If your ball is grabbing too early, you will need some polish, if the ball is already polished, use a higher degree of polish, preferably something with a slip agent. This will help you get the ball down the lane with less effort.

The telltale sign of a ball grabbing the lane too soon is when you see the ball start to hook and then it stops hooking. On the other hand, if your ball is skidding too far down the lane, you will need some surface friction on the ball. How much friction you need will depend on your ball speed, rev rate and the amount of oil on the lane. The degree of matte finish could be as little as 4000 or as much as 320.

Reminder....these are adjustments to fine tune your ball reaction. It is up to your Pro Shop professional to help you purchase the ball or balls with the proper core and cover to match both your game and the lane surface on which you bowl.Depending on how serious you are about your bowling, and how many centers you bowl in, you may need more than one ball to help you match the conditions.

And always remember, your equipment should be cleaned each time it is used.

Mike Luongo is a Certified IBPSIA Pro Shop Operator, Master Instructor, USBC Silver Level Coach and an Advisor-Special Events Assistant with the Storm and Roto Grip Bowling Ball Company. Have a question, email him at mikel@stormbowling.com

700 Scoreboard

In the Monday Men's league at Kiamesha Lanes Jim VanAken scored a 723 off single games of 247, 229, 247. Joining him in that league was Tom Belgiovene who scrambled the maples for a 709 off single games of 279, 238, 192. In the Tuesday Mixed Firefighter league Kyle Giordano banged out a nice 747 off single games of 258, 259, 247.

Up at the Hancock Fox Bowling Center in the Wednesday Independent league Andrew Bullis scored a 704 off single games of 256, 214, 234 and Rob Johnson lit up the maples for a 776 with single games of 232, 248, 296. Dale Conklin scored a 703 in the Thursday Night 3 league off single games of 255, 203, 245 while Shane Dirig bowled a 720 in the Friday Couples league with single games of 206, 288, 226.

LOCAL SCORES

KIAMESHA LANES

Monday Men's

Joe Smith 254, 604, Rich Bradford 248, 660, Michael Caiazzo 226, 617, William Schubert 217, 609, Russell Bivins 222, 605, Kevin Stackhouse 244, 664, Jaryl Scott 235, 651, Keith Smith 248, 696.

Tuesday Mixed Firefighter

Tom Belgiovene 225, 613, Steve Belgovene 236, 614, Karen Martin 161, Trasey Barres 174, 178, Shane Cunningham 223, 635, Carena Collura 209, 199, 557, Barbara Rustic 181, James VanAken 233, 651, William VanAken 213, 600, David Graham 219, Keith Smith 227, 620..

Friday Mixed

Pedro Agapito III a 254, 662, Shane Cunningham 221, 603, Serafin Rodriguez III a 234, 674, Jason Rogers 247, 647, Bill Schubert 236, 660, Keith Smith 220, 621, Kevin Stackhouse 274, 675, Bob Sze 255, 673, Ester Barber 186, 194, 539, Lauren Blume 178, Lisa Cartwright 189, 511, Naomi Sze 171.

FOX BOWLING CENTER

Wednesday Independent

Shane Dirig 248, 638, Randy Evanitsky Jr. 266, 639, Chad Gardepe 229, 614, Anthony Gately 224, 620, Craig Gehrig 225, 634, Bill Gleim 243, 618, Pete Green 257, 658, Dan Keesler 224, 610, Aaron Phillips 220, 634, Scott Wahl 209, 602, Zuke Wormuth 277, 696.

Thursday Night 3

Ray Cornwell 214, 637, Shane Dirig 218, 635, Bill Gleim 270, 631, Rick Mills 267, 698, Dick Price 246, 614, Dan Wormuth 257, 695.

Friday Couples

Andy Bullis 245, 619, Dale Conklin 225, 636, Missy Dunlap 204, 536, Janel Ellis 213, 540, Scott Ellis 225, 612, Gino Jones 247, 677, Mindy McElroy 201, 182, 542, Carol McGraw 202, 501, Brianna Meres 181, 189, 545, Chris Meres 207, 604, Rick Mills 212, 213, 618, Dean Price 235, Carmella Seely 189, Tim Smith 246, 659, Dan Wormuth 247, 686, Jay Wormuth 247, 621, Jeremy Wormuth 235, 642.

Port Jervis Bowl

Thursday Women's

Carol Flynn 206, 203, 211, 620, Carmela Montaperto 190, 190, 188, 568, Kristin Banse 177, 118, 218, 523, Kim Witkowski 184, 140, 163, 487, Maureen Decker 144, 145, 196, 485.

Ed Townsend is Public Relations Consultant to the sport of bowling and golf and brings over 60 years of sports journalism experience in writing and compiling the information for this column. Due to no local bowling news and the fact that golf is fast approaching we will turn our focus to golf next week and ask anyone with local golf course news or golf league and tournament information to let me know at 845-439-8177, email at bght75@gmail.com or fax at 845-205-4474. Read our local blog for all kinds of news at http://bght.blogspot.com