Confirmation of league officers:

• President - Paula Hunter

•  Vice-President - Maria Nickolaou

• Treasurer / Secretary – Dave Kusmirek  

• Sergeant-at- Arms – Any volunteers     

• Rule Arbitration – Perry Kozicki

Lanes

• Bowling will be on lanes 1 thru 8, buffer lanes 9 & 10

• Be advised: Foul lights are now operational

Schedule

• Bowling will begin on Thursday, September 5th 

• Schedule to follow; the league will retain the option of using week 31 as a makeup week and moving playoffs to the weekend.

Primary Decisions - No bowling:

• Thanksgiving, November, 28

• Christmas, December, 26

Any makeup weeks due to weather will have to be decided.

General rule: If you can get to the alley, we will be bowling

• Hopefully teams will accommodate late arrivals and afford additional time should weather conditions become a factor. 

• We will attempt to notify the league by 12:00 for any cancellations.

• Start time practice at 6:00, bowling starts at 6:15, to qualify to bowl in game 1 bowler must be  in house by the later or end of 3rd frame or 6:30.

• Note: bowlers are required to bowl when their position is posted on the overhead; if not ready they may be skipped.   

Handicap

Per league rule the handicap will remain at 90% of 225. It has been suggested that we use a bifurcated system of 90% of 225 for averages of 150 and higher and 100% of 225 for 149 and lower.

Note: it does not appear that the current program will allow for such a system; I can only suggest that teams would have to manually adjust their handicaps before bowling. I will provide a handicap spreadsheet in each team's folder to facilitate such.

This assumes the alley program and league program will allow for team total handicap adjustments! 

Option to review at the ½ way point in the season.

Team Status

We currently stand at 9 teams with a 10th team in formation, 5 member format.

Please spread the word that we have immediate team and individual openings. In the event that we have to utilize a blind team; teams will draw a team # on the night they are scheduled to bowl against the blind and will need to beat such a team's scores to qualify for any points.blind will be recorded to avoid having the same team drawn more than once.. 

As always, we welcome additional bowlers to fill in on teams in need of bowlers. We'll address the need for contraction or addition as the need arises.

Awards

• League team and individual awards are determined at the end of regular bowling on week 30. Averages continue thru playoffs weeks 31 & 32.

• League participation as always bowlers are encouraged to volunteer in assisting league officers in performance of duties, banquet arrangements, and other matters as they arise. 

Blind & Absent Bowling

• Vacant scores if used will be 150 same as blind

• Absent scores average less than 10

• A legal lineup requires 3 players (2 for 4 bowler team) of which 2 must be from its team roster

• Subs are allowed as long as their team is not short and cannot bowl against their own team

• Pre-bowling is allowed and must be verified by automatic scoring, you should also as a courtesy notify the opposing team.
  Note: Once a pre-bowl has been logged; it must be used without substitution

• As always, please provide proper bowling etiquette at all times

• Once pre bowls are recorded, they must be utilized. exception for canceled week. Pre-bowls specifically designated for a future week are also allowable.

Championship rules:

• In the event a team wins all 3 thirds, a playoff with the wild card will be required for the championship.

note: a team can win more than 1 3rd but only qualifies for 1 playoff spot to assure 4 teams in the playoffs.

• 2 thirds winner would bowl 2nd wild card, last 3rd winner vs. 1st wc.

• 3 thirds winner would bowl 3rd wild card, 1st wc vs. 2nd wc.

At Present We Have 10 Teams And Will Be Ordered As Follows:

#1 80%
#2 Op Chokers
#3 Doublewood

#4 Ex Feds, 

#5 No Mercy,

#6 Just Pain Ugly

#7 Pandemics

#8 Strike It Rich

#9 All In The Family

#10 S.N.A.O. 

Weekly Fees

Weekly fees will remain at $25 for this season - $12 alley fee, $13 for league expenses and prize fund.

Note: alley fee will increase next season.

USBC Sanctioning

1. The sanctioning of all league bowlers will be paid out of the league weekly fees.

2. The sanction cost for the 2024-2025 season will be $29 for all league bowlers.  

3. The sanction fee for the 1st 7 bowlers per team will be paid directly from league funds. teams will be assessed for any additional bowlers and shown as a separate team shortage until paid or will result as a shortage on teams prize $.

Note: the league is paying the full cost of sanctioning.

Dave distribute the sanction cards at the beginning of the season. Do not lose them – there are no duplicate copies! 

Please submit your sanction cards to me during the first 2 weeks of bowling to facilitate a timely submission of the sanction application to USBS. bowlers that may not be immediately bowling or new bowlers should submit a completed sanction card on their 1st night of bowling. You also will have blank sanction cards for any new bowlers; if you need more let me know.

Substitutes

All substitute bowlers are to be sanctioned as well; however, if you bring out a “pacer” bowler (anyone not officially on your/league roster) to bowl for fun and mitigate your team weekly fee; pacer bowlers are not required to be sanctioned and their scores and averages are not entered into the league’s stats.

• The league program continues to be the rule of law. every effort to resolve any discrepancies with the alley program will be made. program in process of upgrade and fee paid.

• Mystery pot

• Red pin

• Split conversion (“baby” splits do not qualify)

• Doublewood; however you can only qualify once per game and you need to see the secretary for your $5 (not a stub ticket from the counter).

• Quarter pot has been discontinued - savings will offset the additional cost of sanctioning and increase in alley fees

• Random brackets will continue

• End of 3rd and year end sweepers payouts expected to remain as is.

It has been requested that the voluntary doubles pot be expanded back to everyone, not just mixed doubles!  

Averages

• Entering average is determined by a minimum of 9 games in our league from the prior year

• Entering average for new bowlers in any other leagues will qualify with a minimum of 21 games for the highest average in any 3 preceding years of a sanctioned league

• Highest average of any bowlers from unsanctioned leagues from Circle Lanes will also qualify for entering average

• All other bowlers will need to establish an average in this league

10 Pin Drop Rule

• Generally your average cannot decrease by more than 10 pins until you have bowled 9 games in this league. The program run by the secretary takes precedence over any variance with the alley’s automatic scoring. it is your responsibility to assure the hcp posted on the overhead agrees with the official standings sheet. 

Team Roster Limits

• Teams rosters are not limited, program and norms are limited to 12 bowlers. The league makes an effort to accommodate the bi-weekly and monthly bowlers and to assure teams can field a full team and meet the league’s weekly fee requirement. The league also encourages unscheduled bowlers to sub on other teams when vacancies exist. only restrictions – you can’t bowl against your own team or sub when your team is short. As a courtesy you should also notify the opposing team prior to the start of bowling.

• Teams may replace bowlers that have left the team. I will need to be notified to such, so I can remove such bowlers from your roster and move to the substitute list. you also need to make the alley aware of any changes in your team roster to assure the accuracy of the automatic scoring. 

• Generally, no new bowlers will be allowed after the completion of the 2nd and 3rd. any "special circumstances" that may arise will be addressed by the league officers and/or team captains. if any team captain takes exception to a new bowler, he/she should bring it to the attention of the league officers and may file a protest with the league to be addressed by a team captains meeting if necessary

Game Requirements

Game requirements of 6, 9 and 12 exist for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd position rounds (for teams in contention). pre-bowling is not allowed on position nights

Disputes

• If an issue cannot be readily addressed by USBS or league rules, each captain can request the league president, vice president or other responsible league official to call a captains meeting for resolution. 

• In the absence of any said officials and to avoid any conflict of interest as secretary/treasurer, captains are encouraged to form a quorum if necessary and attempt resolutions accordingly or matter will be tabled until the matter can be dealt with effectively. 

Beat the Champs

Beat the champs is returning, entry fee paid by the league. 

Envelopes

Finally, you have the alley envelope in your team folder; feel free to use to keep track of your team/bowler fees; however I utilize the white spreadsheets in your team folder to track payments, shortages, year end disbursements; the accuracy of such is largely dependent on your bookkeeping, please strive for accuracy and leave notes as necessary!

I may not be aware of changes in your team lineup and in preparing for the following week the day(s) after bowling I am left with making assumptions if your records are not clear. so to avoid any misunderstandings don’t wait till the end of a 3rd or the year to address.