Powell was upset with the way things unfolded for his son’s mixed combo bowling team at the provincial championships Saturday at St. Pat’s Lanes in St. John’s.
Powell’s seven-year-old son, Grayson, was a member of the Riverdale Lanes team that had their gold medals stripped from them because two members of the three-member team — Grayson being one of them — violated the tournament’s dress code by not wearing the right colour of pants.
All bowlers have to wear black pants when they hit the lanes for an A competition in the Youth Bowling Canada (YBC) program.
Related stories:
YBC president Gord Davis says bowlers well aware of dress codes
Minor sports, parents rarely mix
When YBC NL president Gord Davis was made aware that a team might be in violation of the dress code, he acted upon the concern. A handful of parents expressed concern that one of the teams wasn’t adhering to the dress code and wondered why they were permitted to play anyway.
Davis followed the rules and informed the team that their scores wouldn’t count and the gold medals were eventually handed over to a Corner Brook team.
Davis said in a post on the Corner Brook Centre Bowl’s Facebook page on Wednesday night that he and Powell “both realize that this was blown out of proportion for simple communication problems.”
Davis said the executive decision was made to have the Riverdale Lanes YBC program honour the team with a ceremony for gold medals, even though the official result couldn’t be reversed provincially because of the rules in place.
Could have been avoided
Interviewed by The Western Star prior to that Facebook post, Powell said didn’t like how the situation was handled. He believes the situation could have been avoided if tournament officials did a check prior to the first ball being thrown.
Powell said he tried to find a pair of black pants for his son on the morning of the tournament, but was unable to find something suitable.
“Was I supposed to tell my kid he can’t participate in the sport because his parents can’t find him a pair of black pants? No, that’s wrong,” Powell said Wednesday from Conception Bay South. “Kids shouldn’t be turned away from sports on a technicality.”
Powell says the decision to take the medals away from his son’s team was all about who was going to get the gold medal.
“This was a deliberate way to get Corner Brook to win a medal. I don’t say it’s Mr. Davis’s decision, but whoever came forward and said this kid had the wrong colour pants on, they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
Powell said he issued an apology to Davis, in a telephone conversation Wednesday morning, for making negative comments about him and his business on CBC on Tuesday. He said Davis accepted the apology.
Powell wanted YBC NL to issue an apology to the three bowlers affected by the decision, but he said Davis responded at the time by saying, “You owe the bowlers an apology.”
Powell said he had taken his two sons out of the program, at least until he received the apology he’s looking for.
Davis’s Facebook post indicated the two sides had resolved their dispute.
“Todd’s kids love bowling and we have two other members of his son’s team to think about,” it stated. “Thanks again Todd for your understanding and we will do what we can to help the kids stay in our sport.”
Powell was upset with the way things unfolded for his son’s mixed combo bowling team at the provincial championships Saturday at St. Pat’s Lanes in St. John’s.
Powell’s seven-year-old son, Grayson, was a member of the Riverdale Lanes team that had their gold medals stripped from them because two members of the three-member team — Grayson being one of them — violated the tournament’s dress code by not wearing the right colour of pants.
All bowlers have to wear black pants when they hit the lanes for an A competition in the Youth Bowling Canada (YBC) program.
Related stories:
YBC president Gord Davis says bowlers well aware of dress codes
Minor sports, parents rarely mix
When YBC NL president Gord Davis was made aware that a team might be in violation of the dress code, he acted upon the concern. A handful of parents expressed concern that one of the teams wasn’t adhering to the dress code and wondered why they were permitted to play anyway.
Davis followed the rules and informed the team that their scores wouldn’t count and the gold medals were eventually handed over to a Corner Brook team.
Davis said in a post on the Corner Brook Centre Bowl’s Facebook page on Wednesday night that he and Powell “both realize that this was blown out of proportion for simple communication problems.”
Davis said the executive decision was made to have the Riverdale Lanes YBC program honour the team with a ceremony for gold medals, even though the official result couldn’t be reversed provincially because of the rules in place.
Could have been avoided
Interviewed by The Western Star prior to that Facebook post, Powell said didn’t like how the situation was handled. He believes the situation could have been avoided if tournament officials did a check prior to the first ball being thrown.
Powell said he tried to find a pair of black pants for his son on the morning of the tournament, but was unable to find something suitable.
“Was I supposed to tell my kid he can’t participate in the sport because his parents can’t find him a pair of black pants? No, that’s wrong,” Powell said Wednesday from Conception Bay South. “Kids shouldn’t be turned away from sports on a technicality.”
Powell says the decision to take the medals away from his son’s team was all about who was going to get the gold medal.
“This was a deliberate way to get Corner Brook to win a medal. I don’t say it’s Mr. Davis’s decision, but whoever came forward and said this kid had the wrong colour pants on, they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
Powell said he issued an apology to Davis, in a telephone conversation Wednesday morning, for making negative comments about him and his business on CBC on Tuesday. He said Davis accepted the apology.
Powell wanted YBC NL to issue an apology to the three bowlers affected by the decision, but he said Davis responded at the time by saying, “You owe the bowlers an apology.”
Powell said he had taken his two sons out of the program, at least until he received the apology he’s looking for.
Davis’s Facebook post indicated the two sides had resolved their dispute.
“Todd’s kids love bowling and we have two other members of his son’s team to think about,” it stated. “Thanks again Todd for your understanding and we will do what we can to help the kids stay in our sport.”
