Women's Bowling

[ST_Lawson]

Well, we're adding Women's Bowling, so I did a bit of research on it. The OVC doesn't sponsor women's bowling as a sport. There are a few conferences that do have bowling, as well as the possibility of going independent. In NCAA Women's Bowling, Div I, II, and III all compete together, and the "powerhouse" programs are all across the divisions...Nebraska, Vanderbilt, McKendree, Stephen F. Austin. McKendree, just down the road a bit from us, won NCAA national championships in 2017 and 2022 and are currently ranked #1 in the country: https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/bowling/n ... owling-rpi

Conference-wise, I don't believe we are allowed to join a lower-division conference (GLVC has bowling), and the closest DI conference would be the Southland Bowling League (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Bowling_League), but most of the teams are in the Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana area, plus Valparaiso (IN), Vanderbilt (TN), and Youngstown State.

Looking at who else has bowling in the area, I think we might be best-off going independent, but mostly playing lower division teams, with occasional matchups with some of the Southland Bowling teams. Teams in the DII GLVC that have bowling are: Lewis University (Romeoville, IL), Maryville University (St. Louis), McKendree (Lebanon, IL), Quincy University, Upper Iowa (Fayette, IA), Central Missouri (Warrensburg, MO), and Newman University (Wichita, KS). The DIII College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin also has bowling at Aurora, Illinois Wesleyan, North Central College, Augustana College, Elmhurst University, Carthage (WI), Marian (WI), and Carroll (WI).
Wisconsin-Whitewater and Minnesota State both compete as independents.

So, there's a TON of schools within a few hours of us that have bowling. Here's McKendree's schedule from this last season (started in late October, ran through late November, picked up again in early January and ran through late April): https://mckbearcats.com/sports/womens-bowling/schedule
And here's Quincy University's: https://quhawks.com/sports/womens-bowling/schedule
 
I'd imagine they'll probably play local "classics" (small tournaments) at College City Bowl, but I wonder if they may try to resurrect the bowling alley in the Union at some point down the road.
 

[meganeck]

Any idea how many are usually on a team and how many scholarships, if any they will have to give out.

[leatherneckcountry]

Any idea if the lanes are still in the union or did they take them completely out.

[ST_Lawson]

Any idea if the lanes are still in the union or did they take them completely out.

 

I thought I heard a while back that they're still there, but it's kinda a mess. It would need some serious work to get back to usable shape...probably have to completely replace any of the lanes they want to have. Structurally it might be ok since it is still in a working/usable building, and they can't let things like load-bearing walls crumble. It'd be nice to have the bowling alley back...even if it's just like half as many lanes as it used to be.

[sealhall74]

Vanderbilt won the natty this year.  They have a four lane practice facility on campus and play their matches at different loccation not too far from campus.  Having the practice facility on campus would be ideal for recruiting.

https://vucommodores.com/facilities/rec ... ing-lanes/

[ST_Lawson]

Vanderbilt won the natty this year.  They have a four lane practice facility on campus and play their matches at different loccation not too far from campus.  Having the practice facility on campus would be ideal for recruiting.

https://vucommodores.com/facilities/rec ... ing-lanes/

 

Yeah, they just have a little 4-lane facility, but they do open it up to the public in the evenings. I don't remember how many lanes were in the bowling alley in the union, but it was a lot more than that...10...12 maybe?

[wiu712]

The University Union has seen 2 different bowling centers in its existence.

The first one was an 8-lane bowling center in the basement of the original 1962 Union building. The Student Organization Center occupies that space now.

When the 1968 addition was put on to the east side of the original Union, the bowling center was moved to the basement of the addition and became a 16-lane bowling center.

The expanded bowling center, the Bookstore, the Grand Ballroom, and the Hotel were all added on to the original 1962 Union as a result of the 1968 addition.

 

[wiu712]

A recent Feasibility Study for the University Union had suggested moving the Bowling Center back to its original location:  the basement of the 1962 University Union building.

That way the current Bowling Center space in the basement of the 1968 University Union addition could be converted into space for other activities.

So far no action has been taken to implement that change.

 
 
 
 
 

[sealhall74]

A recent Feasibility Study for the University Union had suggested moving the Bowling Center back to its original location:  the basement of the 1962 University Union building.

That way the current Bowling Center space in the basement of the 1968 University Union addition could be converted into space for other activities.

So far no action has been taken to implement that change.

 
 
 
 
 

 

Is that the space that was occupied by the billiards room at one time.  That was a pretty good size area.
 

[ST_Lawson]

A recent Feasibility Study for the University Union had suggested moving the Bowling Center back to its original location:  the basement of the 1962 University Union building.

That way the current Bowling Center space in the basement of the 1968 University Union addition could be converted into space for other activities.

So far no action has been taken to implement that change.

 
 
 
 
 

 

Is that the space that was occupied by the billiards room at one time.  That was a pretty good size area.
 

If it’s the student organization center, then I think it’d be the room further back. Down the hall past the old billiards room and to the right. I don’t know that for sure though, I only remember that room as a riverboat-themed lounge before they turned it into the student organization center.


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