Non-bowling League Secretary

[J Anderson]

Has anyone ever bowled in a league where the league secretary did not bowl?

Our league secretary from last season has said he wants to take a break from bowling, but is willing to”help the league out.” I’m not sure what this “help” is going to turnout to be. Whether he will do most of what he has done in the past, with a volunteer using a smart phone to text the recaps to him, or turning the weekly grunt work over to the center, with them tracking the averages and publishing the standings sheets each week, and our old secretary just dealing with the USBC stuff.

Will know more after tomorrow night’s meeting.

[GrumpyCatFace]

Either way, he’s taking half a grand out of the prize pool for all that ‘work’. ;)

[fordman1]

Many houses end up as league sec's. Most do a good job. Some don't. If the guy isn't going to be at the center every week and help with looking up averages, Certification and other sec. duties get a new one.
Grumpy where did you get the $500 number?

[ALazySavage]

Had this in one of my leagues, she actually did this 4 nights a week (only bowling in one league) - pretty much just a way to make a little more money on the side. Since she was a good secretary I didn't have an issue with it since her "secretary fees" were nothing out of the ordinary.

[GrumpyCatFace]

.
Grumpy where did you get the $500 number?

Standard fee, that I’ve seen. Some even higher.

I’ve really got to try that in my fantasy football league sometime :lol:

[fordman1]

Standard fee, that I’ve seen. Some even higher.

I’ve really got to try that in my fantasy football league sometime :lol:

It has been my experience that the sec./treas. gets a certain amount per bowler per week. Any where from .35 to .60 per bowler per week. I receive .40 per bowler per week. In my league that means $1600. Never had anyone who bowls in my 24 team 5 man league say I am over paid. Here is the duties.
2 weeks before the league starts hold a meeting and go over the rules.
Get and print average sheets ready for 1st night and print recap sheet.
Collect money for 186 bowlers and certified each.
Turned in League certification sheet to Local assn.
1st night I pass out pay envelopes to each team.
1st night I pass out a copy of the by-laws to each team capt.
1st night I pass out a copy of the league schedule to each capt.
1st night I pass out certification card to fill out. Collect the money about $2,000
Then after bowling collect the recap sheets and go in office and down load scores.
Next morning (Sat.) Get up and compare each and make corrections. usually H\C
Go over jackpot sheets to put on league sheet.
Once this is done go over the Cert. cards and see if money adds up.
Print league sheets on home computer. Cut and paste sheets to fit 8.5 x 14 sheet.
Monday morning go to center and print next weeks sheets. 80- 2 sided 8.5" x 14" sheets.
Then print recap sheets.
Then every week you have to fill out award sheets to send in.
See above what you do every week except only a few certification cards every week.
Twice a year you have to send in a full average sheet to the local for all bowlers even ones who quit.
My sheet has who won every pot and who would have won had they gotten in.
We have 18 different pots every week not counting brackets.
It has a hall of fame and a hall of shame.
I has who is celebrating birthdays this week.
It has my name and phone number and email address on the sheet.
Am I over paid or should I get a RAISE. Been offered and I turned it down.
As the treasurer I am responsible for making sure teams don't get behind in lineage.
and for properly handing out the $65,000 prize fund at the end of the year.
Including financial and distribution statements and much more stats.

[JasonNJ]

I've heard of one league in my center that has a secretary that doesn't bowl. I heard she is a witch though and I heard some sketchy things about her with the money.

I'm the secretary in my league and I get $7.75/bowler and $6.25/bowler for the treasurer for the season.

[fordman1]

JasonNJ you make more than I do should I get a raise?

[JasonNJ]

JasonNJ you make more than I do should I get a raise?

That's for your league voters to vote on. I volunteered to be secretary last year as the old secretary had to leave because of a job change so I just inherited whatever the salary was set at. I actually forgot this was a paid position until someone reminded me.

[JasonNJ]

Actually I think you make more, my salary is a flat $7.75\bowler for the season, not weekly. I have 48 bowlers and that's $372, if I were to get .35 cents per bowler per week for 36 weeks, that would be $604.

[vdubtx]

We have a huge league and we pay $0.75 per bowler per week to secretary. 38 5-person rosters equates to $5272.50 for our 37 week league. For the past several years, our secretary did not bowl and only sat in the settee area and collected the pay envelopes. He has since retired from these duties and a lady who does bowl in the league performs these duties.

Started a new league last night with 58 teams with 4 bowlers each, same pay $0.75 per bowler is over $6400.00 for the year. Not a bad side gig at all if you ask me. :cool:

[GrumpyCatFace]

Holy crap.

Now why wouldn’t I do that 7 days a week, and retire?

[fordman1]

Actually I think you make more, my salary is a flat $7.75\bowler for the season, not weekly. I have 48 bowlers and that's $372, if I were to get .35 cents per bowler per week for 36 weeks, that would be $604.
Are you only the Sec. or treasurer also? Together would be $14 I do both for $13.2. We only bowl 33 weeks. Hardly any leagues at our center bowl more than 33 weeks. Start after labor day and end in April.

[fordman1]

We have a huge league and we pay $0.75 per bowler per week to secretary. 38 5-person rosters equates to $5272.50 for our 37 week league. For the past several years, our secretary did not bowl and only sat in the settee area and collected the pay envelopes. He has since retired from these duties and a lady who does bowl in the league performs these duties.

Started a new league last night with 58 teams with 4 bowlers each, same pay $0.75 per bowler is over $6400.00 for the year. Not a bad side gig at all if you ask me. :cool:

That is an awful lot in my opinion. Does that also include the Treas. job? If not you are getting robbed.

[vdubtx]

That is an awful lot in my opinion. Does that also include the Treas. job? If not you are getting robbed.

All of the leagues in our area, Secr/Treas are one in the same person.

[fordman1]

That still sounds very excessive. Do they do anything more than just preparing and printing the sheets? I am charged $150 per year for using the centers printers, paper and recap sheets. I do everything at home and bring the finished product in and print it on their printer. They use an old fashioned printer for recaps it has a white copy then two copies one yellow and blue. White goes to the sec. the other 2 go to the captains.

[vdubtx]

That still sounds very excessive. Do they do anything more than just preparing and printing the sheets? I am charged $150 per year for using the centers printers, paper and recap sheets. I do everything at home and bring the finished product in and print it on their printer. They use an old fashioned printer for recaps it has a white copy then two copies one yellow and blue. White goes to the sec. the other 2 go to the captains.

Don't know. Guess it's different in each area.

[GrumpyCatFace]

It’s a holdover from the days of paper scoring, and manual accounting. We have spreadsheets for all that now.

No need whatsoever to pay that much.

[bowl1820]

A few years back on the mens league I was on, The secretary/treasurer while he bowled on this particular league. He was secretary/treasurer on some other leagues that he did not bowl on.

He was really well organized for the organizational meets, First night, payoffs, he even got personally bonded.

He'd have packets ready containing copies of the leagues rules, USbc manuals (back when they still had them), Check list of everything you needed to do on first night, who to makes the checks out too, the forms that needed to be filled out, pay envelopes etc. Ballots to vote on stuff when needed.

Payoffs every team got a packet with standing sheets, sheets for each players with their games shot, averages plus the team record for the season. Team payoff monies had the exact bills and change needed to pay each team member without you having to get change.

He kept good minutes, had the latest software. he was worth every penny of the sec./tea. fee he got.

A lot of people think the sec./trea. doesn't need to get paid, software does everything these days.

Well your wrong, there is more to being a sec./trea. than just punching numbers in on a laptop and printing a few sheets of paper. If you really think it's easy, next time your league is look for one, volunteer to do the job and do it for nothing and find out.

[GrumpyCatFace]

Sounds like 2 hours of typical office work, to be honest.

[JasonNJ]

Are you only the Sec. or treasurer also? Together would be $14 I do both for $13.2. We only bowl 33 weeks. Hardly any leagues at our center bowl more than 33 weeks. Start after labor day and end in April.

I'm just the secretary, we have another person who is treasurer and she been the treasure for years. My league was 35 weeks for a long time, we just voted to go 36 and that's because I pushed for it. Our local center gives the 36th week for free no lineage so to me it's a no brainer to go 36 weeks and before I became secretary no one knew that the 36th week would be free.

[JasonNJ]

That still sounds very excessive. Do they do anything more than just preparing and printing the sheets? I am charged $150 per year for using the centers printers, paper and recap sheets. I do everything at home and bring the finished product in and print it on their printer. They use an old fashioned printer for recaps it has a white copy then two copies one yellow and blue. White goes to the sec. the other 2 go to the captains.

I print my own recaps sheets. I buy 3 part NCR carbonless paper and print them. It's only 12 teams so not too bad. It's print, cut them with my sheet trimmer then use a little rubber cement on the edges so the paper stays together.

[JasonNJ]

A few years back on the mens league I was on, The secretary/treasurer while he bowled on this particular league. He was secretary/treasurer on some other leagues that he did not bowl on.

He was really well organized for the organizational meets, First night, payoffs, he even got personally bonded.

He'd have packets ready containing copies of the leagues rules, USbc manuals (back when they still had them), Check list of everything you needed to do on first night, who to makes the checks out too, the forms that needed to be filled out, pay envelopes etc. Ballots to vote on stuff when needed.

Payoffs every team got a packet with standing sheets, sheets for each players with their games shot, averages plus the team record for the season. Team payoff monies had the exact bills and change needed to pay each team member without you having to get change.

He kept good minutes, had the latest software. he was worth every penny of the sec./tea. fee he got.

A lot of people think the sec./trea. doesn't need to get paid, software does everything these days.

Well your wrong, there is more to being a sec./trea. than just punching numbers in on a laptop and printing a few sheets of paper. If you really think it's easy, next time your league is look for one, volunteer to do the job and do it for nothing and find out.

I'm kind of like that, I didn't create a checklist but yesterday was our first night for our league and I usually have every teams paperwork all paperclipped together. Their sanctions forms printed out so the majority of people just need to verify their information and sign it. I even bought binder clips for the recap sheets because my center doesn't have a table in front of the scoring machine so it can get awkward recording the scores.


I had a new bowler who I know bowls in about 4 or 5 leagues comment how nice it was to have everything organized and ready for his team and he loved the binder clip.

[JJKinGA]

The record keeping is about 2 hours per week. But you also have at least 30 minutes a week dealing with complaints. And then there is dealing with bowlers who just don't keep up with payments. And then there is the several hours to get the final prize payouts and check and double check to make sure everything is right. All this and you still have to focus when it is time to bowl. To get a volunteer to take this on for a measly $1 to $2 per team per weeks is a great deal. It usually about minimum wage to deal with all the unpleasant parts of bowling. All secretary/treasurers should be thanked regularly for making it so everyone else can have a fun night out competing.

[ALazySavage]

This is coming from the perspective of someone who will never do the secretary role - I helped out twice and have no desire to do it again. Another thing that isn't being said is if you use the bowling alley as your banking service (as they do in my leagues) you must complete this before you leave for the night. This typically means in larger leagues you spend very little time socializing with your team, focusing on bowling, etc. And from what I have seen, the concept of something as simple as $16 x 2 = $32 seems to be advanced math to where someone always messes up their envelope. With that they never know who on their team is short and the secretary seems to get swept into this. (let's not even start on the fun of the first week where no one seems to know who to make a check out to, they can't figure out if they are sanctioned, etc.)

[fordman1]

The new software is almost a necessity. I use BLS PRO it cost me $35 every year to update it. The center use the center edition of the same program. The sec. still has to go over every recap sheet. Go over every pay envelope. The money is left in the center safe and I don't get robbed. For forty cents a bowler per week. I do much more than I would normally be required to do. I enjoy it.

BACK ON TRACK "NO YOU DON'T HAVE TO BOWL IN A LEAGUE TO BE SECRETARY/TREASURER) :cool:

[chrono00]

I bowled in a league years ago where an older lady was secretary and didn’t bowl. Guess she was just a little too old to be blow to do it but it was still a night out. It’s also the only league I’ve ever been in where standings and average sheets were all handwritten lol

[J Anderson]

Thanks to all of you who responded. It may turn out to have been unnecessary, only four teams showed up Wednesday. The consensus was that we'll work on trying to get back up to 8 teams, but if we don't have that many by October we will fold.

[JerseyJim]

For years I bowled in a league with a secretary that went from bowling regularly to subbing a handful of times during the year. He is always willing to put in the work, so we never had another secretary. I think he's been the league secretary for over 30 years.