The nice thing is, you can see your progress on the USBC website. If you do happen to roll a 300, 11 strikes in a row, 800 series, and I think a 900 series, it will be shown on the USBC website. It's allot nicer to brag about it to your friends or your bowling buddies. Otherwise, you would have to carry around a printout of your achievement.

FYI, a book average is your average in the USBC member books, which can also be looked up at bowl.com.

How extensively does USBC track individual bowler statistics? Do they only track major achievements like 300's, 800's, and book averages? Or, do they track every score of every sanctioned game that you bowl?

well besides the above, USBC also has rules as to who can hold an officer position and who cannot and how many of them can be on one team. So you dont' get one family controlling the entire league by virtue of officer votes if they even take votes. Of course non sanctioned leagues can be total dictatorships. No recourse. Rules can be changed half way through the league, league fees can be changed arbitrarily. People can be eliminated from a league based on "I don't like him/her". No recourse.

No a very important thing. USBC offers bonding and security for league funds. If the league funds were to be stolen and proper procedure taken USBC covers it. In a non sanctioned league there's nothing to keep the officers from just keeping the money and not paying out. Or saying "I lost it, someone broke into my car, house, briefcase, ect........" without somewhere to go with that.

USBC sanctioned leagues give you an official average with which you can go to nearly every tournament and bowl. Without an official average you are out of luck if you want to bowl.

But the main issue to me is that the controlling force behind the league politics are limited with USBC sancitioning.

Erin

I read that the JBT isn't happy with the USBC. What other organisations sanction leagues in the USA?

With the start of the 2006-07 season, the Junior Bowlers Tour and almost every large tournament group in the country has elected not to have their events USBC-certified. The USBC now requires that all certified events deposit their scholarship money with them. This would cost the JBT scholarship fund a huge amount of interest, based on their "administrative fees" and their investing practices. The JBT would lose the Challenge Tournament, the Masters and some other events that are funded by the interest earned throughout the year. We are not willing to sacrifice those events.

Are there issues your having with the USBC?