Proposed coaching flyer

[billf]

Take a look and give any opinions and suggestions please.

[AngeloPD]

flyer looks good bill! my only suggestion is you should edit the picture and blur out your phone number. someone from the internet might bother you.

[bowl1820]

How about this bill

652

[billf]

I like that one Bowl. Angelo, I'm not worried about anybody on here calling me.

[jimlc2001]

Both look good. Maybe add a bowling picture and a touch of color in the back ground?

[billf]

The flyers are going to be printed on papers of different colors. I thought of a picture but want it to fit on one sheet of paper. That way the kids or parents won't lose half of it. We are having trouble filling the bumper league and the after school club so I'm hoping free lessons will encourage some who would like to bowl to try.

I haven't talked to the alley owner about this yet as he went away for the weekend but I'm hoping where I'm giving my time to the kids he will give some lane time. He has more to gain from this than I do.

[J Anderson]

I think Bowl's version is a bit more eye-catching. I think I'd walk by your original without noticing it.

My only criticism is the free coaching. I know this is the pot calling the kettle black, since all the coaching that I do is as a volunteer. You have taken the next step. You have spent hundreds of dollars and many hours of your time getting the bronze certification. You have set up your paid coaching as a business. You are a professional coach. Do not devalue your services by just giving them away. I do realize that to get started you have to promote yourself. From what you have written in other posts your rates seem reasonable for your area. If you have to give something away, tie it to a purchase. Like one free lesson when you pay for two. Or try to cut a deal with the bowling center for your students to get a couple free practice games.
One of the first things that my friend Dave learned when he went into business for himself was not to give free estimates. He was spending hours looking at jobs and writing free estimates and then not getting most of the jobs. He found out that these people were using his estimates to get FHA loans and then doing the work themselves and putting the money that would have been Dave's labor and profit toward buying something that they would not have qualified for a loan on, or they would have had to pay much higher interest on. After he started charging for estimates, a charge that went toward the project if he was given the job, he started closing a higher percentage sales and was still compensated for most of his time on the losing bids.

[billf]

John, I completely understand where you are coming from. I want to get the kids hooked and hopefully they will be paying customers years down the road. As for the adults, most centers have an on-site pro shop and get a free lesson with a ball purchase. We don't have a pro shop and only two certified coaches in the county. I want more bowlers, plain and simple. How can we get new bowlers, kids or adult, if there isn't anyone willing to help them learn the basics? I really want the newer bowlers. Once they come, get a lesson (or 3), see some improvement, I will have their trust. Then when they get tired of wherever they plateaued at, hopefully they will pay. The younger kids (under 12), I figure the lesson won't last over 30 minutes. That's why I included more lessons. Their attention spans just won't absorb more than that. As a volunteer I'm sure you share my frustration of trying to help 60 kids WHILE they are bowling a league. Our place is real small so it's hard to find a spot to show them stuff. I will think about what I could attach to a charge though.

[J Anderson]

Frustration is a good word for it, even though if all the coaches show up we've got 1 coach for every 8 to 12 kids. By the time the younger kids get to the third game they're tired and have no attention span left. Some of the other coaches run a clinic from when the youth league finishes til noon. They run a second clinic Wednesday afternoon that is free to the kids in the league.

[billf]

8-12 kids? That would be one coach for each pair of lanes. I could only dream of such help. Trying to watch all the kids across twelve lanes is a project. Add the kids not bowling, parents, grandparents, etc all coming up to ask questions or tell me to watch their kid and I'm missing more than I like. I thought of doing clinics but am wary that they would have too varied of an ability level to really benefit them all.

[MisterSinister]

Question for you Bill. Can you coach thumbless, or two handed bowlers? If you can, do you coach without bias? Just curious because I don't know of a lot of coaches who can coach those styles, or play it down the middle. As much as some people hate it, those styles (especially two handed) aren't going away. I know of three or four kids that want to learn to bowl, and they all want to bowl two handed. I think anyone coaching these days should learn more about those styles, and teach it without bias. If you can, maybe include that in your flyer, let the kids know you support them no matter what, and can help them.

[billf]

I do. Two of the boys on the high school team bowl 2-handed and come to me. My brother-in-law bowls thumbless and I coach him. I did teach him to bowl with thumb also just to give him another way to bowl when his wrist hurts. I became a coach to help the kids and did so knowing the new styles would be what they want to learn. The info on these styles is limited but also growing. Jason Belmonte has been working with USBC to develop a two-handed coaching program. I want more bowlers and don't care how the delivery it as long as they have fun.

Thank you, by the way, I will include that in the revised flyer.

[MisterSinister]

Good for you, it's good to see someone letting bowlers be bowlers no matter what style they use. I've been two finger bowling for a few years, and I want to learn two handed as well. I can also use my thumb, and I'm pretty good at that, but I just like thumbless better.