At Motiv, we pride ourselves on having a staff that is well liked, respected, and modern. Obviously, that was my goal for the national tour team as well. We set out to build a staff that reflects the priorities of the brand, could compete at the highest level, and would support one another as a team. Gradually, the team began to take shape. The problem was, I couldn’t tell people about it. It was so painful!
The first player we locked down was Patrick Girard. Though we already had a relationship with Patrick, we finally signed official paperwork this summer to add him to the staff. Patrick is a Canadian bowling superstar. A member of the Canadian national team, Patrick has been exempt on the PBA tour and made multiple television finals Last year Patrick had strong showings at the US Open and the Shark Championship.
The next cog that fell into place was Lee Vanderhoef. “Vandy,” as they call him, is an eleven time PBA Regional champion who has decided to make a run at the PBA National tour. Lee is a huge fan of the Sigma Tour. In fact, his first night of league as a member of the staff he shot 879 with his ST! Lee has top ten finishes on the national tour and is now primed for his big run out there.
Shortly after Lee signed documents I got a call from a player already on the staff saying that he had decided to bowl the entire tour season. Team USA member, three time collegiate national champion, and Insidebowling.com open winner Jake Peters threw his hat into the ring as well. Fresh out of college, Jake is already my pick for rookie of the year. His mental game is outstanding and his physical game is just as solid.
Next came one of, if not the very biggest free agent signing of the PBA off season. Motiv signed 2010-2011 PBA National Tour Rookie of the Year and Chameleon Champion, Scott Norton to an exclusive staff contract. Scott, a Team USA member, collegiate superstar, and exempt bowler was a big enough acquisition to put Motiv on the radar for anyone who follows professional bowling.
At this point, the staff looked pretty solid for the next season. Motiv had signed some established pros along with some prospects. However, there was one more opportunity remaining in the form of a major champion. Just a few weeks ago I called John Nolen, USBC Masters and PBA Regional Players Invitational Champion, to simply chat for a while. John had mentioned earlier that he did not plan on bowling on tour this season. However, in our conversation I got the distinct impression that he was getting the itch to compete. Within a week John was signed up to be one of Motiv’s poster boys.
In the span of just a few months Motiv had gone from a company with virtually no representation on the PBA national tour to marching into the World Series 2011 with a team.
Of course, what does every professional sports team do before the start of the season? In my next blog post I will discuss how Team Motiv prepared together for the PBA National Tour season.
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