kel2695

I would personally like to congratulate Michael on his performance this year. In fact, it makes me proud to see how far our sport has come since the State Tournament began. Michael you are truly an amazing talent and it has been a pleasure to watch you progress over the course of the last four years. You are a credit to your school, your coach , your parents and most importantly yourself. You have a great future ahead of you and there is no doubt that you were the very best this year. You epitomise the very reason i love our sport so much. Congratulations and good luck in the future, kelly

The Tennessee Bowling Proprietors Association is proud to announce the following finalists in the Mr/Miss Bowler of the Year Award. The selection committee had many outstanding athletes nominated in this inaugural year and the selection of three finalists was not an easy task. The finalists will be invited to a special event for all bowlers on Thursday January 24th at 6 p.m. at the Smyrna Town Center in Smyrna Tennessee. Again thanks to all the nominating coaches and congratulations to all of the nominated atheletes. All finalists are listed in no paricular order Division I Boys Alex Lain(Soddy Daisy), Nick Clevers(White Station) and Michael Poirier(Columbia Central) Division I Girls Allie Chase(Hixon), Megan Alcott(Hardin County) and Andrea Higgins (Hendersonville) Division II Boys Taylor Smith(McCallie), Rand Woodson (Montgomery Bell Academy) and Andrew Madsen(Christian Brothers) Division II Girls Emmy Welsh (Girls Preparatory School), Hayley Pionk (Pope John Paul II) and Yuni Graham (St. Mary's)

Hello everyone! Just a reminder to all coaches that the Mr/Miss Bowling nominations must be turned in by Wednesday January 9th. Nomination forms were emailed to all coaches a few weeks ago. If your coach did not recieve one or has questions they can email me at kellymarlin@bellsouth.net . Happy New Year Kelly

Nomination forms have been emailed to all coaches for the Bowler Of The Year. If you have not received a letter and nomination form please let me know. Deadline is January 10th.

I completely understand your frustration at the seating for the tournament and we have tried different options but have yet to find a great solution. We have brought in bleachers and placed them down on lanes 1&2 but nobody sat in them. We also tried putting a few on the concourse but it creates a real bottleneck and potential fire evacuation hazzard. The only solution other than what we currently employ would involve removing our bars behind the settee and placing bleachers there but unfortunately that is very very time consuming and we do not have the storage space at our facility.The only other option would be to break the tournament up more so that there are fewer people at the center at one time. In a related note...There are 2 hotels offering special rates for the tournament... the sleep in is offering a $69 rate and a $75 rate for suites. The Hilton Garden( a fantastic hotel with 32" FLATSCREEN HD tv's is offering a rate of $99.If anyone needs help with reservations i would be happy to help. Contact the center at 615-355-0501. Kelly

Thank you for those kind words! Smyrna Bowling Center and TSSAA are working hand in hand to try and maximize your tournament experience. Any suggestions are always welcomed and i hope to see you and your team at the tournament. Kelly

Hello everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed their season so far. There are some exciting things being planned for this year's State Tournament that i thought i would share with everyone. 1. There will be a special event on Thursday night of the Tournament which will be open to all participants. It will include refreshments, give aways and the presentation of the awards for the High School Bowlers of the year. The idea is to allow all the competitors a chance to meet in a non competitive environment and have fun. details to come soon! 2. The announcement of the Mister an Misses Bowlers of the year. Sponsored by BPAA these athletes will be nominated by coaches from opposing teams and will be honored at the State Tournament. TSSAA will soon send out nomination instructions to all coaches. This will be a very prestigious award on par with the Mr Football award. Our goal is to make your State Tournament the most memorable experience possible. Good luck to all in the playoffs and we hope to see you in January.

The major problem with having singles on a seperate weekend is the added travel time and expenses the teams from East andWest Tennessee would incur. The total number of games bowled between the 2 competitions is 23 maximum. This is spread across 3 days or about 8 games a day. I really would like the bowlers input as to whether this is really to much. The Junior Gold National Tournament has a week of intense bowling with many games bowled. qualifying 18 games The semifinalists bowl 12 additional games to determine the top 16 males and top 16 females who compete in the finals. The 32 finalists bowl 16 games of round-robin match play to determine the top five males and top five females who earn automatic berths on Junior Team USA . I do see both sides and i certainly want everyone to bowl their best i just think you have to consider those teams at the far ends of the state. One other note...It's amazing to see how the coverage in the media has increased over the last few years. I sat in the tournament office and listened to the media guys talk about how close the matches were, how exciting the competition was and how awesome the bowlers were and i have to shake my head. It has been a long road to get to where we are now . You athletes have successfully pulled bowling into the fringes of the mainstream sports world in our state. You are the future of our sport and from my perspective our future is very bright. I urge each and every one of you to contact your local media and thank them for any coverage ofHigh School Bowling. In Nashville Tom Kreager has been paramount in the coverage of bowling at the Tennessean Newspaper. I called the Sports Department and thanked them for their coverage and i urge all local bowlers, coaches and parents to do the same. Look for a huge bowling spread in the paper over the next few days. Thanks, kelly

First let me say that each year it is a pleasure having everyone at Smyrna Bowling Center. The class of the players, coaches and participants far exceed anything i have seen at other sporting venues. I would personally like to thank the members and parents of the Smyrna Bowling team for their help each and every year in the setup and cleanup of our center. Congratulations to everyone who made the State Tournament in both the Singles and Team Competition. To answer some of the questions about the tournament... We have tried bleachers in previous years but ones placed on the end lanes were rarely used and ones placed on the concourse created a terrible traffic flow problem. Parking was very tight this year and it is a testament to the growing popularity of our sport and the addition of a Singles competition. We had staff on the street on Friday for awhile to help direct cars into the field but i agree next year we need to have signs posted for additional parking. If anyone has any other ideas or comments i will be glad to pass them on to the TSSAA and the owners of the Smyrna Bowling Center. Thanks to all for another wonderful year and i hope to see everyone back next year! Kelly Marlin