Come one, come all to our 2010 Adult City Tournament, which will be held at Bird Bowl on March 6-7 and 13-14, 2010. The availability of lanes may be limited, so get your entry forms in as soon as possible. The regular closing date is March 2. Walk-in entries will be accepted up to 30 minutes prior to each tournament squad, provided that lanes are available. The final closing date will be noon on March 14. The entry forms are at the bowling centers. This year we are proud to announce that there will be a guaranteed minimum prize amount for the Singles champion ($400.00 for open classification and $200.00 for women’s classification) and the All Events champion ($300.00 for open classification and $150.00 for women’s classification). Don’t miss out on this event; start putting teams together now.

The 2010 Youth City Tournament will be held on April 17-18 at Bird Bowl. Youth bowlers will compete for scholarship money. More information and tournament entry forms will be available as the tournament date approaches.

All bowlers, aged 50 and up, are invited to participate in our next Senior Tournament. The event will be held on April 18, 2010 at Bird Bowl. This is a handicap singles event for men and women. The women bowl 3 games and the men bowl 4 games. More information and tournament entry forms will be available as the tournament date approaches.

Here are two tips that may help improve your bowling and maybe even help you win more games.

Tip #1 - Close games
More than likely, at sometime or another, you have been on the losing end of a game by just a margin of 1, 2 or 3 pins. If you look back through the scores of your team, chances are you might find someone on the team has at least one frame with a split and they didn’t pick up any pins on the second ball. It is always a good idea to "go for the wood" (pick up the most you can) on the second ball when there is a very difficult split to shoot. This is doubly true when you are on a strike, where every pin you pick up on the second ball is worth two in the score.

Tip #2 - Adjusting when ball reaction changes:
Making adjustments when the ball reaction starts to change can be a highly technical and lengthy topic. The more advanced skill bowlers know most, if not all of the types of adjustments that can be made. This tip will try to address this topic more toward the beginning to medium level skill bowlers. In this regard, it is the intent of this tip to provide information to help these bowlers learn about an advanced part of the game, and maybe help improve their average. For this tip, we will keep it simple and speak in general terms. A small amount of technical and background information will also be given.

USBC AND LOCAL AWARDS

The youth Winter Classic Tournament was held at Bird Bowl on January 9-10, 2010. The scholarship prize winners are listed below.

Scratch Division:
1^st Place Thomas Moloney $150.00
2^nd Place George Acevedo $100.00
3^rd Place Sean Riley $70.00
4^th Place Nathan Ricks $60.00
5^th Place Sara Kienzle $50.00

Junior Gold Winner: George Acevedo

Higher Handicap Division:
1^st Place Robert Gramley $150.00
2^nd Place Kelsey Hudek $32.00

Lower Handicap Division:
1^st Place Trace Reid $150.00
2^nd Place Giovanni Andres $30.00
3^rd Place Joey Davis $20.00
4^th Place Timmy Scherzer $14.00

Andrew is also the 2009 USBC Youth Open All-Events and Team Champion. Andrew bowled in this tournament the day after finishing second in Indianapolis at the Junior Gold. He is the youngest male member of Team USA for the second year in a row. Winning the USBC Open All Events gave him the right to bowl in the USBC Clash of Champions to be aired on May 8^th on ESPN2, in El Paso Texas. The Clash includes USBC national events champions plus the U.S. Open and the PBA Player of the Year. He will be the only high school student at this tournament.

BEST BUDDIES

Bird Bowl hosts a special bowling experience for our "exceptional" bowling population. This provides handicapped bowlers with a special day at the lanes where they get support, tips, help with scoring, inspiration, and many hugs along the way. This kind of event can’t be accomplished without the many volunteers, especially from our bowling association, that provide guidance. Those adults that made the last event a success were Diana Rose, Kathy Meyers, Tere Sinclair, Danielle Graham, and Susie Coile. They were assisted by members of our youth leaders including: Alex Rodriguez, Andrew Meyers, Jason Wolf, David Garcia, and Sabrina Torres. The next time a "Best Buddies" event occurs again, maybe some of you would like to join the fun. It is a very rewarding experience for all involved

Congratulations to the following local youth high school bowlers who received All Dade honors from the Miami Herald:

Boys:

Girls:

Becky Murray, a former Director on the Greater Miami USBC board, will be inducted in the Florida State USBC Youth Hall of Fame on June 26, 2010 in Ocala, Florida. Becky worked at Cloverleaf Lanes for over 21 years and has been a bronze level 1 and 2 coach since 1984. She has been on the State Youth Board for 15 years. Becky will receive a Hall of Fame lapel pin and a plaque as recognition of her outstanding work at the Annual Meeting of the Council of Delegates.

In May, Vermell (Mell) Brooks, will be inducted into the Florida State Bowling Hall of Fame for meritorious service, joining her long time friend, Sue Jacobs, who was inducted a few years ago. Mell, previously inducted into the Greater Miami USBC Hall of Fame, qualifies for this great distinction due to her long-time involvement with the Greater Miami Women’s Bowling Association, Florida Women’s Bowling Association and Florida State USBC Women’s Bowling Association. While serving on the local association Mell was our President for 9 years, Vice President for 6 years, and a director for 15 years serving on virtually all of the committees at one time or another. In fact, Mell made history when she was elected President of the Greater Miami Women’s Bowling Association in 1996, and was featured in an article in the Miami Herald as the first Aftro_American to be elected President. While working on the State Association Board, Mell has been the Sgt_at_Arms for 1 year and a director for 9 years as well as being very instrumental in many changes that have taken place at the state level. As you can see, she has dedicated a number of years to the sport at its higher levels of involvement. She has seen to it that, in the state of Florida, the competitive version of our sport and its bowlers are well represented and governed correctly. Mell is also a bowler with 40 years of league experience. We would like to extend our congratulations to her at this time and thank her for her dedication to the sport.

Since our last publication, Michael Greene was inducted into the Greater Miami USBC Hall of Fame for bowling ability at our annual awards banquet. After a very poignant and heartfelt acceptance speech was presented, dinner was served and everyone was entertained by a live band. This year, our Hall of Fame/Awards Banquet will be October. Start making your plans to attend this wonderful event. More information will be available as the date approaches.