Hey everyone, I'm new here and new to the sport. I'm interested in joining a league but I have no idea how they're set up and which are the most popular. How do all of you like your leagues to be set up?

I want to know if you prefer:

Weekdays/Weekends?

Team Uniforms?

What type of prize?

How much do you pay?

Members on a team?

I like Weekdays that also because mainly because my center has most of there leagues at weekday nights than weekends nights. Satuday night is my center big Comsmic bowling, but they do have leagues on Sunday night.

You could do iniforms, but mainly its casual dress.

If your joining an Adult League is going to be Money as the Prize. Some leagues have end of league trips like las Vegas League. There some who sent top 3 in the league to a tournment.

I pay about $17 a week that for Competive Handicap league. Scratch Leagues go about $21 also PBA Experience leagues. Our Most expensive league is $30 a week that Patton 1055 Classic a compeitive scratch league with a lot of side pots other ways to win money on weekly basis.

I like 5 memeber team cause i like the pace of it.

Welcome to the site and the sport of bowling HillHawks02. I see you are in Maryland, where at in Maryland. There are several of us on this site in the area and might be able to point you toward a league that might suit you. With summer starting there are plenty of fun leagues that are a great way to get experience in leagues.

As for your questions.


Weekdays/Weekends? I do both. When I started bowling it was on a Saturday mixed gender league with my brother and his wife. I like bowling with them and this is really the only time they have to bowl since they have 4 boys who play some sport or another throughout the year and most games are weekday evenings. My weekday leagues tend to be more competitive mens leagues.

Team Uniforms? There aren't many leagues around that do this, some teams in one of my leagues do have team shirts. I like it and my Tuesday team has been talking about it. I think usually only the real competitive classic leagues require this.

What type of prize? Most adult leagues are money leagues. There are some merchandise leagues where you can get a ball, bag or other bowling accessories and sometimes other stuff like jackets. Everyone gets these in those type of leagues so how good you do is irrelevant. Thats depending on what the league is set up for. There are also vacation leagues and others like Brandon mentioned.

How much do you pay? My leagues this past season were $18 a week for my Saturday mixed, with $10 or so a night going to pay the center for lane usage, around $.40 to pay the league secretary for his/her job and the last $7 or so going into the prize fund that gets broken down differently based on team standings. My Tuesday Mens league is $20 a week with a similar breakdown just more money going to the prize fund. Some leagues are more and some are less depending on the league and how much the members of the league are willing to pay. I'm going to different leagues next season on the same nights but expect to be paying a little more a week.

Members on a team? I've never bowled league that wasn't at least trios (3 members per a team) and those are usually any summer leagues I do. My fall/winter leagues have been 4 person for the most part, next season both leagues will be 5 person. Anything less than 3 is too fast paced for me, and even then the trios leagues are a bit on the fast side. I prefer the 4 or 5 person leagues. I have done some doubles tournaments and that is a quick pace.

As a new bowler a fun handicap noncompetitive handicap league would be best to get started and learn how leagues work and some of the etiquette of bowling in a league environment. There are very few scratch leagues in the area so you should find plenty of handicap leagues. The aforementioned merchandise leagues might be good for over the summer and then through them you might meet some bowlers that know of a fall/winter league that would suit you.

Very cool, thanks guys. As you can tell, I have no idea how these things work...How are the games set up each week? Is it only 1 game a night, best out of 3?

Is there a regular season with Wins and Losses and then a tournament? I guess I'm confused about how winners are chosen...also, does the league promote individual success (Like a league MVP)?

Most handicap leagues are 3 games (a point each), plus total pin fall for a 4th point. They can be set up differently, but most are based on 4 points. Your summer leagues are shorter, usually 16 weeks or so. They may or maynot be set up in halves. Winter leagues are longer about 30 to 36 weeks. They usually have halves, quarters or thirds.

Adult leagues nearly always payout money these days. And handicap leagues are not usually known for high amounts or return either. The total prize fund generated through the season tends to be spread very liberally and widely so that more people get a bit, instead of a few people getting a bunch. Usually you get so much money for each win. Then at the end, there's what they call "sweepers", which is like a little ending tournament just for the league bowlers, while the half winners bowl for league championship. That sweeper can be any of a number of formats; doubles, 9 pin no tap, for example. And usually for those not directly involved in the league championship bowling the sweeper is optional. But most get in it. Around here, since we are close to Reno, many of our sweepers take place in Reno. If you have a local adult "fun" place close to you it maybe the same in your area.

Most handicap leagues have a wide variety of skill level bowlers. For example in our Wed league we have people averaging from 87 to 208. So it doesn't matter what your average is in most handicap leagues. You can either join a league as a single and get put on a team needing to fill an empty spot or bring in an entire team. Doesn't matter as long as the league has room.

While you are bowling there may be various side games going on. Brackets, high game pots and poker (you get a card per spare/strike and build the best hand you can). Those are optional.

Erin

Most of the leagues I've seen in my area don't run sweepers, but will have a roll off for a league champion, which usually means a few more dollars per a person on the winning team and a chevron/patch that says league champion with the season year on it. Like Erin said its usually 3 games a night plus total pins on the night for a 4 point system, but there are other point systems. Most fall/winter leagues are at least set up in halves, with the winner of each half bowling against each other in the end to be the aforementioned league champion. Most leagues have some individual awards for high game, high 3 game series, sometimes one for handicap and scratch, high average and most improved bowler which is the biggest improvement of average from the beginning of the season until the end. Bowling leagues aren't exactly the same as leagues in other sports so there normally isn't anything like a league MVP.

Ok, lemme see if i get this,

In a single match-up, you usually play 3 games (1 point each) and total pinfall counts as the 4th point (which may lead to a 2-2 tie?). Teams get a little bit of money per weekly win but have the option of entering sweepers. I don't know exactly what doubles and 9 pin no tap mean, but these sweepers are set matches between seeded teams and break down tournament style.

How often do teams not show up to leagues? Is it common for people to forfeit like that or are there reserve players? Also, how many teams are there normally in your leagues?

Thanks again for all this help...as you can see I have no idea what's going on

What if the winner of the winter and fall leagues is the same team? Do they automatically win? That seems anti-climatic

Depends on how the league is set up. If they same team wins the first and second half, then in most cases they are undisputed league champions then teams roll off for the next positions.

Erin

Its not money per a weekly win. Each game you win is a point and the highest total points at the end of a half wins the half. Some leagues pay out according to where a team is in the standings at the end of a half/third/quarter, some pay out so much per a point won by a team in that half. Some leagues if the same team wins both halves they are the league champions but I've never seen this happen. Other leagues if one team wins the second half and though they technically won the second half there is a rule that allows either second place for that half, or the team with the highest total wins for the year to bowl in the rolloff.

As for forfeits, its rare a team does this but it does happen. Sometimes a team doesn't have enough bowlers there to make up a legal line up and unless they can get subs to give them enough bowlers they forfeit. In a forfeit though, the other team is not automatically given the win, they have to earn it by bowling within a certain score according to their averages. Its usually 10 pins per a person. Say a team's combined average is 700 for a 4 person team, thats 40 pins for the team, so they have to bowl a 660 or better to win that game.

League size varies. My leagues this year were 10 teams on Saturdays and 12 teams on Tuesday and a league I became a permanent sub in was 26 teams. Next season my current Saturday league is merging with another league at the same center that was 38 teams and will become a 48 team league taking up the whole center. My Tuesday team I will be going to another center than I am currently bowling in and the league is around 30 teams strong. Like I said before both of these leagues are 5 person teams, so one league will have 240 bowlers a night and the other 150.