Please read this post in its entirety regarding preparations for the start of the 2011-12 season.
MEETING
The team organizational meeting will be Monday, August 22nd in the Leadership Room, located on the 4th floor of the Spellman Center beginning at 8:30pm. This meeting is mandatory unless you are excused ahead of time for a really good reason. It is scheduled so that you can still attend later even if you have class that evening. We will go over a wide variety of topics at this meeting and complete much of the paperwork necessary to compete in collegiate tournaments and prepare for try-outs and the beginning of the season in general, so PLEASE BRING SOMETHING TO WRITE WITH! IF YOU ASK ME OR RANDY FOR A PEN AT THE MEETING, I'LL DEDUCT 25 PINS FROM YOUR FIRST GAME OF TRY-OUTS.
PAPERWORK
Here is a check list of many of things needed prior to the start of the try-out tournament August 27th:
PROOF OF MEDICAL INSURANCE (copy of insurance card or something similar) turned in at organizational meeting or before.
COMPLETED PHYSICAL turned in to Phil at the organizational meeting or before (preferred done by your own physician prior to the start of classes) On-campus physicals are offered, but the schedule is limited. The official Physical Form must be used by your doctor. The official form is available on the Athletics home page. Go to www.lindenwoodlions.com, click on Athletic Department in the column to the left, then select For Student-Athletes. I am not supposed to allow anyone to try-out or even practice unless they have provided their physical form.
Several other forms required for returning athletes (several of them new) are also available there including:
EMERGENCY CONTACT FORM-Completed and turned in to the coaching staff at the organizational meeting or before.
SIGNED CONSENT FORM-This is a release, waiver and hold harmless form.
NCAA CONCUSSION FACT SHEET and FORM-Read, signed and turned in at the meeting or before.
STUDENT-ATHLETE HANDBOOK-The new Student Life Sports Handbook for the 2011-12 season will be available soon. It outlines student-athlete guidelines and provides additional information about athletic facilities on campus. You will be required by the University to sign an acknowledgement form indicating that you have read and understood all that is outlined in the Handbook. This form is required to be eligible for athletic gifts at the end of the year.
YOU MUST HAVE YOUR MOST RECENT USBC MEMBERSHIP CARD or at least the number in order for us to sanction you for collegiate bowling. You can usually look this up on-line at bowl.com if you cant find your card.
ELIGIBILITY FORM
Everyone eligible for competition this fall will need to sign an eligibility form so grades can be tracked throughout the semester. If you dont sign the form, you dont bowl or get sanctioned. We will not hunt you down!
Remember that grades are tracked at mid-terms in addition to the end of each semester and J-term. You must maintain minimal grade standards at mid-terms to remain eligible to compete in tournaments and after each semester. Additionally, the USBC-Collegiate requires the completion of 24 credit hours your first year of competition in order to be eligible for your second year, 48 hours prior to your third year and 72 years prior to your fourth year. Slightly different is the rule that requires that you complete 24 hours of credits the previous year of any competition.
BOWLER INFORMATION FORM-This is our own form that provides us with your basic contact information, shirt sizes and other stuff. Well have this available at the organizational meeting.
UNIFORMS
GUYS: must have a pair of black and a pair of khaki pants available.
LADIES: must have a pair of black and a pair of khaki shorts available.
ADIDAS SPONSORSHIP
We must acquire our shirts through the schools sponsorship by Adidas through Johnny Macs. This season, I expect the school to provide the black shirt for those who need it (new incoming bowlers), but not our second shirt (most likely Vegas Gold), so anticipate an expense of up to about $50, depending on the shirts that are selected. You will need to provide payment prior to receiving your second shirt, so you wont be able to bowl until youve covered that expense since we need two shirts for each tournament we attend.
TRY-OUTS (see other post too)
The USBC Collegiate has instituted roster limits for the total number of players that we can sanction for a given season. For the 2011-12 season, the limit is 35 men and 35 women. Additional limits will be imposed for the 2012-13 seasons. This means that greater emphasis will be placed on the try-out tournament. The first weekend will be August 27-28 at St. Charles Lanes beginning at 1:00 p.m. Saturday and 9:00 a.m. Sunday at this point. The third block of tryouts will start at 6pm Monday, September 5th (Labor Day) and the final block will start at 1pm Saturday, September 10th. This tournament will be used to determine the top 35 and the team on which each player begins the season. Additional details about the selection process will be explained at the organizational meeting. Try-outs will also determine the distribution of the free bowling balls we receive as part of our sponsorship from Brunswick. Generally, a player must complete all 32 games to be eligible for the free equipment.
Our first tournament is in Milwaukee the first weekend of October and we will take one mens and one womens team of eight to that tournament based on entry availability. Generally, the top 6 men and top 6 women from try-outs are guaranteed to go to that first tournament, with Randy and myself reserving the right to select up to two additional picks from anyone to fill the 8-person roster. Last year, both of us ended up just taking the top eight from try-outs, but its not guaranteed that well do that again.
Those not making the top 35 will still be able to participate in team activities including practice, but will not be able to travel to collegiate tournaments. However, they will be funded for 14 weeks in the fall PBA Scholarship league on Tuesday afternoons at 4pm at St. Charles Lanes. This funding will also include a regular junior or adult sport sanction depending on your preference.
The new rules also require us to declare a varsity team at each tournament. The varsity team is the only team that can receive power points for post-season determination. We can only bring an additional two JV teams each weekend, so there will be some rotation required in order to allow everyone on each 35 person roster to attend tournaments throughout the season.
-- Edited by philmark11 on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 06:36:40 PM
-- Edited by philmark11 on Sunday 31st of July 2011 01:12:09 PM
So that no one loses 25 pins in the first game, I'll bring extra pens. (($5.00 each))
__________________
*There comes a moment when it's more than just a game, and you either take that step forward or turn around and walk away. I could quit, but here's the thing...I love the playing field.*
Can I ask, why, if Adidas is sponsoring us, do we have to cover the cost of the new shirt? Isn't the point of a sponsor so that they will cover the costs?
__________________
*There comes a moment when it's more than just a game, and you either take that step forward or turn around and walk away. I could quit, but here's the thing...I love the playing field.*
While Adidas is sponsoring the school, outfitting every athlete of every sport on campus would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. The sponsorship provides discounts for the school, but everything is still purchased. The school has opted to purchase one of the two shirts we need (for about $4000 last year), which is actually more than they used to do.
This year, the school will buy the black shirt for anyone new to our program, but we have to cover our second shirt. Next year, the school will buy brand new black shirts for everyone while any new people next year will have to purchase the 2nd shirt.
We will not be replacing the black shirts with oversized B. We should be able to wear those again during the regular season. Any new black shirts and all of the new vegas gold shirts will have the smaller B on them.
Note: The Student Athlete handbook will be available at our meeting, but all players will still have to attend one of two MANDITORY meetings to formally sign off on the acknowledgement form. These meetings will be in the PA on:
Tuesday, August 23rd at 8:00pm
Tuesday, August 30th at 8:00pm
Also, the procedure for collection of physicals and other medical information is changing, and will be manditory prior to starting try-outs. Stay tuned for further updates.
-- Edited by philmark11 on Wednesday 10th of August 2011 04:02:11 PM
