2008 Empire State Games

Masters Bowling

Men & Women

Eligibility: Participants must have reached their 50th birthday as of the date of their respective regional competition (tryout).  Applicants must be amateur athletes as per USBC rules.  All finalists must be USBC Certified.  Past members of a professional bowlers group are eligible in the Masters Division provided they have not competed as a professional in the previous three years.  For more specific details read the Masters Eligibility Rules.

Entry Fee:  $25.00

This includes bowling fees for Regional Tryout Competition and Finals.  This event is USBC certified; the only cost is for bowling; there are no award or prize fees involved.

Refund Policy:  Refunds of the entry fee will be available for those unable to attend the regional competition if a refund request is made prior to the first posted regional competition date for your Region.  The refund request must be sent to:  ESG Bowling Refund, 1 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY  12238, with a postmark date prior to the first posted bowling regional competition date for your region, or via fax to 518-474-7944 prior to the first posted bowling regional competition date for your region.  The written request must include your name & address, your ESG region, and the last 4 digits of the credit card which was used to complete the registration.  A credit will be posted to the credit card within 40 days of the request.  If payment is made by check, a refund check will be mailed.

Qualifying:  Applicants will tryout for the Games by attending a Regional Bowling Tournament (Tryout).  Dates for the Regional competitions are listed below.  Your ESG Region is determined by the New York State County in which you have your primary residence.  See below to determine your ESG Region.  Each Region will qualify one Masters Division team consisting of three men and three women.  There is only one age group with men & women competing separately.
Applicants may tryout for only one Region.

Number of entries are limited:  Each Region will have a limit as to the number of entries accepted for participation in the Regional competition.  This limit is determined by the number of lanes available at the Regional competition site.

Entry Deadline:  Online pre-registration is strongly recommended and will close 48 hours before the regional competition date/time.  After that time only 'walk-up' entries will be accepted up to 30 minutes before the start of the regional tournament, if the entry limit has not been met on the day of the trials. 

Regional Tryout Format: Competition will consist of two 3-game blocks. The top 3 men and the top 3 women (based on a 6-game total) will form their Region's Masters Bowling Team and will compete in the Empire State Games Finals.  Finalists will compete in Singles, Trios, Mixed Doubles, and Team events (3-games per event). Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded in each including All-Events.

If you have questions about the Regional Tryout competition, please contact your ESG Regional Coach listed below, contact the NYS Bowling Council, 435 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205, phone 518-464-1176, or email: nysbpa@aol.com

Regional Coaches:
Adirondack Region: Karl Bieber, (518) 368-5539; bieber@lbdc.state.ny.us
Central Region: Lou & Diane Bower, (607) 796-9768; Di0225@aol.com
Hudson Valley Region: Manny Emanuel, (845) 297-0820; ManuelE413@aol.com
Long Island Region: Eileen Shultis, (516) 796-8263; es@3wideracing.com
New York City Region: Christine Kramer, (917) 578-2340; ckbklyn999@aol.com
Western Region: Ray Bardol, (585) 637-4300; brockportbowl@aol.com

Regional Residency: Applicants must be residents of their Region as of April 30, 2008. Your ESG Region is determined by the County in which you have your primary residence as follows:

Adirondack Region - Counties of Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schoharie, Schenectady, St. Lawrence, Rensselaer, Warren, Washington
Central Region - Counties of Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Schuyler, Tioga, Tompkins
Hudson Valley Region - Counties of Duchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester
Long Island Region - Counties of Nassau, Suffolk
New York City - Counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond
Western Region -  Wayne, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Niagara, Seneca, Wyoming, Chautauqua, Livingston, Ontario, Steuben, Yates


Regional Competition Dates for Masters Bowling:

ADIRONDACK REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: May 10
Time: 9:30am
Site: Del Lanes, 4 Bethlehem Court, Elsmere, NY 12054 (518) 439-2224

CENTRAL REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: May 10
Time: 10:00am
Site: Valley Bowling Center, 13 N Chemung St, Waverly NY 14892, (607) 565-9946

HUDSON VALLEY REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: June 1
Time: 11:00am
Site: Holiday Lanes, 1677 Rte 9, Wappingers Falls NY 12590, (845) 297-8110

LONG ISLAND REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: May 10
Time: 2:00pm
Site: South Levittown Lanes, Bowling & Tanners Lanes, Levittown, NY 11756, (516) 731-5700

NEW YORK CITY REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: June 8
Time: 10:00am
Site: Shell Lanes, 1 Bouck Court, Brooklyn, NY 11223, (718) 336-6700

WESTERN REGION MASTERS TRYOUTS
Day: May 10
Time: 11:00am
Site: Bowl-A-Roll, 1560 Jefferson Rd, Rochester, NY 14623, (585) 427-7250

Finals Rules:  Finals competition will be conducted under USBC Rules. 

Finals Competition: The Finals will be held Thursday, July 24 and Friday July 25, 2008 at the Owego Bowl (1404 Taylor Road Owego, NY 13827; phone:  607-687-5631; email:  owegobowl@aol.com; website: www.owegobowl.com).

For information on the new tryout registration process, please visit the How to Register page.