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PART 2 OF 3 USBC APPROVAL FAQ | MORE DISCREPANCIES? & FAILED TO CATCH WOLVERINE AT USBC OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS?
Chris Beans breaks down the first section of the recently released USBC APPROVAL FAQ! Join the discussion and lets continue the conversation!
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Chris Beans breaks down the letter from USBC Executive Director and reviews discrepancies in the released FAQ. Join the discussion and lets continue the conversation!
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The United States Bowling Congress and Storm Products have agreed on a national tournament exclusion rule and ball exchange program for six Storm Products manufactured ball models. The agreement comes after USBC identified the models having a percentage of balls produced below USBC minimum 73D hardness specification.
ARLINGTON, Texas –
USBC’s investigation showed a percentage of these ball models measured below the USBC-required hardness level of the approval samples submitted by Storm. Storm collaborated with USBC after being notified of this testing.
The affected models include:
- Storm Phaze 4
- Storm Electrify Solid
- Storm Trend 2
- 900 Global Altered Reality
- 900 Global Wolverine
- Roto Grip UFO Alert
Effective March 30, 2022, these balls models are prohibited from use in USBC national tournaments, including, but not limited to, the USBC Masters, U.S. Open, USBC Open Championships, USBC Women’s Championships, all PWBA Tour events, USBC Junior Gold and Youth Open Championships, USBC Intercollegiate Championships, USBC Team USA Trials, USBC Senior Masters and USBC Senior Queens.
Essentially, this mostly impacts the people who bowl the USBC Open Championships, USBC Women’s Championships and USBC Junior Gold & Youth Open. Only a small percentage of players compete in the other events like the USBC Masters and Team USA trials.
These ball models remain USBC approved. Each USBC competition, whether tournament or league, has the option to adopt USBC’s national tournament rule prohibiting use of these balls or to continue to allow their use.
STATE, CITY & LOCAL tournaments and events may adopt the rule but I would imagine most to not adopt the rule due to hurting potential entries from members.
Can I continue to use my bowling balls in league?
YES! Also any honor score that has been shot will be allowed and all future awards will also be allowed using the bowling balls in question.
SANCTIONED LEAGUES can not adopt any rule changes without 100% written consent of every team captain USBC RULE 102C #2 Page 28. Moving forward also leagues can choose to allow or disallow before the start of new leagues to allow or disallow these bowling balls.
What if I purchased these bowling balls to use in the USBC National events? How do I exchange them?
Storm will offer owners of the affected balls the option to exchange their balls for a new product. Information about the exchange program will be published later this week on stormbowling.com.
Can I still purchase these bowling balls and use them if this rule does not affect me?
YES – Pro shops and online retailers with inventory can sell them until inventory is gone but as part of the agreement, Storm Products will discontinue sales of the affected balls. Storm will not be making any new ones for sale so the supply will be limited.
USBC has concluded its investigation and will not be taking action on additional balls related to this production issue.
“Storm appreciates USBC working with us on this agreement, so we can put the issue behind us and focus on our customers,”
Storm Products President Dave Symes said. “Customer satisfaction has always been our top priority, and we will take care of our customers.”
This agreement does not change the status of the Storm Spectre. The Spectre remains unapproved and on USBC’s non-conforming ball list.
Go to BOWL.com/EquipAndSpecs to learn more about the equipment specifications.
Missing the data is synonymous with how the nation handled COVID – USBC presenting only a summary of the findings and not specifics hides relevant information. Statistically, a single ball could conceivably skew the data below the average. Now, I doubt that is the case, but it is a significant issue to have the data. With COVID, we had raw numbers but had very little data about the people only to learn that COVID is most likely a co-morbidity factor. Missing relevant data prevents good governance and hinders any attempt to adhere to specifications or warnings.
I read where Storm is not honoring an exchange for The Spectre ! I just had it drilled and had bought one a week or two before USBC announced the Spectre unapproved. I have dealt with Storm Products for many years and the ball I chose to replace it, has been unapproved. So now what ? I hadn’t had time to even get use to it, only 3 games on it. What is one to do. What a loss of money. Maybe I should just take the loss and move to another Company like Hammer or Brunswick, or something like that. I guess were screwed either way, what a waste of money. They weren’t exactly cheap and I was excited when I finally got my Specter from back order and now I lose, as have many others, I guess you can’t “cry over spilled milk” ! It’s heartbreaking, Storm will not honor their mistakes.