Adult league participation down in some sports, steady in others
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MaryKay Tabbert with the Premier Vending team lines up a shot during a warm-up period before bowling league play.
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Mike Laack, left, of the Premier Vending team and Tim Burman of the Bergendal Septic Service team roll during bowling league play.
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Sue Johnson takes aim during a dart tournament at the Wolf's Den in Janesville.
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Bobi Abraham of Hammy's Team retrieves her darts during a dart tournament at The Wolf's Den.
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Dustin Carlsson with Bobbleheads Top Gun team throws some practice darts during a darts tournament at The Wolf's Den.
JANESVILLE — It used to be that people cemented relationships at weekly bowling.
Now, we make friends through the Internet.
That's one of the reasons that numbers are down in adult recreation leagues such as bowling, golf, darts and pool in Janesville and across the nation.
"Information suggests that there are some activities that have actually gained participants, but in general there is a decline," said Karen L. Barak, associate professor of health, physical education, recreation and coaching at UW-Whitewater.
"This is not just a U.S. situation. There have been papers out of England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand making the same report," she said.
It's been going on for about a decade.
"The number of bowlers has drastically dropped in the past 10 years," said Rebekah Wiser, manager of the South Central Wisconsin U.S. Bowling Congress Association, which has leagues in Janesville, Brodhead, Albany, Evansville, Edgerton and Milton.
Nearly 1,000 fewer men and another 1,000 fewer women bowl on leagues this season compared to 12 years ago, she said.
"We knew the numbers would be way down (this season) with all the businesses closing," Wiser said.
But bowling participation for both men and women has dropped consistently the past four years, Wiser's association records show.
"I guess it's just the rollercoaster of the sport, and I don't see it going back up," she said.
Softball
Janesville city softball leagues experienced their first loss of participants in 2001, when player numbers dropped by nearly 3,000. Although participation rose by about 1,600 the next year, it dropped again in 2003 and has continued dropping every year since.
In 2008, Janesville city leagues had 16,641 participants, said Cullen Slapak of Janesville's Leisure Services.
"I don't have a good feel for the trend. I have heard adult softball numbers have decreased nationwide, but I don't have any concrete numbers," Slapak said.
With the economy the way it is, Slapak said leisure services could see another decrease in 2009, "especially if area businesses don't sponsor teams and players have to come up with the money themselves."
On the other hand, he said, "there could be an increase because people are unemployed and looking for activities to stay busy."
Pool, dart and golf leagues in Janesville are faring better.
Darts
Michelle Finn plays on a dart league because it's fun, it's cheap and it's a recreational activity she enjoys sharing with her husband.
"It's just good, fun competition," the 38-year-old Janesville woman said.
The number of dart leagues in Janesville this year held steady at 77. That's up over 2007 and 2006, said Julie Bangs of Bullseye, Inc., Madison, which oversees dart leagues from Janesville to Beaver Dam.
"Surprisingly, they've stayed the same in Janesville," she said. "We were expecting the number to be down because of what's been happening in Janesville."
Bangs said the consistency in the number of leagues here is a reflection of the quality of dart league players in Janesville.
"Some of the best players in the world play out of Janesville," she said.
Pool
The number of teams in Janesville pool leagues rose last year and every year but one over the last eight years, said Dave Hakes of Allied Games, Beloit.
Allied Games runs Milton dart and pool leagues, Beloit pool and dart leagues and the Janesville Billiard League. The leagues include 243 pool teams and 100 dart teams.
"The downside is, we got our first call in January saying a team could not play anymore. Most of the team had lost their jobs and could not afford the night out," Hakes said.
Golf
The number of players at Riverside and Blackhawk golf courses in Janesville has been "fairly steady within the last five years," said Tom Tautges, general manager.
Since 2006, six leagues have been at Blackhawk and, since 2004, nine leagues at Riverside, Tautges said.
The only drop, Tautges said, was the number of golfers at Blackhawk between 2006 and 2007, when the number dropped from 330 to 285. He said that was the result of league players who lost their jobs at Gilman Engineering.
LEAGUE REQUIREMENTS
The cost, equipment and season length varies for adult recreational leagues. Here are some local examples:
Bowling
Cost: $10 to $15 a week, including a prize fee.
Equipment: Ball and shoes. House balls are free. Those who buy their own ball can spend between $65 and $200. Shoe rentals average $2 per use but most league bowlers buy their own to save money.
Season: 33 weeks for weekly leagues; 16 weeks for every-other-week leagues.
Softball
Cost: $490 for each team of 20.
Equipment: Bat, glove and spikes.
Season: Fourteen games.
Pool
Cost: $5 per player per night for the prize fund plus the cost of the game.
Equipment: The game operator, usually a local tavern, provides the table, pool stick and chalk. Most players buy their own pool sticks that cost from $50 to $500.
Season: Typically last week in September through March, when tournament play begins.
Darts
Cost: About $7.75 each night of league play for 17 games.
Equipment: Most people buy their own set of darts that can start as low as $10.
Season: October through April.
Golf
Cost: Around $100 per person for a season of league play, depending on the league.
Equipment: Set of clubs that can be rented for between $10 and $15 for nine holes. Starter sets sell for $150 for woods and irons with an added cost for the bag.
Season: Starts at the end of April or early May and ends from mid-September to early October.
Feb 18, 2009 at 10:48 p.m.
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pecker- wow that was clever, sorry for not clarifying, there are teams that are down players and looking for more as subs and full time players.
Feb 18, 2009 at 10:30 p.m.
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Gotta go look around and talk to people, there are alot of teams that are short players.
Synergy08, can I play with them even if I am tall?
Feb 18, 2009 at 10 p.m.
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One of the facts that should have been brought out in the story is that only bowling, golf and softball give you any exercise. Plus many of the bowlers are also golfers, softball players as well as dart and pool participants. As a victim of Fibromyalgia, bowling gives me the easy exercise I need to keep my body parts working without too many creaks. Bowling has a lot of men and women in their 80's and even 90's participating with their doctors blessings.
Feb 18, 2009 at 5:27 p.m.
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CLIQUES? Come on.....what are you in high school and feeling left out? There are cliques everywhere, at every stage of our lives, as adults we should be able to process that, as children, we are not able to. The thing you need to remember is, you need to find YOUR clique. Whether it be the 12 pk drinking grit hanging cowboy boot scuffin' one, or the God Loving Church one, or the competitive freak winner driven one. These cliques you are referring to are idividual preferences, and I am quite certain you can find just as many bowlers who cuss like a sailor as ones who would never eat a piece of red meat or mutter a word other than ones filled with love. As well with any other activity you may desire to be involved in. Stereotyping is very easy to do, and we all do it, but if something is a true passion, I am certian a person can find others of the same kind.
Feb 18, 2009 at 3:51 p.m.
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dado- Leisure Services has a sheet you can put your name on and they will put you in contact with teams looking for guys or girls. Also not sure if you are a church person but most churchs have a team in the "church" leagues, I believe there are 2 nights that have a church league. If you really want to play ball, you could. Gotta go look around and talk to people, there are alot of teams that are short players.
Feb 18, 2009 at 7:09 a.m.
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A clique? I have played at Dawson for 20 plus years and haven't seen any 'cliques". Our leagues are always short a team or two. Pick a night sign up and come on down.
Feb 17, 2009 at 9:48 p.m.
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Just a thought dado4...why don't you take the initiative and get a team of "free agents" together?
Feb 17, 2009 at 9:05 p.m.
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An issue that I have always had with any of the softball leagues is that they are very closed and almost a clique. I love sports and would love to play, but last time I checked there were not any "free agent" teams.
Feb 17, 2009 at 7:58 p.m.
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Ummmm, I am leaning towards the fact that people can't AFFORD to go out and do as many activities as before. Must have been a slow news day...this is elementary logic in my book.
Feb 17, 2009 at 7:21 p.m.
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rusty...just curious about you analogy of "grets and 12 pack"
Sooo...which "sport's" athletes do not involve said "gret and 12 packs"?
Would you care to include "roids" and "weed" in your condemnation?
Or maybe "vicodin"?
Get some WD-40... your logic is rusty too.
Feb 17, 2009 at 6:44 p.m.
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Janesville can probably expect even less "participants" in softball this year as well. After raising the cost and decreasing the number of games last season, I know of at least 3 teams heading to Milton, and that's just guys I know. Dawson is a mess when it's wet (the outfield is like a swamp), there's only 1 umpire in Janesville vs. 2 in Milton, and the leagues in Milton seem to be a lot more organized. I won't be bringing my team back to Janesville.
Feb 17, 2009 at 6:16 p.m.
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Does it count if you don't golf because it might rain?
Feb 17, 2009 at 5:40 p.m.
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16,641 is a pretty finite number for that general calculation. What abouth the additional hitter? That makes eleven per team. Wouldn't that add 10% or 1600 or so more?
Feb 17, 2009 at 5:38 p.m.
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That must be some of that "fuzzy math"
Feb 17, 2009 at 5:01 p.m.
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FE - you are entitled to your opinion. We'll have to agree to disagree as to how challenging the game of bowling is.
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:47 p.m.
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BTDT: Bowling a 300 game, sinking a hole in one, running the table 5 times straight in pool or getting 8 points in an end of curling are all hard to do. However, it's like comparing oranges and apples as far as difficulty/challenging.
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:45 p.m.
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Cullen Slapak of Janesville Leisure Services broke it down like this: Last year the city had about 135 softball teams. Each team played 12 games, for a total of 1,620 games. Divide total games into 16,641 participants and you get about 10 players per team per game.
-- Sid Schwartz, local news editor
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Got it! So basically it's not the actual number of people, it's the actual number of people x the number of games that s/he played. It's true that you can make statistics say whatever you want them them to say, isn't it?
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:41 p.m.
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Looking for something to do in the winter? Try curling it's more affordable and more challenging than darts, bowling or pool.
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former elite - when you bowl your first 300 game, you can tell me that bowling is less challenging than another sport.
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:36 p.m.
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Cullen Slapak of Janesville Leisure Services broke it down like this: Last year the city had about 135 softball teams. Each team played 12 games, for a total of 1,620 games. Divide total games into 16,641 participants and you get about 10 players per team per game.
-- Sid Schwartz, local news editor
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:09 p.m.
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I heard that in '79 there were 32,412 participants in the city foosball leagues.
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:08 p.m.
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I thought you moved to 72nd best last night?
Feb 17, 2009 at 4:05 p.m.
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Curling is a great sport. I'm 73rd best curler in the city.
Feb 17, 2009 at 3:58 p.m.
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Bring back foosball!!! Those were the most fun leagues of all!!!
Feb 17, 2009 at 3:06 p.m.
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Sorry Sid, the numbers still don't work out. There are not 1,100 teams in the city softball leagues even if everybody played 7 nights a week.
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:53 p.m.
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The city counts participants—not players—in softball leagues. One player, for example, might be counted four times in one week by playing in four games.
--Sid Schwartz, local news editor
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:47 p.m.
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At least in bowling you get some or all of your money back. Last year I received a prize payout of $350. Include the money I won on side pots, and I basically bowled for free
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:41 p.m.
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Looking for something to do in the winter? Try curling it's more affordable and more challenging than darts, bowling or pool.
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:40 p.m.
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What about second hand smoke being a reason for the decline? People have become too educated for their own good.
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:38 p.m.
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If those numbers are correct, I am clearly the 5,357th best softball player is the city. Much better than my orginal estimate.
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:23 p.m.
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Also, Janesville league softball charges extra for people who don't live in Janesville. Doesn't matter if you work for the company that is your sponsor or not.
I bowl in Edgerton, and while they're not the best lanes in the area, the league is a lot of fun. 33 weeks is a lot of commitment for most people, but what the heck else are you going to do in the winter time.
Feb 17, 2009 at 2:18 p.m.
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I used to play at Dawson park for many years. When they raised the price and eliminated a field umpire, I quit playing their and went to Milton. For roughly the same price, maybe a little cheaper, you get two AWESOME umps, Chuck and Russ are two of the greatest guys I've ever met, but you can go to Varsity Lanes after you get done playing and get a FREE homemade pizza for your team. Derek Davis runs a great, fair league, that I will continue to be a part of for many years.
Feb 17, 2009 at 12:48 p.m.
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And the price for softball is not correct either, they raised prices last year and drop the amount of games. If that keeps up then Milton and Beloit will get a lot more teams on their diamonds.
Feb 17, 2009 at 12:44 p.m.
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I agree; that 16,641 cannot be correct. That would mean that roughly every fourth person in Janesville plays on an adult softball team.
Feb 17, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.
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"In 2008, Janesville city leagues had 16,641 players, said Cullen Slapak of Janesville's Leisure Services."
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My guess is he gave that figure for ALL city leagues and it has been misinterpreted under the softball headline and graph. Clarification?
Feb 17, 2009 at 10:51 a.m.
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16,000 players? 25,000 in 2000? Still don't believe it but lets assume it is true. If there are 16,641 players and they average 15 per team that is approximately 1100 teams. That multiplied by the $490 fee is $539,000 in revenue. You'd think we could get some light bulbs in the scoreboards for that.
Feb 17, 2009 at 10:44 a.m.
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I believe that more people would play softball, if it didn't cost a sponser $490.00
The city puts the money the general Park fund. I think if they used the sponser/player fees for the diamonds, the park could probably take care of itself. the diamonds are in poor shape, because the last city manager didn't care if there were adult leagues or not.
lower the fees or put all the monies received back into the park and the players will return.
Feb 17, 2009 at 10:34 a.m.
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16,000 plus softball players?? Even if there are 7 nights of league (I think it is six) 4 leagues per night (The nights I play have 3 leagues)10 teams per league (ours vary from 6 to 8, 15 members per team the numbers would be 7 x 4 x 10 x 15 = 4,200 players. Where am imissing 3/4ths of the leagues? I,m not saying the numbers are wrong but I find it hard to believe thse figures.
Feb 17, 2009 at 10:01 a.m.
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I remember when I was youngrer my mom bowled at Blackbridge on Thursday nights. Us kids would always go with her. She doesn't do it anymore.
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