The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) has approved final policy revisions for its Scholarship Management and Account Reporting for Tenpins (SMART) program.

The final policy was approved by the Oversight Committee and USBC Board of Directors, and maintains the proposed concept of allocating a portion of future investment gains and expired scholarships directly to SMART Recipient accounts by providing additional scholarships for those actively using SMART funds and creating a new SMART Recipient grant program.

In a USBC press release, the board of directors said that, "The primary revision is an adjustment that maintains the current practice of returning expired Recipient scholarships to the assigning Provider as new unassigned funds, as this allows Providers to keep their expired Recipient funds in their local program.”

"The goal of these revisions was to provide more scholarships to youth bowlers, while maintaining a good structure for successful SMART Providers," said Frank Wilkinson, chair of the USBC SMART Committee."

"We feel these adjustments, based on feedback from our stakeholders, meet the needs of the Providers and Recipients and encourage youth bowlers to actively use their SMART scholarships," Wilkinson said.

Also included in the final policy is the ability for a Recipient to transfer their scholarship funds to another family member.

Ed's Outlook

A New Bowlers Journal Int.

The start of a new year for Bowlers Journal International offers a perfect opportunity and a new redirection for Bowlers Journal International.

The magazine was last redesigned in 2008 and now the primary focus of the monthly content will shift from industry-based news to telling the stories of the sport's brightest stars and most dedicated United States Bowling Congress members.

The magazine is available digitally and in print.

All issues from the last 12 months are available in the digital archives on BowlersJournal.com

Bowling Tip by Mike Luongo

This week's tip talks about the bowling release.

Releasing the ball means understanding the axis rotation. Geometry is a very important subject when talking about axis, planes and angles. When you release the ball, an entire geometrical construction is released also.

The spinning of the ball is the main arm of releasing the ball. You have to observe the ball spinning a lot of time before throwing it on the platform.

The spinning must be smooth and it must apply the two axis of rotation , vertical and horizontal. Most prefer to spin the ball watching the horizontal axis because it is easier and handier.

A good thing you could do in order to improve your axis rotation would be to find a good bowler who could watch you bowl and teach you exactly how to release the ball.

All in all, it can be said that releasing the ball in bowling requires practice.

Visualizing the angles will make you understand the road of the ball.