April Newsletter

In this newsletter:

Tournament Results
League Secretary Info
Annual Membership Meeting
Congratulations
Coach’s Tip

Tournament Results:
The Mixed Doubles Tournament was held at Sherwood Lanes on April 7th. 42 doubles teams competed in 3 games. Then the top teams went to a stepladder finish. The tournament was won by Sami Green and Zach Wright. Congratulations!

League Secretary Info:
This is a reminder to all league secretaries to send league data to the Association Manager in a timely fashion after the end of your season. The Association Manager is required to report to USBC National and this information is needed for the report.

Annual Membership Meeting:
The annual membership meeting of the Butler Area USBC was held on Wednesday April 10 at the Family Bowlaway. There was a change to the by-laws. A proposal was presented to reduce the size of the board to 27 from its present size of 30. This motion passed. The following were elected to 3-year terms as directors:
Tom Bissett
Sherry Christy
Carin Durr
Chuck Heshler
Melinda McConnell
Doug McCullough
Heather McCullough
Tanner Pint

The president and the 2nd vice president were also elected.
Chuck Heshler – President
Brian Bruce – 2nd Vice President.
Congratulations to all who were elected!

Congratulations:
We want to take a moment to congratulate the creator of this newsletter, John Enrietto. John is being inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. On April 27th, John will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for his excellence in sports reporting for the Butler Eagle. John is an avid bowler and has spent several terms as a director for the Butler Area USBC. John, from the Butler area bowling community – congratulations!

Coach’s Tip:
Have you ever put your equipment away for the summer and in the fall when you were ready to bowl you found problems? Bowling balls appear indestructible. For the abuse they take hitting the pins one would think they can’t be hurt. This is very far from the truth. Yes, they are tough, but thermodynamics are a bowling ball’s enemy. Simply put when things are heated, they expand, conversely, when cooled they contract. Bowling balls are built with typically three pieces, a dense core, a filler around the core, and the coverstock. These three components expand and contract at different rates. Motiv Bowling recommends the following to store your bowling balls.

Properly storing bowling balls is very important if you have some gems that you want keep for future use, or if you are taking a short break until your bowling league starts back up again. The tips mentioned here can help you maximize the life of your bowling balls.

DON'T STRESS YOUR GEAR
Don't store balls on a hard floor like concrete because, due to the spherical shape, a great deal of stress is focused on a very small point. This could eventually cause the cover to crack. Because of this concern, some bowlers with large arsenals like to rotate balls from time to time. Just make sure you always keep the finger and thumb holes away from the stress points. You can keep your bowling balls well-supported if you use a roller bag like the MOTIV® Vault™ series that features large plastic cups built into the base. For maximum protection, put Vault Cup Guards in place first.

KEEP YOUR EQUIPMENT COMFY
Extreme heat and extreme cold are bad news and can make bowling balls crack. Keeping balls at room temperature is best. Never leave your equipment in the trunk of your car or rolling around on the garage floor. Ideally, keep them in a place where the humidity and temperature are both controlled. To give your ball a moisture barrier keep it inside a sealed plastic bag.

MEND THE WOUNDS
The track area on the ball takes a beating during competition at the bowling alley so that's an area you should take a close look at. When polished balls take a beating, the track area gets rougher. That changes the breakpoint while smoothing out the ball motion. A sanded ball, on the other hand, will tend to get "lane-shine", which will cause the ball to skid further in oil and change the shape of the ball on the lane. If you have 50 or more games on a ball, it's probably time to get it resurfaced at your local pro shop. If you need to know how to restore box finish, use the MOTIV® Factory Finish Guide.

KEEP IT CLEAN
This tip may seem obvious, but so many people forget to clean their gear. It's a regular maintenance task that can make a big difference. When bowling ball cover stocks become saturated with oil, you will see a performance difference. We have produced videos to show how impressively long MOTIV® covers last, but oil saturation will always make an impact. So, before you put bowling balls in storage, be sure to clean them properly. Power Gel® Scuff is fantastic for sanded equipment and Power Gel® Clean is great for any cover type.

These quick tips from MOTIV® will help maximize the life of your bowling arsenal.