How to ask for old equipment?

[MajorPhoenix]

I'm a high school coach, and a lot of my kids want to bowl, but can't get past the price point on a lot of the gear. How do I ask for gently used equipment without sounding like I need a handout?

[RobLV1]

Visit the local pro shops in your area, and tell them the situation. I'm sure someone will be willing to help.

[BowlingBoards.com]

I'm a high school coach, and a lot of my kids want to bowl, but can't get past the price point on a lot of the gear. How do I ask for gently used equipment without sounding like I need a handout?

bowlingball.com & Pyramid Bowling have a special pricing list for school teams. Please email support@bowlingball.com for more information.

[Amyers]

Here locally at least the high school teams are pretty big business for the alleys between practice fees and tournaments held their and at least here their is a strong relationship between the alley and the PSO if they aren't one and the same so they tend to really support the high school bowlers. They generally ask for the regular patrons to donate their old unused equipment which the PSO plugs and re-drills for the newcomer high school kids for $25. it gets the kids in the door and a decent percentage get hooked and buy new equipment latter that the house profits on.

[MajorPhoenix]

Here locally at least the high school teams are pretty big business for the alleys between practice fees and tournaments held their and at least here their is a strong relationship between the alley and the PSO if they aren't one and the same so they tend to really support the high school bowlers. They generally ask for the regular patrons to donate their old unused equipment which the PSO plugs and re-drills for the newcomer high school kids for $25. it gets the kids in the door and a decent percentage get hooked and buy new equipment latter that the house profits on.

That's a pretty good deal. I've talked to our PSO, and he said that he tries to get in older equipment, but it's really hard to beat the teams that are essentially decked out with all new equipment.

[Amyers]

That's a pretty good deal. I've talked to our PSO, and he said that he tries to get in older equipment, but it's really hard to beat the teams that are essentially decked out with all new equipment.

My guess would be those teams decked out with new equipment are most likely more experienced bowlers that what you have with your current program. As you build your program and your bowlers become more serious, experienced, and committed you will see your scores improve and probably the equipment your bowlers are using improve. If your current equipment is fitted correctly your not going to see big score differences between balls that are a few years old and brand new stuff. As your bowlers progress they will add equipment that fits their game over time the trick is getting them initially interested.

At least here I'm not aware of any bowling teams who get more than minimal sponsorships that are used for buying clothes and helping with travel expenses. There are no teams helping with equipment expenses beyond a minor discount from the shops maybe your area is different than mine but here if you see a team that is sporting newer bowling equipment it's because the kids are asking and the parents are buying it for them. From what I see the more serious of the high school kids bowl in our local youth league and our youth tournaments and have multiple balls anyway. Equipment issues are usually that youth that just starts that year and the parents aren't willing to spend yet but truthfully those bowlers aren't going to be great no matter what ball they are using. If they stick around for a year or two most parents loosen up with purchasing at least some equipment bowling equipment is much less than the equipment for most other sports.