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USBC 2005:
The Year in Review

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USBC High School: The First Year

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In this year of constant change, there were still plenty of familiar faces - the men and women who had worked in the past to build the American Bowling Congress, the Women's International Bowling Congress, the Young American Bowling Alliance and USA Bowling. But it was hardly business as usual. United under the tagline Bowl with US, the United States Bowling Congress emerged from the union of bowling's largest organizations to become the official national governing body of the sport of bowling. Reinvigorated and inspired marketing plans were designed to catapult USBC to the next level and make sure its athletes and members came along for the ride. The USBC "star logo" was introduced and branding initiatives implemented to guarantee that one day the star would stand - and be recognized - on its own. USBC acknowledged the importance of bowling center owners by creating a bowling proprietor relations arm of the marketing department. A new division devoted solely to sponsorships was created to allow USBC to generate the revenue needed to continue to run first-rate programs, services and tournaments. Aggressive communications strategies put bowling's current stars in the national spotlight, gaining invaluable exposure in the nation's most venerated media outlets. Making stars of our sport's athletes puts the clichéd image of the average bowler on the block where it is shattered along with the fading memories of smoky, dark bowling centers. These communications efforts support the overall USBC mission of ensuring the integrity and protecting the future of the sport. As general-interest stories on bowling began popping up in the mainstream media, the bowling industry heeded the hoopla. In January 2006, USBC Director of Communications Tom Clark was named the Person of the Year by Bowlers Journal International magazine for his work on publicizing the sport. Not all of USBC's plans to protect the credibility and future of bowling were met with enthusiasm in the industry this year. Proposals concerning bowling ball changes were widely criticized from the first official announcement. A bowling ball task force was created, guaranteeing a voice to those who felt initially excluded. And while the changes will be refined and reconsidered, everyone agreed that artificially inflated scores were hurting the credibility of the sport. The USBC Sport Bowling program regrouped and launched a fortified campaign to recruit those high-average bowlers looking for a challenge. USBC Sport Bowling strengthened its claim as one of the sport's fastest growing segments as official statistics from the 2004-05 season showed a double-digit percentage increase in bowlers, leagues and centers over the previous season. The biggest of those increases occurred in membership, which rose 20 percent. Meanwhile, at the league level, no one much thought of ball cover stocks and "easy" oil patterns. What did it matter to them that they were averaging more then most pros on the PBA Tour? If they were USBC league members, they enjoyed the benefits of belonging to USBC. They received either US Bowler or US Youth Bowler - USBC's two new slick publications with features, tips and practical information on bowling and the organization. The magazines' online counterparts further bolstered the value of USBC membership. USBC's official Web site, bowl.com, was overhauled and re-launched in January with new features and sections designed for all of its audiences. A renewed focus on reporting and providing up-to-date news and announcements led to a sevenfold increase in main-page activity in the first quarter. Members also enjoyed new awards based solely on achievement, not gender or age - further emphasizing the togetherness of the members of the fledgling organization. There were successes and a number of the expected - and unexpected - challenges (tardy and MIA membership cards, for example) in this first year. But overall, it was a successful year with many high points and success stories. Much of the success and optimism for the future centers around a renewed USBC commitment to youth bowlers. The USBC Youth program continues to thrive with the help of USBC Coaching and bowling was once again the fastest-growing high school sport in the 2004-05 school year - posting more growth than football, tennis, soccer and all other sports. USBC's future success will be determined by how well the organization can get and keep young bowlers, motivate them to seek coaching, encourage them to join leagues and continually seek challenges that will make them better bowlers.