Here is some additional information regarding the proposed bowling league. I confirmed with the owner of Buffaloe Lanes in Erwin that the best night for our league would be Monday nights starting in January. He has lane availability for that night. This fits our situation quite well as we want to have our bowling night on an evening the canteen is closed. Because of COVID restrictions, the bowling alley is operating at only 30% capacity. If the restrictions are lifted and the bowling alley can operate at full capacity, we have more options available to us regarding our bowling night.

 

He recommended the minimum size of the league to be at least 6 teams. This will allow the league, depending on how many people sign up, to have either 3, 4, or 5 bowler teams. This equates to a total membership of 18, 24, or 30 bowlers, respectively. Of course the more people that sign up means we can have more teams. It also means more prize money for the players and the organizations that participate.

 

The next bowling season starts the first week in January. The owner of the lanes needs at least a week's notice for a league to commit to a bowling season so he can reserve the lanes for us. This means we need to have bowlers sign up and committed around 26 December if we want to start during the first week in January. However, the owner said he is flexible as to when we want to start and how long we want to run the league. He explained that in the "old days" a bowling season typically lasted 34 weeks with the fall season running from September to Dec and the winter season running from January to May. That is not how it is done anymore. Buffaloe Lanes runs two separate 17 week seasons between September to May. Prize money payout happens at the end of each 17 week season. This allows leagues to have more flexibility on when to start and finish their season which puts the least strain on bowler commitments. A league could run a 17 week season in the spring and then pick up the second season in the fall if they want to. Another option he described was to have a league season with a shorter duration like 10 or 12 weeks to see how things work out. He is amenable to accommodating our needs.

 

I have put a loose leaf binder notebook in the canteen for sign ups. You can either stop by the canteen after 5PM from Wednesday to Friday and sign up. Or you can email me at qm@vfw6722.org and I will add your name, address, phone, and email to the sign up sheet.