HELP WANTED !! 
By Chuck Gardner II
General Manager – Port St Lucie
March 2012

Bowling needs YOU! Listen up everyone this month we are going to give you more of a challenge instead of a tip. We at Bowling Solutions feel very strongly about building the future for the sport of bowling. If you are reading this then you probably feel the same way.

We all have a passion for the "sport" of bowling and I am not talking about going to laser bowling on a Friday night. I'm talking about those of us who wake up at 7:00am on a Sunday morning to drive across the State to bowl a ten game sweeper then turn around and drive home.

These are the people we are losing, the people who value this game for the challenging sport that it is. Every year we have a decline in league bowlers but a rise in open play. We need to find a way to turn that open play bowler into a league bowler. This is where your challenge comes in and if you truly love the game like I do this will be no big deal.

I challenge you to go practice at least twice a month and do not take the end pair of lanes away from the open play non-league bowlers! Take the pair that is right smack in the middle of all of them. You could never imagine what it will do to most of these people that have never seen a reactive resin ball or even knew that it's that ball that helps you be able to hook down the lanes. So when you start to bowl and you over hear a little boy say to his dad “hey that's cool” or “look at how his ball curves.” Takes a minute to introduce yourself and explain a little about how it works.

Most people are nervous to walk into the almighty "pro shop".  Let them know that the guy you get your stuff from is down to earth and loves to help new bowlers. Heck if he is there at that moment maybe introduce them to him. If everyone who reads this goes to practice twice a month and introduce yourself to one person each time, we can help change the direction bowling is going. Hey, you never know who you might meet just the other night I was helping a young man on the lanes who I had just drilled a Brunswick Ulti Max. The four guys on the lanes next to us kept talking about how it was hooking so I went over and introduced myself.  Turns out they were four starting football players for Georgia State University. Really cool guys and we talked for a while.

Lastly, I want to talk real quickly about getting our youth involved. Kids need to have their own equipment in order to be coached properly and in order to learn and grow with the sport. I have never understood why parents will go out and buy their child a set of golf clubs and they have never even played a round of golf before. It's also no big deal if they want a $100 pair of cleats to try football for the first time.

I know that in our stores you can get a ball, bag, and shoes for only $122.22. Make the investment in your kids! I have had the pleasure of working with one young lady who last year won $16,000 in scholarship money at age 16. I'm not saying everyone will be able to do this, but what I'm getting at is why not get your kids involved? The opportunities are out there for your child to have fun and possibly earn money towards college. I don't know of any pee-wee football leagues doing that!

To wrap this up, help us at Bowling Solutions bring bowling back to the "sport" it deserves to be. We can turn it around if we all work together...   Tell us about the success with your challenge on Facebook just search for Bowling Solutions and like the page  

Good luck and great bowling.