THE MESSAGE ISN'T GETTING OUT
Are bowling's leading organizations really communicating, or just spewing data?
by Tom Kouros

Over the last 40 years, despite
periodic setbacks and reversals, all major sports have made strides in terms of growth and prosperity... all sports, that is, with the exception of bowling. Year after year, at the beginning of each season, it's not a question of gain and expansion but, instead, a woeful expectation that the number of dwindling centers and the amount of membership attrition will not exceed the previous year's totals. Is this trend irreversible? Are bowling center operators destined to go the way of the dinosaur? I would emphatically argue that we can turn this game around and get back on the road to success, but only if we implement needed changes and innovation. Let's understand, first, that we are emotional creatures and, in consequence, our ideas and perspectives for those around us tend to congeal with time. Even more, when we do consider the need for change, long-established habits often cause us to revert to the ease and comfort of old concepts, even though we suspect that they are outmoded and not necessarily in our best interests. Or, in the words of one wise man, "Habits, if not resisted, soon become a necessity." From time to time, all of us assess our position and assets in terms of materialistic value, yet, sadly, many of us fail to do the same when it comes to ideas and perceptions that have become worn, outmoded and unproductive. In the final analysis, the mainstay of faulty behavior is repeating negative actions without realizing it.

Bowling's Greatest Failure?
Furthermore, there is a misguided understanding among many large groups in the industry that data and communication, for the most part, are synonymous. This is not the case. Basically, data is merely information, while communication implies an innate understanding... like "getting in touch" with something. Said Rousseau, "Communication is man's greatest failure." There is much truth in that statement. In the bowling business, many organizations spend a great deal of money on the illusion that they are communicating with various public integers when, in reality, all they are doing is attempting to enhance their profile by processing information. That should not be the case. These organizations can communicate effectively simply by foregoing false pride and behaving like real people who are at times uncertain, at times wrong, yet willing to learn from their mistakes. Indeed, communication is an admission of human frailty that often catches the attention of those who would be willing to work with you in a worthwhile endeavor.

Attacking Two Prevailing Problems
Let's consider two problems that prevail in the industry today; namely, the lack of sound bowling instruction in most bowling centers, and the erosion of tournament entries attributable to "sandbagging" practices of conspiring players, and speculate on how good communication could possibly resolve them. Good instruction is lacking in most bowling centers today for two reasons: n We, as an industry, are not effectively communicating to bowlers that they actually do need instruction. n We have failed to communicate to most proprietors that they have a dire need to provide it. Indeed, in today's bowling environment, most bowlers and bowling proprietors don't "get it." Industry leadership has failed to effectively communicate this understanding to both parties. Let's consider what could happen if each of these parties were exposed to factual, effective communication regarding instruction, and thus were successfully motivated to participate in and promote teaching programs. The BPAA and the ABC could then possibly agree on a provision that would require every ABC-sanctioned center to provide 10 minutes of qualified instruction per lane each week during the bowling season. In other words, a 24-lane center would be required to provide a minimum of 240 minutes of instruction (four hours) each week. At that point, you would have, in effect, qualified personnel "selling" the sport in every sanctioned center in the country. Which brings us to marketing's golden rule. It states: "Nothing moves until a sale is made." Even more, once having established a qualified instructor in every center, it then would be a small matter to resolve the problem of tournament "sandbagging." Simply put, your center's instructor would "rate" every bowler's average, based on certain criteria... conditions, past performances, ability, etc., as opposed to recognizing a player's average based on actual games bowled. This would go a long way toward leveling the playing field by restoring integrity to submitted tournament averages.