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Proprietor Relations Newsletter
January 2006

By Dale Niemela, USBC proprietor relations manager

So what's new in proprietor relations? For me, moving to Milwaukee to work at USBC was new. Coming from San Antonio, I didn't even have a long sleeve shirt to bring with me! I had to buy a new winter wardrobe and a new car to be able to face the different weather in Wisconsin. But all that is fine with me; I like what I am doing and I like the people up here.

What's new about my job in terms of proprietors? In the short time I have been here, we have worked with the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America to start a new Bowling Camps program. The first target group for this program is the National Parks and Recreation Agency. USBC and BPAA attended their National Convention (which was bigger than Bowl Expo) to see if we could "spur" (the convention was held in San Antonio) some interest. What we found was there is a lot of interest from the National Parks and Recreation Agency to partner up with the bowling industry to offer solid programs for youth.

There are two programs to choose from - one uses the "Bowling Rocks" instructional program, and participants receive certificates and bronze medals upon course completion; the other is called "Bowling is a Ball" and it uses the BPAA Coach It Up instructional program to train center employees how to give simple tips to bowlers so they can enjoy the game even more. Bowlers in this program receive certificates of participation upon course completion.

We have since joined the NRPA, which allowed us to get their mailing list which we used to send an initial interest inquiry to 4,700 agencies. BPAA also canvassed their centers to see if there was interest on the center side. We are now in the process of encouraging interest and matching interested centers with Park and Recreation agencies. Once partners are matched, USBC will send out a meeting planning guidebook to facilitate the partnership.

I feel the best part of the Bowling Camps programs is that it introduces the sport to a new group of prospects and another organization outside of the bowling industry does the recruiting. The programs also will probably take place in the summer, a time when kids are looking for things to do and centers usually have lanes available. It's a perfect fit for both parties.

We hope to learn from this project so we can take it to other youth groups such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc.

Next on my agenda: Go out into the field to train the USBC local associations on how they can help proprietors increase their business - this is the single most valuable thing I can do to help proprietor relations.