200 thoughts on “Tournaments”

1. Donna Dillon
   I’m guessing that your comment is directed to the Woman’s State Tournament. The tournament ended on May 7,2023 and standings were posted on Monday, May 8,2023 as “Unofficial Standings” to give everyone time to review them for accuracy and contact us if anything wasn’t right or possibly there was an issue. We strive for accuracy and correctness and want to make sure that the process has an ample amount of time to insure this. USBC requires that we pay the tournament off in 30 days of the ending date and we generally don’t make them “Official Standings” until after 15-20 days after the completion of the tournament. This allows us to 7-10 days to write checks and get them mailed. I’m sorry that our process to insure integrity and accuracy doesn’t fit into everyone’s way of thinking but I believe this system has worked pretty well over the years and our bowlers have been serviced and taken care of with the accuracy and professionalism that they deserve.
   Regards
   Johnny Harris
   Virginia State USBC
   Manager

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   • Thanks so much for the reply totally understand that you want to be 100% correct.

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     • Another question please – Our score keeper had me at a 533 scratch for Singles Handicap plus 195 total 728 but the results shows me at 718 – was there a mistake on her total? We did not take a picture of the sheet – miss seeing a yellow copy so we could verify the scores and postings.

2. Can a bowler from another state participate in the tournament?

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   • Hello Rachel
     Yes we have several each year that enter and bowl in Virginia State Tournaments. Our requirement is that they pay Virginia the State and Local dues to become members.
     Regards
     Johnny Harris
     Virginia State USBC
     Manager

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     • How long does it take to.post Official standings on tournaments?

3. Johnny – I know this might not be a good question but out of curiosity – If you forgot to check to see if you placed in a bracket what happens if you did win something – does the money get sent to you are it is considered a forfeit on the part of the bowler?

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   • Hello Donna

     Happy Easter!

     The hotels we had contracts with were

     The Lynchburg Grand Hotel ( $129-$159 ) 50 rooms blocked
     The Quality Inn ( $ 109 ) 20 rooms blocked
     The Residence Inn ( $ 159 ) 20 rooms blocked
     Several hotels already had big blocks and would not offer us anything as yes Liberty University had already contracted with them.

     In regards to your question on bracket monies that goes uncollected ,three years ago , I instituted the policy of taking $1.50 for money order expense and .50 for postage expense and mailing any money not collected. Example : Bowler win $30 in brackets minus $2 expenses and I mail a money order to the bowler for $28 pulling their address from the State Database. This has worked very well over that period of time. I am not a big fan of people forfeiting monies won and this seemed like a workable solution and has been a success.

     Regards

     Johnny Harris
     Virginia State USBC
     Manager

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     • Thanks Johnny. I did call the 2nd and 3rd one. They did not have any. I bowled pretty good in Doubles and Singles
       That is where i forgot to check before we left the alley. Any way you csn check to see if i did place for anything?

     • Hello Donna
       In looking at the reports everyone was paid except for one person which picked up their money on Sunday at the Team house. I’m sorry to report that you didn’t place first or second and had no proceeds coming :(. Thanks so much for bowling and we hope to see you in the future.
       Regards
       Johnny

4. Why would you only block 20 rooms for the last weekend of the tournament? Room block is sold out and most of my group haven’t even made their reservations. Your flyer said rate was good until May 10th not that there was a small amount of rooms blocked.

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   • We went to Women’s State for the 1st week – they did not even have any hotel blocks made – Every hotel I called said they did not block rooms for that week-end – but had blocks for the rest of the Tournament – So we had to pay almost double of the cost to even get rooms.

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     • Hello Donna
       When did you try and book the room can you supply a date? We had contracts with three hotels for that weekend with 90 rooms in the block collectively. Pricing ranged from $109-$139 per night plus taxes. I am really confused why you received the information that no rooms were blocked.
       Regards
       Johnny Harris
       Virginia State USBC
       Association Manager

     • Hi Johnny – We went this past week-end 31 Mar – 2 April – I called 7 different hotels and told them it was for Women’s State – Two of the hotels said that rooms had been blocked for the tournament but not for this week-end – Some were already full due to something going on at Liberty University they said. So we ended up paying (with tax) a 176.00 a nite. Which hotels did you have rooms blocked for and I can tell you if I had called them? I called at the Beginning of March to make reservations – so it was a month out before we went. So either they did not honor what you blocked for the tournament – I could not tell you why.

5. wouldn’t it be just as easy to cut one squad a day and ad a weekend at the end of the tournament

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   • I agree. As a bowler (over 60 years of league bowling) I am all for fairness in bowling. Since each individual and team is competing against all other individuals
     and teams in the tournament,, the starting oil pattern for every session must be the
     same.

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     • What is the oil part for the 2023 Va state tournament

     • Been saying this forever about the fairness of the lanes conditions. Also the averages on the brackets has to be re-evaluated – their highest bracket should be higher than a 165 for women – it should be increased at least up to a 175 average.

6. I would also appreciate an explanation as to why lanes are not oiled between squads in Virginia State tourneys.

   The USBC at all national events provide us with fresh each squad.

   Some folks do not wish to bowl at 08;30 in the morning and if most did, most the houses are not big enough for a mass of bowlers in a single squad. It does seem to give the bowlers in the first squad some advantage. The technology being what it is, the oil does not seem to holdup very well for 2d squads.

   Would someone be so kind and provide us Virginia State bowlers a response.

   Thank you
   Hampton Roads Bowler

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   • I would also like to see that happen. The lanes change so fast and the oil patterns are bad. The early slots go fast especially if the local bowlers get them and then the out of town teams are at two disadvantages. Would also like to see the division averages raised by 10 pins for cut-off. Seen too many bowlers just that sub just to get a low average and come in and blow everyone away.

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   • Wouldn’t that be nice? I’ve always heard it was time but I’m sure most people would be willing to wait an hour to get a fair shake. Making it 2 squads and only dressed once you essentially end up with 2 tournament conditions but competing for a single prize fund. It’s completely biased to the morning squads.

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     • It would be nice to hear from a USBC, VA State representative. I believe time and $$. Get our money, and get us out quickly as not to interfere with normal ops. I think this may be one of several reasons for what to the unknowing appears to be a drastic frop off of participants in the past 20 or so years…

   • Hello bowlers
     The simple answer to why Virginia State Tournaments don’t oil between squads is because we purchase a certain time to host our tournaments from the centers. Generally that time period is between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday. We offer fresh oil on every first squad and yes if you bowl the second squad chances are you will be on second shift oil. We have several bowlers that request and prefer second shift oil… if you are a bowler that wants fresh oil we offer that on every first shift pattern. Other factors that play into this are not every shift is consistent with finishing up around the same time. Some bowlers are just slower than others and might actually finish 30 minutes to an hour after most of the other bowlers on a squad. In order to oil we would need to build in a two to three hour time gap to give the house time to oil. That also brings me to the discussion of not every center has the same oiling machine / staff and have different time allotment needs to oil. Another factor in the oiling between shift would be we would have to increase the entry fees as the centers would certainly charge more for double oiling and increased staffing.
     The numbers for the Open are as followed for the past three seasons;
     2020 Covid (Tournament canceled) ( Refunded 318 Team – entry fees)
     2021 301 Teams entered
     2022 369 Teams entered ( Entries up approximately 22% from prior year)
     We have seen approximately the same increase in all of our tournaments (Mixed, Women’s and Seniors) in all of our 2022 tournaments.
     I realize this probable isn’t the answer you wanted but these are the facts. We will continue to offer two squads per day with fresh oil on the first squad and used oil on the second shift .
     Regards
     Johnny Harris
     Virginia State USBC
     Association Manager

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7. Will there be a host hotel for the Mixed Tournament? Thanks Robin

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   • Hello Robin
     We are awaiting several hotels to give us their rates for 2023. I will be posting that information here as soon as we receive it. Please check back in the next couple of weeks and we should have it finalized.
     Regards
     Johnny Harris
     Virginia State USBC
     Manager

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8. Mr. Harris I would like to what it would take for the lanes to be re oiled before the second shift of each event. We need to try and make it fair for everyone because we are all spending the same amount of money for the state and other tournaments. We had to wait about 45 min between each shift definitey enough time to reoil lanes. I really think this would get more teams in this tournament.

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