Silver Foxes League Rules
Published: August 19, 2009
The Silver Foxes Sr. League is a 100% of 220
Handicap senior league sanctioned under the United States Bowling Congress
(USBC).
A bowler must have attained an age of fifty-five to become a member and be eligible for all USBC awards and services. See USBC Rule 100h for exceptions provided for spouses and family members between ages 50-55.
§ League officers are a President,
a Vice-President, a Secretary and a Treasurer. Per USBC Rule 102a as it
applies to the Silver Foxes, neither the President nor the Vice-President can
be from the same immediate family as a Treasurer. For consistency and better
back-up coverage, all Silver Foxes Officers are not from the same immediate
family except where Rule 14, League Cap allows for a joint Secretary
&/or a joint Treasurer as may be needed per league size workload.
§ League Officers are elected
by majority vote at the first scheduled meeting of the Fall Season, or as may
otherwise be presented at a league meeting, and serve for one year to include
the following Summer Season.
§ In the event of absence or
unavailability of the President, the Vice-President serves as Acting President.
§ In the event of absence or
unavailability of any other officer, the President appoints an acting
replacement.
§ See Current Season
Addendum for list of existing League Officers.
§ See Current Season
Addendum for the Current Season Schedule.
§ Match play starts at 1:00 PM
each scheduled Wednesday. Warm-up practice precedes match play.
§ Three games are bowled each
session. One point is awarded for each game won and for highest total pins.
§ Individual bowling days may
be cancelled for exceptional situations, such as extreme weather. Official
Cancellation Notice of any session will be provided to Buffalo Lanes North by
Noon on the scheduled Wednesday, or as close to then as possible. In
addition, League Officers will attempt to notify Team Captains or alternates
who will then attempt to notify their Team Members. However, Official
Cancellation Notification is thru Buffalo Lanes North and members should call
there to determine if bowling is cancelled. Since all possible subsequent
Wednesdays are already scheduled, there will be no make-up schedule. Full
and Half-Season results will be per the actual number of sessions bowled.
§ Position rounds occur on the
last competition day of each Half-Season for a Fall-Spring Season and on the
last competition day of a Summer Season. The Wednesday after this regular
competition, a roll-off occurs if needed to determine the season’s 1st
&/or 2nd place teams. This is a fun-day for all other teams.
Awards are announced and prizes distributed at a meeting immediately after the
bowling.
§ Team Rankings are based on
points won, separately for each half of a Fall-Spring Season. If different
teams have won each half, a roll-off between these 2 teams determines 1st
& 2nd place awards/standings. If the same team wins both halves
& 2 different teams placed 2nd in each half, a roll-off for 2nd
place is bowled.
§ If a tie occurs for 1st
or 2nd place, Tiebreaker Rule 12 will apply.
League
management is vested in the Board of Directors consisting of the Team Captains and
League Officers. The league is sanctioned through the USBC and abides by the
USBC Playing Rules.
Each regular bowler pays $8.00 each week bowled. For each week they bowl, substitutes pay $6.50 and pacers pay $6.00. From these collections, a lineage fee of $6.00 for each actual bowler is paid to Buffalo Lanes North. This is not a guaranteed league so a regular bowler is only responsible for the league prize/administration fund amount of $2.00 per week absent. Team Captains are responsible for collection/recording of their team’s fees and for its submission to the Treasurer.
Regular Bowler: $8.00
per Week
Treasurer Salary: $0.20
per Bowler per Week for Teams Assigned
League Fund: $1.55
per Regular Bowler per Week
$0.50
per Substitute per Week Bowled
Three or more bowlers named
by the President will comprise the Budget/Prize Committee. This Committee
recommends, and the Board of Directors approves a season budget and the prizes,
awards and expenditures.
§ Team cash award
consideration is given to members of the teams winning 1st & 2nd
place.
§ Individual cash award
consideration is given to male & female, in rank order, for: high average;
high scratch series; high handicap series, high scratch game; high handicap
game; most improved. Handicap awards are based upon a handicap adjustment of 100%
from a 220 base average. Any bowler receives only one individual award
and, if qualified for more than one award, is given the award in ranking order
and the bowler with the next highest ranking qualifies for consideration.
§ The remaining Prize Fund is
distributed as cash among all team members based upon total points won and is
pro-rated by individual weeks of prize fund payments.
§ Bowlers are also eligible
for prizes offered by USBC, CAUSBCA & the bowling establishment.
An individual average is based upon total pin fall divided number of games rolled.
Entry Average is used for all
regular & substitute bowlers as follows until a New Average is
established.
New Average is
established over the 1st 9 full games bowled.
The new average is used commencing with bowlers 10th full game bowled. Once new average established, running average of full games over all sessions bowled is used for the subsequent session. In the rare circumstances when a bowler hasn’t bowled 3 full 3 game sessions, the 10th game occurs as the 2nd or 3rd game in a session in which case the team handicap will change during the session and has to be manually recalculated for the effected game(s) on the results record for that session!
Rule 6: Teams & Team Handicap
Prior to the start of each season the league officers &/or designated league members assign the teams. Objective is to equalize the team averages to provide for fair competition. Individual averages used are from the previous fall season or from the summer season for bowlers with no prior fall season average. For new bowlers with no prior season average, a good-faith estimated average is used.
In the interest of time, all teams, reasonably balanced by average, are assigned prior to initial league session.
The Team Handicap allowance is 100% of the difference between the team averages as determined by the sum of the team member’s individual averages, normalized to four members per team by vacancy scores as needed.
Rule 7: Legal Line-Up
One regular team member constitutes a legal line-up.
Rule 8: Substitutes/Replacements/Pacers
The league secretary maintains a list of roving substitutes. Bowlers or their Captain should arrange for a substitute when they know there will be an absence. No one may bowl with more than one team for the regularly scheduled games each week. Men may substitute for women and women may substitute for men. Attempts should be made to maintain competitive average balance but this is only a requirement as noted below. Officers have the authority to approve all substitutes as may be advisable to balance teams.
Subject to Officer approval, a team can add a new Team Member if a permanent vacancy exists.
NO NEW (under 9 league games bowled) REPLACEMENT OR SUBSTITUTE IS ALLOWED DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF ANY HALF OR FULL SEASON OR FOR A ROLL-OFF SESSION. During these periods, only substitutes/replacements that have an average not exceeding 20 points above the replaced bowler may be used.
Substitutes are eligible for prizes offered by the USBC, CAUSBCA and the bowling establishment.
Pacers are allowed to complete up to a 4-bowler team line-up. Their scores are not used in the team results.
Rule 9: Forfeitures
A game is declared forfeit when a team fails to field a legal line-up. When a game is forfeit the team present must bowl as though the game was actually contested and complete a frame on one lane before starting the next frame on the adjoining lane. A TEAM MUST BOWL NO LESS THAN 40 PINS UNDER THEIR CURRENT TEAM AVERAGE TO WIN A POINT FOR A GAME & NO LESS THAN 100 PINS UNDER THEIR 3-GAME TEAM AVERAGE TO WIN A POINT FOR TOTAL PINS.
If any forfeiture situation causes less than 4 points to be won during a session, team standings are based upon won % when points won are equal and using this method would break the tie.
PRE-BOWLING IS NOT
PERMITTED.
Rule 10: Late Arrivals
Any bowler failing to appear at the scheduled time is not permitted to bowl in a game when the last bowler of the opposing team has completed the 3rd frame of that game. A bowler arriving too late to participate in an active game is permitted to bowl in the next full game.
Rule 11: Absentee & Vacancy Scores
Absentee scores are used when a team has a legal line-up, but less than a full line-up, at the start of any game. The absentee score is equal to an absent bowler’s average less 10 pins. The team handicap is based on the actual average of an absentee. After 3 weeks a no-show is automatically dropped from a team.
When a bowler has to be absent for more than 3 weeks the bowler can remain on the team roster if requested by the bowler and the absence is due to illness or some other valid reason. Team captain and league officers will determine the length of this extension. Absent bowler is required to pay the regular absentee fee (Rule 3) regardless of whether or not a substitute is used and remains listed on the team roster/dues envelope.
Except for resignations, an absentee score is used for the 1st 3 consecutive weeks, including excused absences, after which a vacancy score is used.
A vacancy score is used immediately in the case of resignations, whether voluntary or situational.
A vacancy score is 145, which is also applied to calculate the team average and determine the team handicaps.
For bowlers/members yet to start the current season, a vacancy score is used instead of an absentee score.
Rule 12: Tiebreakers
If 1st or 2nd place tie exists after a Position Round or a League Champion tie exists at the end of a season, the USBC tiebreaker rules apply.
Rule 13: Bowling Out
If a bowler has to bowl out in any game the bowler can return and resume bowling for any subsequent game. Absentee score is used for any games not bowled.
Rule 14: League Size Cap
The league size is capped based on the Bowling Center capacity while maintaining a 2 lane buffer from other bowlers and from any wall. Currently the team cap is 34 teams of 4 bowlers each. There is no limit on number of substitutes that may be available. When the number of teams exceeds 16 there is an option to establish joint Secretary &/or Treasurer positions to reduce individual officer workload to a manageable level.
Rule 15: League Membership Sign-Up
1st Priority: Members of an ongoing/completed fall season must sign up for next fall &/or summer season membership at least TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the league organization meeting held the week prior to the start of a new season. Preferably such sign up is provided at least two weeks prior to the end of the existing season.
2nd Priority: Summer season regulars may sign up for the subsequent fall season using the same deadline.
3rd Priority: Substitutes from the ongoing/completed fall or summer season that apply by the deadline.
4th Priority: Walk-ins or new applicants.
Note: While reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate potential new members, there is no assurance that sufficient vacancies will exist, in which case a date-based priority is used and waiting list is maintained.
Rule 16: Late Starters
If the number of bowlers signed up for a season is a multiple of 8 by 3 weeks prior to the 1st session the league may be considered closed. Vacant positions are held for late returning members who have expressed their intention of returning. League officers in each situation will determine a time limit. If openings exist/occur they will be filled from a waiting list maintained by the league secretary or with walk-in new members.
Rule 17: Rules not Covered in the Above
In the event a ruling is required not covered by these League Rules, the current USBC Playing Rules are used.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE
SILVER FOXES LEAGUE IS ENJOYABLE RECREATIONAL BOWLING FOR SENIOR MEN &
WOMEN OF MIXED SKILL LEVEL IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF FRIENDLY PLEASANT FELLOWSHIP.
Teams With
all interested new Summer League additions and 5 others, we’ve expanded
to 34 Teams. We’re now capped as determined by Bowling Center size to
maintain buffer with walls & others.
§
There are 4 Days Off:
Ø
Sr. Games Week on Sept. 23, 2009
Ø
Day before Thanksgiving on Nov. 25, 2009
Ø
Christmas Week on Dec. 23, 2009
Ø
New Years Week on Dec. 30, 2009
§
The 32 scheduled regular bowling weeks of random match-ups allow each
team to compete against all but 1 of the other teams.
§
2 Half-Season Position Rounds are on Jan. 13 & May 12,
2010. 1st & 2nd Place Tiebreakers are bowled
immediately if needed.
§
Week 35 on May 19, 2010 is the Roll-Off for League Champion
& 2nd Place.
This is 9-Pin No-Tap Handicap bowling for others.
Ø
Season ends with an awards meeting after bowling.
Budget/Prize Committee Will consist of Vice-President, Treasurer and at least 3 Team
Captains. Chairman will be therein elected.