Change is coming to bowling world

The world of bowling is about to change.

But Vicki Frucci remains a constant.

For most of the 20th century, men’s, women’s and youth bowling have been governed by separate bodies: American Bowling Congress for the men, the Women’s International Bowling Congress and the Young American Bowling Alliance.

Beginning June 1, the world of amateur bowling merges under a single umbrella: the United States Bowling Congress.

“I think it will be fun – I like change,” she said. “I work for the government, and I’m a trainer, so that’s what I work with: how to work with change.”

Not that the changeover was an easy thing to manage.

The American Bowling Congress dates back to the late 1890s. The Women’s International Bowling Congress was started in St. Louis in 1917 and has grown into the largest women’s sports association in the world. Surrendering identities that have been that long established is no easy matter.

“Each group, for men, women and youth bowling, all had their own way of doing things, and they were all a little different,” Frucci said. “For example, we have mixed leagues where the women bowl with the men. There will be some changes there in how things are.

“That was one of the concerns going in: Physically and competitively the majority of women can’t compete with men. There’s some grandfathering in some leagues and some tournaments to accommodate some of those concerns. We don’t want to scare them off – we’re trying to build bowling up.”

This weekend, Frucci, a mainstay in Spokane Valley bowling and a member of the local WIBC Hall of Fame, will be in Orlando, Fla., for the USBC national convention and a series of workshops designed to make the changeover smooth.

The intensive workshops will cover a range of subjects from dealing with the change to dealing with the public.

“For what it’s worth, I think they’re doing a very, very good job with this whole process,” Frucci said. “There are a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration. These are all long-standing organizations with halls of fame and their own ways of doing things.

“But I think it’s good to take things apart and look at what works and what doesn’t work.”

To that end, Frucci serves on the board of directors for the new, local USBC chapter.

“It was interesting,” she said. “The voting was from all of the various members. There are 25 seats on the board and five of them went to representatives of the youth association. Of the other 20 seats, 15 of them went to men.”

“We’re just now starting to set policy and create rules and things like that. It’s been unique to take all these different cultures and bringing them together. There’s going to be some challenges. The men did things a little differently from what the women did. It’ll be interesting.”

Frucci is an avid bowler. She competes in a weekly league and in various tournaments.

“I bowl a lot of tournaments, usually mixed doubles tournaments,” she said. “There aren’t very many competitive tournaments for women. I used to bowl a lot – we used to have a lot of tournaments that you could enter.”

One of the final events on the local WIBC schedule has been the Washington Women’s State Bowling Tournament, which runs through May 21 and involves more than 300 teams from across the state.

Frucci has made the best of it – leading in singles, doubles and with her team after the early going. She’s since been surpassed as teams come into Spokane each weekend to compete.

“I bowled a 660 series in one and a 655 series in another, so I bowled pretty well,” she said. “It was nice to be in first place there for a while.

“What was special about this tournament is that it’s the end of an era.”