Time to go with 2 Squads?

[voiceofthevolcano]

We will have a general membership vote this Sunday on whether or not to adopt a 2 squad format on centers with 24 or less lanes. Now that we are consistently getting 80+ bowlers, it is time to address this before next season.

Option 1: Leave it at 1 squad and spread bowlers evenly across the house.

Option 2: Have 2 squads A squad at 8:30 practice, B squad 11:30 practice. Alternate bowlers between A and B (if you were on a squad this month, then you would be on B squad next month. Limit B squad to 48 bowlers.

The main concern to 2 squads was that the scoring pace could vary from squad to squad and we take 1/3 of entire field which means that a higher percentage of qualifiers could come from one of the squads. I don't think this is as much of an issue with the house shot being applied. With sport shots there was always some differences (unless we had time to double stip). If we adopt option 2, I think it should be started at Caveman in December.

[cookiemonster]

I would think the houses with Sunday leagues would be the limiting factor followed closely by Pattie and Trena's Time!

Is the turn around time of 8:30 and 11:30 realistic based on past experiences of 2 squads?

We could always add Option 3: Cap entries at 84 for 2015 season and change for 2016 so it is like we stated at
season onset...Albeit the least popular of the 3 options I would think.

[24garretgold]

It becomes a factor if you are on the suckie squad! LOL

[mccleary]

Tom, to answer your question - yes, there is plenty enough time. We did it for over 20 years, so there is a proven track record. 2 squads with fewer bowlers doesn't take any more time than 1 squad with more bowlers other than the re-oiling and extra practice time. Starting an hour earlier means we would be getting done with qualifying at the same or maybe even a little earlier actually. The squad times really should be 8:30 & 11 am if we are going off what we did in the past - which is what worked.

I think the uneven scoring on separate squads thing is a much bigger factor when you don't re-oil. Today's lane machines are much, much more sophisticated than what we used 15-20 years ago, and even then it was only occasionally that we had discrepancies. Today's machines can strip and re-oil well enough to keep them very similar at the start of a new block 95% of the time.

If you really wanted to guard against it, you could guarantee a certain # of spots of each squad.

For example, 88 total entries - A squad has 40 bowlers and B squad has 48 bowlers (48 bowlers being the most realistic number to cap B squad @ 2 per lane / 4 per pair). Cut to the 24 overall, cash up to 29.
You could guarantee no less than 6 spots in the finals & 8 checks from each squad if you were really worried that they were totally unfair. The worst case scenario is you know if you can make it into the top 6 in your squad & you move on - top 8 and you get a check. With no carryover, that is all that matters.

We are well over 100 tournaments in our history, and I can only think of a half dozen tournaments where it was really lopsided in that one squad absolutely ran over the other squad. Without carryover, it doesn't matter if the other squad had a better look on the lanes than yours - just make the cut and everyone bowls on the same lanes starting over at 0.

[tinman]

I think two squads is the best thing to do, as said before we ran it that way for years with no problems. I never did like the alternating tournaments thing though. I think it should be the early sign ups get their choice, would encourage early entries instead of waiting until the last minute.