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Bowling Highlights

Lane conditions for youth

Ed Townsend
Posted 12/9/22

As of late, there appears to be a lot of discussion among some youth league organizations that the lane conditions these bowlers are bowling on are way too difficult across the board.

But there …

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Bowling Highlights

Lane conditions for youth

Posted

As of late, there appears to be a lot of discussion among some youth league organizations that the lane conditions these bowlers are bowling on are way too difficult across the board.

But there is some difference of opinions as some think the youth need to bowl on the tough stuff to prepare themselves for what the future or maybe even the present.

At the Ballard Bowling Academy “Experience” Youth Tournament Del Ballard indicated that he “didn’t want a lane pattern so difficult that luck played into who won.”

So, Ballard reached out to John Janawics with Kegal, easily one of the foremost experts on lane conditions and John suggested a pattern with a ratio of 4.7:1.

Del was looking for something that would be challenging, but not brutal, and certainly not a house shot.

There were eight Junior Gold patterns this year. Janawicz noted that, “It doesn’t make any sense to me that the youth bowlers are bowling on eight unique patterns that are all tougher than what most Pro’s bowl on in any given tournament.”

Co-Owner, Hall of Famer and Premier Coach Del Ballard Jr. certainly brings much to the bowling professional table.

He came to the sport of bowling with inspiration by his parents, and he began training at the age of 16. By 19 he joined the Professional Bowlers league and amassed a career that has spanned over 25 years.

A natural path for Del after his outstanding bowling career was coaching. He is known as one of the go-to-guys for ball suggestions and lane pattern strategy and through this, his second true passion came through coaching and over the past 20 years he has coached some of the world’s best female and male professional bowlers as well as international teams.

The Ballard Bowling Academy plays an important role in youth bowling and a strong factor offered by Del is, “It doesn’t make any sense to me that the youth bowlers are bowling on eight unique patterns that are all tougher than what most Pro’s bowl on in a given tournament.”

One thing Del realized during his success on tour was that it took much more than throwing the ball well to be a champion. Reading the lanes, knowing your equipment, and being mentally prepared are just a few items that all contribute to success.

Bowling Tip by Mike Luongo

The question is, “is there a gap between league bowler and the elite professional bowler?”

There is some talk in bowling circles that there is a gap between league bowler and the elite professional.

Some league bowlers routinely average 230+ on lane conditions that are engineered by bowling centers to allow recreational bowlers to get maximum pleasure from their league experience by carrying inflated averages that mean absolutely nothing in the real bowling world.

The USBC does absolutely nothing to preserve the integrity of the game. They only minimally regulate bowling balls and allow bowling centers to put out conditions that are so forgiving that honor scores are really a thing of the past as they are so common today for league bowlers. When these same bowlers go to the USBC Nationals each year, they are routinely deflated when they must bowl on a lane condition that requires accuracy and repeatability to yield high scores.

On the other hand, you have the PBA. Each year the Professional Bowlers Association comes up with new and more difficult oil patterns to challenge the game’s elite players.

Some of the patterns a few years ago did challenge the players to unheard of degrees. From the 32 feet Wolf Pattern that reduced the greatest players in the world to using non-aggressive urethane equipment, to the 54 feet Badger pattern that leaves only eight feet of friction for the ball to react.

The new patterns have put elite bowlers in the unenviable positions of looking like rank amateurs on televised matches that are routinely viewed by league bowlers who have no understanding of the impact of oil patterns on bowling performance. 

Something needs to happen at this critical fork in the road for bowling. Either the USBC needs to start regulating oil patterns at the league level, or the PBA needs to start putting out variations of house shots and let the best bowlers in the world carry 260 averages.

As putting out tougher house shots would undoubtedly result in the loss of a large percentage of house bowlers, the PBA softening up the pro patterns is really the only viable alternative.

Local Highlights

Memory Lanes

(Formerly Port Jervis Bowl)

Monday Night Mixed

Jason Csencsits 225, 630, Clayton Tingle 267, 691, Kyle Mathews 225, 663, Wences Acevedo 246, 610, Carena Collura 172,  Jaryl Scott 248, 681, Vincent Collura 229, 629, Pedro Agapito 241, 661, Frank Scuderi 268, 634, Mike Scuderi 279, 670, Troy Morris 241, Paul Minton 228, 625, Amy Taggart 183, Marianna Monaco 245, 640, Bill Schubert 228, 617, Kevin Stackhouse 215, 608, Keith Smith 237, 635, Liz Stubits 213, 516, Carol Flynn 190, 516, Vinny Degraw 215, 602, Dan VanAken 299, 678, Kelly Shattuck 192, 528, Dean Shattuck 223, JoJo Van Keuren 249, 719,  Serafin Rodriguez III, 226, 635, Michele Macedonio 210, 593,  Marisa Waehler 255, 673, George VanAken 248.

Tuesday Mixed

Anka Scott 214, Victor Claisse 226, 657, TC Conklin 227, 655, Doug Romer 245, 681, Marisa Waehler 221. 617, Peter Waehler 267, 602, Richard Gaglione 258, 720, Wayne Sniffen 277, 752, Fran Luzzi 222, 610, Kyle Felter 246, 663, Mike Cardo 246, 651, Josephine Zych 190, 544, Brigette Willis 210, 570.

P.J. City League

Brittney Morgan  224, 625, Gregory Conklin 279, 708, Shelly Morgan 206, 558, Chris Morgan Jr. 247, 662, Steve Ewanciw 235, 636, Tom Hinkley 226, 655, Jeff Morgan 243, 674, Brian Pastor 237, Gary Kinne 246, Joe Kaufman 231, 653, Marcus Guzman 232, 651, Mike Holt 257, 706, Tommy Palmer 257, 673, Matthew Terwilliger 245, 693, Derick Brown 234, 608, Jeff Brown 246, 691, Shrek 225, 652, Frank Eichenlaub  243, 684, Stewart Stevens 243, 673, Derek Delaney 248, 711, Kyle Stevens 254, 715, John Dietz 236, 623, Justin Traynor 258, 683, Steven Fairweather 245, 682, Cort Morgan 257, 691, Steve Hess 244, 639, Joe Biccum 254, 631, Pedro Agapito III 233, 626, Will Townsend 227, 607.

Thursday Women’s

Carol Flynn 212, 583, Michelle Macedonio 202, 533, Rachel Rivera 190, 506, Maureen Decker 190, Barbara Goetzman 167, 462, Carmela Montaperto 169.

Ray Willis Sr. Memorial League

Doug Romer Jr. 247, 684, Brett Romer 219, 614, Paul Tuttle 244, 661, Wayne Sniffen Jr. 279, 790, Steve Hess 232, 641, J R Drew 242, 643, Mr Clean Csencsits 236, 640, Kyle Matthews 258, 635, Jason Csencsits 214, 601, Jaryl Scott 222, 635, Kyle Felter 213, 601, Michele Bensley 204, 575, Sean Pittack 227, 620, Neal Bensley 255, 717, Greg Robinson 247, 661, Bryan Shauger 230, Matt Shauger 222, 648, Victor Claisse Jr. 226, 650, Jason Markle 233, 688, Michael Mazzone 247, 608.

Fox Bowling Center

Wednesday Independent

Doc Bolduc 247, 668, Andrew Bullis 264, 700, Carl Davis 228, 627, Shane Dirig 258, 685, Brian Drumm 256, 639, Craig Gehrig 226, 632, Paul Gordon 225, 628, Rob Johnson 223, 640, Scott Lacy 217, 612, Donnie Marino 257, 689, Zuke Wormuth 234, 618, Jay Wormuth 231.

Thursday Night 3

Dale Conklin 246, 660, Scott Ellis 244, Dennis Leonard 215, 600, Anthony Seely 257, Fred Shakelton 234, 604, Diane Staves 215.

Sunday Mixed Fun

John Fish 205, 545, Leanne Hanstine 184, Justin Lanner (youth) 152, 410, Don Marino 215, 597, Dave Mills 213, 558, Garry Mills 216, 601, Rick Mills 579, Meta Russell 182, 526, Zach Russell 225, 615, Gabe Rynearson 235, 631, Fred Shakelton 236, 652.

Fox Youth Mixed

Joshua Dunlap 114, 310, Landon Fuller 177, 512, Ashbee Gately 111, 314, Evan Johnson 164, 373, Preston Johnston 117, 306, Bentley Kille 112, 307, Talan Kille 112, 301, Landyn Robinson 160, 452, Livian Robinson 118, 302, Blake Stanton 101, 268, Wyatt Stanton 101, 277, Ammon Wormuth 111, 271, Carter Wormuth 214, 559, Cooper Wormuth 186, 486.

Quinnz Pinz Middletown

Wednesday 3 Person

J.J. Wilhelm 245, 674, Jon Wilhelm 267, 668, Tom Belgiovene 195, Steven Belgiovene 210, Larry Whipple 235, 634, Bill Schubert 200, Keith Smith 240, 604, Kevin Stackhouse 248, 623.

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