The Thomas Damon Memorial Scholarship Tournament is a competition for youth bowlers hosted by Virginia Beach Youth Bowling, Inc., at Pinboy's at the Beach in Virginia Beach VA, June 4th thru 6th. This event will be open to U8/U10/U12/U15/U18/U20, male and female bowlers. We have been given a $14,000 donation by Debbie and Karl Morton to supplement the prize fund. Last year we were able to award over $20,000 in entries and scholarships. Our goal is to help support all youth bowling activities and endeavors in the region. Rules and registration information is below. If you have any questions feel free to contact us.

Bowlers will bowl 5 games, moving to a different pair after each game. Bowlers may follow each other immediately, in order, on the alternate lane. One lane courtesy will be observed.

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2021 VBYBI SCHOLARSHIP TOURNAMENT RULES

Thomas Damon Memorial Scholarship Tournament

DATES: June 4-6, 2021

(Amended 5/22/2021)

Current Squad capacity based on center capacity guidelines.

1. This is a USBC certified tournament. Bowlers will bowl on Sport compliant conditions. This event will be Scratch. Entry fee of $50.

2. An optional Handicap division will be offered at an additional cost of $10 for bowlers who wish to participate in this supplemental prize fund. Handicap will be calculated at 100% of 210. If the bowler has a SPORT average on Bowl.com, this will be used for handicap determination. Other averages will be converted to SPORT per USBC chart. If a bowler does not have an average on Bowl.com, a verifiable average from his/her current league with a minimum of 21 games will be used and converted.

3. All qualifying squads will bowl on fresh SPORT conditions. All USBC rules will apply. All tournament staff shall enforce rules.

4. Tournament Manager will rule on any items not covered in USBC or Tournament Rules. All decisions made by the tournament manager are final unless an appeal is made in accordance with Rule 329.

5. All bowlers must have a 2020-2021 USBC sanction card or will be required to purchase a $4 youth standard sanction card. U20 will be required to purchase a $13 adult sanction card. Bowlers may enter the scholarship tournament only, or both scholarship tournament and Junior Gold Qualifier. A bowler cannot enter the Junior Gold Qualifier ONLY.

6. ****Due to this Junior Gold Qualifier being an event for NEXT SUMMER 2022, bowlers who choose to enter the Junior Gold Qualifier will be required to pay for a 2021-2022 Junior Gold Membership of $30 (U20/U18/U15) or $10 (U12) prior to bowling the qualifying squad. ALL JUNIOR GOLD MEMBERSHIPS MUST BE PAID ONLINE AT https://bowl.com/youthprocessing/

7. All tournament staff will be “SafeSport” compliant per USBC guidelines.

8. Prize Fund:

a. Scholarships payout ratio will be paid 1:4, based on participation. Prize list may be enhanced with additional funds from VBYBI, at their discretion.

b. The optional Handicap prize fund payout ratio will be 1:4, based on participation in the optional division.

c. Virginia Beach Youth Bowling, Inc., will offer additional scholarships, above and beyond the collected prize fund from entry fees.

d. All funds collected as “late fees/walk-ins” will be added to the prize fund.

e. Scholarship funds will be deposited into SMART Account #9942. Prize funds collected from entries will be returned 100%.

9. Format/Lane Conditions:

a. Each Saturday squad will be bowled on freshly oiled SPORT conditions. All qualifying on Saturday will be bowled on the same lane condition. On Sunday, lanes will be conditioned only once, at the beginning of Bracket/Stepladder competition. Sunday’s SPORT pattern will be different than Saturday’s. SPORT patterns will not be released until the end of tournament competition.

b. Qualifying Squads -Bowlers will bowl five (5) games, moving to a different pair after each game. Bowlers may follow each other immediately in order on the alternate lane. One lane courtesy will be observed. Upon the completion of all three squads on Saturday, the Top 8 in each of 12 divisions (ranked overall not within each squad) will advance to Sunday’s Bracket round. Sunday’s competition for any division that has less than four advancers will convert to a stepladder final.

c. ONLY SCRATCH SCORES WILL COUNT TOWARDS ADVANCEMENT TO THE DOUBLE ELIMINATION BRACKET OR STEPLADDER.

d. Double Elimination Brackets

• Each match will be 1 game – winner determined by total pin fall.
• The Final match of the bracket between the #1 seed in the winners’ bracket and the #1 seed of the losers’ bracket will be 1 game. If the #1 seed of the winners’ bracket loses the game, a second game will be bowled to ensure one of the bowlers has 2 losses.
• *In the event of a tie during match play bracket rounds, a 9th and 10th frame roll-off will determine the winner. This will continue until a winner is determined.

e. Single Elimination Stepladders (only for divisions with less than 4 advancers from Saturday)

- Each match will be 2 games – winner determined by 2-game total pin fall. Ties will be broken by a 9th and 10th frame roll-off.

10. Ball Registration Card:

a. Bowlers will be limited to 6 bowling balls for the entire weekend and will be required to complete a ball registration card prior to the start of competition on Saturday.

b. Bowlers should be prepared for random ball card checks throughout the tournament.

c. If the tournament staff finds a bowler in violation of this rule because of using an unregistered bowling ball, the bowler will be disqualified immediately, with no ability to re-enter and forfeiture of any entry fees and prizes earned.

11. Ball Surface Adjustments and Practice:

a. Adjustments can be made up until the first ball of scoring is thrown. Each bowler will be given 15 minutes of practice prior to each squad on Saturday and prior to match play on Sunday. Bowlers will not change lanes and are required to remain in their assigned area.

b. During the Match play rounds on Sunday, bowlers can make ball surface adjustments up until competition and scoring starts. Additional adjustments can be made ONLY in between separate bracket rounds, not during the games in each round.

c. If the tournament staff finds a bowler to be in violation of this rule, the surface-adjusted bowling ball will be removed from play and a zero score for 1 frame immediately following the violation. The illegal bowling ball will be returned to the bowler at the end of the squad.

12. Prize Fund:  VBYBI guarantees a minimum Prize Fund of $14,000. All prizes will be paid to the bowlers via SMART Account #9942.

13. Side Pots:  Any prizes earned from brackets, high game pots, eliminator, or other competitions run within the tournament will be deposited into the winners’ SMART accounts.

14. On-site fundraising: These funds will be used at the Tournament Director’s discretion to fund additional scholarships. Potential additional scholarship awards may include, but are not limited to:

a. High 10 game total, if two (2) squads are bowled on Saturday.

b. 300 games bowled during the tournament weekend.

c. Randomly drawn: each entrant will receive 1 entry for scholarships to be pulled randomly throughout the tournament

d. High Game and/or High Series for bowlers in each division who do not make match play.

15. Dress code – participants are required to adhere to the same attire as at the Junior Gold Championships. See the Competitor’s Guide for Junior Gold for complete guidelines.

a. For the safety of our athletes, Tournament Management requires all persons inside the building are required to wear a face mask over the nose and mouth at all times; except when actively eating or drinking.

b. Girls may wear: Jerseys and collared shirts with skirts, skorts, golf shorts or slacks of appropriate length. Any attire considered to be outside of the dress code, will require the bowler to change clothes to participate.

c. Boys may wear: Jerseys or collared shirts. Pants must be dress slacks.

d. Regardless of sex, no jeans, sweat clothes, spandex, leggings or t-shirts will be permitted.

16. Bowlers must check in at least forty-five (45) minutes prior to the squad start time.

17. Score corrections in the scoring system will be done by a tournament official. Each participant is responsible for recording his/her scores on the score sheet provided. Bowlers must sign their official score cards.

18. Only bowlers participating in this tournament and tournament staff will be allowed in the playing area during tournament play. Coaches, parents and spectators must stay in the spectator area of their bowler.

19. Any actions determined to be inconsiderate of fellow participants, spectators, and/or bowling center property will NOT be tolerated. The Tournament Director will make the determination and may remove a bowler from the competition if needed. If this occurs, no entry fees will be refunded or prizes awarded.

20. Any violation of these rules could result in suspension and/or disqualification from further participation in this tournament and/or USBC.

21. Junior Gold Qualifier:

a. Each squad on Saturday will constitute its own Qualifying event.

b. Advancement Ratio is 1:4 and the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary.

c. Bowlers may pay to re-enter subsequent squads to qualify, as necessary. Re-entering bowlers must also pay the cost to re-enter the scholarship tournament also.

d. Participants will pay an additional fee, determined by division, for entry into the 2021-2022 Junior Gold Qualifier aspect of the tournament.

● U20/U18 = $50 per bowler

● U15 = $37.50 per bowler

● U12 = $25 per bowler

e. Divisions for the Qualifier will be based on the bowler’s age as of 8/1/2021

f. Any shortages in the advancer budget will be paid from the Edwin Walters Memorial Scholarship Fund.

g. Only advancements will be earned in this aspect of the event. In the event of overage in prize fund occurs, overages will be awarded via SMART Account #9942.

22. Divisions:

a. U20 Boys/Girls/Merged: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary. Per USBC U20 bowlers cannot be combined with younger divisions. If there is less than 4 of either sex, males and females will be merged into a singular U20 division.

b. U18/U15/ Boys/Girls: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as applicable. If there are less than 4 bowlers of either sex, divisions will be merged by age and/or sex to maximize advancement.

c. U12 Boys and Girls: Qualifying will be on a 1:4 advancement ratio utilizing the greatest fraction thereof and EARP as necessary. If there are less than 4 bowlers of either sex, divisions will be merged by age and/or sex to maximize advancement.

d. In the event of a tie for the last qualifying spot, the bowler with the higher 5th game of the set will earn the Junior Gold Spot.

e. All advancement winners will be asked to sign an advancement acceptance form. This form states that winners will give adequate notice to the tournament officials, if the bowler cannot attend the Junior Gold Championships in Indianapolis, IN.

● ***If the bowler neglects to give notice, a substitution could not be placed and the spot goes un-used the bowler/bowler’s parent(s) agree to re-pay the scholarship fund.