Tournament Director's Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/nlyouthbowling/posts/970958279703255After all day listening to the comments on facebook and watching the news this evening I decided that I needed to let everyone know the truth about what happened at St Pat's lanes on Saturday.
First of all some information to let you know prior to Provincials the situation and how it starts.
Many emails are sent to the Program Directors of all alleys before Provincials to advise of our dress codes for Provincials.
Riverdale lanes parents are given handouts when they register and start to advise of dress codes for Provincials, etc.
The parents of the Riverdale teams were advised of the dress code before Provincials and especially this parent Todd Powell. The Program Director had to arrange a shirt for Todd's child because the family never had a Riverdale shirt but did not advise he never had black pants.
Mr Todd Powell knew full aware of the dress code and sent his child to Provincials knowing that it was against the rules. There was another bowler on the team also with grey pants on who knew it was against our rules but sent their child anyway! What parent would do this? Was it to see if we would notice it or get away with it? Who knows but they knew it was against our rules. Why is NL YBC in the wrong here when parents knowingly broke the rules and we are the bad guys.
Saturday morning was the shift for the combos. The first shift finished and then the second shift of combos started around 11 a.m.. During the first game in the latter frames a coach and several parents brought it to my attention and complained that a team had players wearing faded jeans and grey pants. They asked why their players could not wear jeans and other pants too.
I then asked three to four more tournament supervisors to go over and look at the pants on the teams and advise me of their thoughts. All people involved agreed that the pants were not appropriate and I approached the Program Director, who was their coach, and advised her that the pants were illegal and I would have to get word from the other two Executive members who were at Holiday Lanes. Word never came through from those two members until the end of the second game. We could not stop the tournament and embarrass the kids when the tournament was already started. The Program Director actually told the other child when the kids first arrived that her pants were illegal and advise me of that when I gave her notice during the first game. However, the Program Director did not advise the parents of the problem or our Executive after we advised all Program Directors on Friday night that proper dress code was only accepted. That is the Program Director's and coach's responsibility and duty to police that to ensure all compliancy to our rules.
I spoke to the Program Director at the start of the third game and advised that their scores would be disqualified because that is what the other two members of our Executive said had to be done following our rules. I was not going to embarrass those kids by stopping play and making a scene. The Program Director should have taken her parents aside and explained to them after she had our ruling about the disqualification. Actually the Program Director should have advised the parents during the first game when I advised her that there could be repercussions from not following the rules.
Why parents would still send their kids to bowl in a Provincial tournament knowing they do not have the proper dress code followed doesn't make sense.
I did gather the parents after the shift was done to explain the situation to them because the Program Director/Coach did not inform the team or parents of our decision. It had to be done. While explaining the situation to the parents and family of the bowlers a lady stormed out of the room and obviously made a scene at the alley in taking her child Grayson crying out of the alley.
The other parents at the time understood the problem we were faced with understood why we had to make the decision we did. No one knows how hard this situation was to advise of the disqualification and to make this decision but it was made by the whole Executive and rules are rules.
Everyone is writing comments that are untrue and inappropriate due to not knowing the truth of the situation.
It had nothing to do with how the other teams were doing. The Program Director was put on notice during the first game not after the tournament was over or the third game.
Mr Todd Powell wasn't spoken to yet or the media because I have been just too busy with work and travelling back to Corner Brook. I ate supper 1:30 pm Saturday night after almost 14 hours at the alley. Mr Todd Powell called the alley at St Pat's and spoke to the Program Director Shawn Lewis. Mr Lewis would not continue to talk to him because he was cursing and raising his voice. I was running a tournament so I wasn't going to speak to him because I never had time and if he was speaking on the phone like that then I wasn't going to talk to him anyway. Once he had 24 to 48 hours to calm down I was planning to call him but he started all this media craze and did not deserve a call.
The rules that Mr Todd Powell has been posting everywhere for dress code is for the Provincial B tournament that is run on the east coast. That tournament allows you to wear what ever pants you want.
However for the Provincial A tournament for our elite bowlers, we have rules in place for dress codes and these rules have been in place decades. We have never had a parent willingly go against our rules and send their child to this tournament. We like to have our program and kids represented as a classy tournament for all parties involved and this shows true commitment through our bowlers for professionalism and self esteem! We had a similar problem in November during our Singles Provincials. There was no Program Director present so I had to inform the parents then.
People outside of bowling do not understand the policy on this but any coaches, Program Directors or kids that have gone through YBC know this rule and they all follow it faithfully.
Mr Powell admitted he knew about the pants so why did he send his child to the tournament if he never had the appropriate black pants or go out and buy a pair if he never had any. That is what all the other bowlers do that play in this tournament. They follow the rules. Also, if he never had pants and couldn't get his son a pair, why didn't he advise the Program Director of the problem to see if she could come up with a solution. A lot of things were done wrong here and NL YBC are not to blame for how this went down. It was all a matter of timing and being informed by your coach and Program Director during the tournament and parents not following the rules set out.
If we had let this situation go unaddressed the other parents, coaches and Program Directors would have lost faith in the YBC rules and broke the rules themselves in the future because they would have an example of nothing being done to address a problem. Our Executive was not going to set a precedence here by ignoring complaints from coaches or parents and other bowlers in attendance. If people can't understand that then that is not our problem. We were darned if we do or darned if we don't as they say!
However we had to follow our rules! Our rules are reviewed every September by our Executive and Program Directors. We have relaxed some of the rules on dress code but have kept the program professional with our changes.
You can't make a volunteer who is the messenger of the rules to be followed appear to be the bad guy. The Executive made a decision as a group and the coach/Program Director was made aware of this during the first game that there was a problem. That should have been communicated to her team and parents. Ignorance of a rule does not give someone the right over other bowlers who follow the rules. Imagine the scene if we stopped the tournament and stopped them from playing. That did not make sense. We only let them continue so they would not be embarrassed but in doing so we were in full communication with the coach/Program Director the whole time after we identified the illegal uniform. It was two kids on the same team not just one that never followed the rules in place.
I am a volunteer, alley owner, coach and more importantly a parent. Do you realize how hard this was for me to communicate this decision from the whole Executive! I will defend my character to anyone because I know how great my character is and anyone can verify that.
Mr Todd Powell has said some terrible things about me on CBC news without knowing all the facts. Everyone else is just jumping on his side because they only see me as disqualifying a team in order for a Corner Brook team to win. That is not the case!
The coach was informed during the first game of possible disqualification or some other repercussion but I had to wait for the full Executive to make their decision. Riverdale team was not leading at the time and scores were not a determining factor of making the proper decision governing the rules of the dress code.
The NL 5 pin Association has a similar rule enforced for their program and bowlers for dress codes during tournaments. Only difference is their alleys are fined and if it occurs the second time during a tournament then disqualification or some other action could be looked at then. We follow our own policies and we govern our own program. We are seperate from The NL5 Pin Bowlers Association and Bowl Canada. We govern provincially.
I couldn't apologize enough to the parents on Saturday so all my apologies are done. We did nothing wrong and our full Executive made a decision to enforce our rules that were tried to be ignored and challenged by individuals. These policies have been in place for decades but always adjusted to fit the times and give bowlers confidence, stature, self esteem and a sense of belonging to a great program.
There will be no more public apologies to Mr Todd Powell or their team. They need to search within their own program and see why this incident happened and stop blaming NL YBC and Gord Davis for something that should never had happened. Ignorance of a rule and making an Executive act on a policy is not the fault of the governing body. This situation should have been resolved between their team and Program director not defaming the name of a great volunteer who does all he can for bowling and puts the kid's first.
This team did deserve a medal if the rules were followed. They also would have won their medals if their parents sent their kids to the tournament properly dressed and if they had proper communication with their Program Director. I will personally discuss this matter with the Program Director for their alley and arrange a little ceremony for these kids to get recognized. This will be done on local level at their alley and I feel even worst for the child that was dressed properly. Communication leaves a lot to be desired and imporoved and all parents in the future need to ensure that rules are followed. These kids deserve some recognition for how great they bowled! It is not their fault their parents knowingly broke the rule and brought them to the tournament so they are not at fault for an adult's mistake. That is why we are holding a ceremony for them to get medals and be recognized within their own alley.
Just remember everything was communicated during the first game when the problem was identified and stopping the tournament and taking the kids off the lanes was not the right decision to do. This would have been a worse situation other than what the parents of the son created. Policies have to been followed and the policies were all communicated to these parents. Why were the kids sent to the tournament knowing they were breaking the rules? Blame should not be placed on The NL YBC Program.
This is a great program and many people would back me up in telling you that this is a classy program run by great volunteers. I would support these volunteers fully on our policies and what they do for our sport! They are second to none!
Yes this is a great program to have your kids be a part of. Any kid can play this sport. Lots of kids won't play sports because they feel they don't belong and they are bullied or just not good enough. Well bowling is not like that and we treat all kids equally. This is a sport that helps give your kids confidence, social skills, promotes teamwork and self esteem, not to mention allowing kids the opportunity to play in a sport that they determine their own destiny and chances to win to go to Nationals every year. This is one of the cheapest sports out there that give kids opportunities to grow and succeed in building their self esteem. Our coaches and Program Directors put a lot of time in this program for kids. These false accusations will never negatively affect what we do as volunteers for them! Bowling is a sport for life and we acknowledge our bowlers and volunteers/coaches for their accomplishments to the best of our ability.
I hope this satisfies all questions about our Program and our support for our kids and volunteers. Not too many programs out there run as effectively as NL YBC. We have a great Executive who do wonderful things for our program, kids and volunteers.
Social media is a bad place to easily post your thoughts and accusations without knowing all the pertinent and true information.
People should find out all the true information before making themselves look so bad with their unsupported comments.
The harassment, bullying and personal attacks on my myself, my family, our characters and our business has been totally unfounded and all comments will be looked at legally to see if they warrant further action so facebook users should look at their comments to ensure they are okay. My name has been slandered on the television with the news and on facebook and all these comments will be looked at legally for further repercussions and especially if they continue. I am sure once everyone reads the truth about what happened Saturday they will understand but I am sure they will not apologize for their stupid behaviour and wrongful accusations. You should be careful of what you put on facebook and what you say in the news!
I am asking all people to share this on your facebook so everyone can see how this unfortunate situation got blown out of proportion by an irate parent who never had all the correct information and dragged a volunteer's name through the dirt for just not following a policy after they were told about it and ignored it making someone make a negative decision against them. In turn, damaged their own children's chances of participation and belonging in a sport.
Now Mr Todd Powell can go public and apologize for how he handled this situation. Blame is on the parents and not adhering and listening to their own Program Director. All information should have been communicated to the parents and the team by the Program Director as soon as they knew there was a problem during the first game.
This situation would make volunteers think a second time about being a volunteer or looking at becoming one. Volunteers are too precious and not thanked enough in many cases for all they do and this needs to change.
