Michigan May Overhaul H.S. Bowling

EAST LANSING — MHSAA-approved high school bowling has been a huge hit since it debuted in 2004.

In all likelihood the sport is going to receive an overhaul to make it more like other sports and rein in several problem areas such as prize money-like scholarships and student-athletes competing in non-high school leagues and events. The idea of dropping bowling as a high school sport was on the table but with the outpouring of support the MHSAA has received for making the modifications that idea now is very unlikely.

The biggest issue at hand is the scholarships. According to the MHSAA many bowling scholarships have become pseudo-prize money based only on performance with the money given to the kids after graduation.

“Scholarships are a good thing and no one in our office is suggesting they aren’t,” MHSAA Assistant Director Randy Allen said. “But they have to be in compliance with MHSAA criteria in that there are academic requirements and no guaranteed payout…It got treated more like a 401k saving account than a scholarship.”

Allen is hoping they can develop a new system for scholarships that judges students in areas such schoolwork, citizenship, experience and possibly college entry exams scores. The goal is to dispose of the “ownership” issues of current ones given at the time of tournament. So far national and local organizations such as the USBC have agreed to make the changes when asked.

“It’s determined after a student graduates based on more than just bowling ability,” Allen said of the new ideas.

There are other issues at hand as well. It is currently par for the course for high school bowlers to be involved in leagues or outside tournaments during the season. Under the proposed new system that would end, bowlers would not be allowed to bowl in a league during the high school season and only allowed to enter a maximum of two outside tournaments.

“If bowling wants to continue to be a high school sport it has to be in compliance like all our other sports,” Allen said. “Bowling grew up differently than our other sports.”

Allen and the MHSAA did not however rule out the idea of bowling alleys being allowed a “short league” for high school bowlers that ends in December before the high school season begins or allowing “pre-bowling” for regular leagues to finish earlier.

There are also some out of season coaching requirements that should be more enforced next season. One of these is the four-player rule, already used in other sports, prohibiting a coach from working with more than four players at once while out of season. As in other sports this does not place a restriction on the kids themselves working together.

The MHSAA council is having a vote about the bowling issues today. Allen reports the council is going to be supplied with all of the documents and plans brought to them by Michigan’s bowling leaders before the vote and based on all of it his recommendation is to continue the program. Their bowling committee is going to meet on March 30 to discuss the issue other compliance issues such as the outside tournaments and coaching issues.

“It’s an important year as we go forward,” Allen said, believing most are ready to make the changes needed. “There were going to be some difficulties in the first year but there has to be a steady trend toward compliance.”

The changes may have a downside however. With restrictions on outside play it is possible some of the state’s elite bowlers may simply decide not to bowl for their high school. It’s an issue that has arisen before in golf, hockey and tennis and at least one bowling coach is iffy.

“That isn’t going to work very well,” said Bay City Western girls coach Rick Dodick upon hearing about the new league rules. “If you ask the (bowlers) who take it seriously they would likely stay bowling on Saturday (in their youth leagues).”

Dodick raised another concern that since the high school bowling season starts in the middle of the winter league season bowlers who want to take part would have to decide to skip being in a league at the start of the season. However doing so could have disastrous affects for the youth bowler if they try out for the high school and don’t make the cut leaving them without any organized bowling for the year as a consequence.

“It was rough getting high school bowling going before,” Dodick said of the new rules. “I’m afraid it might kill high school bowling.”

Dodick, one of the coaches who pushed for bowling to become a varsity sport, had previously proposed moving the bowling season to April as a spring sport. Doing so would avoid direct conflict with the winter leagues, thus allowing high school bowlers to compete in them, and would also allow the sport to take advantage of there being more open alleys at that time of year. He has also suggested bowling twice a week.

“Just like how basketball is Tuesdays and Fridays you could do it twice a week and get the season over a bit quicker,” Dodick said.

The idea of dropping bowling as a MHSAA sport was considered because of these issues but with solutions on the table it is now highly unlikely. Allen stated that to his knowledge the MHSAA has never dropped a sport for issues like this and their goal was always reforming bowling not cutting it.

“If bowling wants to be a legitimate high school sport than they have to support the state regulations that govern high school sports,” Allen said. “It doesn’t mean scholarships can’t exist they just have to be done the right way.”

Bowling as a high school sport has been a huge hit since its 2004 launch with just 165 teams. Today there are 335 boys teams and 330 girls teams in the state.

“We’ve doubled in eight years,” Allen said, noting the growth was expected. “It was a sport that a school could add with low expenses or none at all because bowling centers were helping with the cost. It was more of a transition from a proprietor-based competition to a MHSAA-based one.”