My Special Olympian Bowler

Just to add our two cents to Obama’s off-the-cuff remark on Jay Leno’s TV show. None in our family were offended. To look on the positive side of his remark, he has brought attention to one of the hardest working group in our population.

Yesterday, son bowled with his regular Saturday morning league of Special Olympians. His scores were consistent with his average. Not too shabby.

He has been bowling since he was about 10 years old, and bowling is something he truly enjoys. He never liked team sports. Because of his height and slender built people thought he would be perfect for basketball, but he did not like the idea that people were trying to take the ball away from each other—that’s not very nice. On the court, he would prefer someone else had the ball instead of him.

Son was also good, but not outstanding in track when he was in school. He was better at long distance rather than sprints. When he was very young (about six or seven), he thought it was nice to let others go ahead of him, and if someone else might stumble, he felt better to assist him instead of getting to the finish line first.

But bowling has been his sport of choice. He is in a class by himself, and it does not matter to him what the others score. He is able to follow instructions from his favorite coach, his dad! What is amazing is that son is a better bowler than dad. A case of do as I say, not as I do?

Next is a series of photos taken around 1977 or 78. It was probably the first time that Maxwell School participated in Special Olympics bowling.


Notice that the children were started by swinging the ball between their legs to maintain better balance before releasing the bowling ball.

This last photo shows that he was quite pleased with his effort.

The Special Olympics creed after all is:

“Please help me win, but if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt.”

Back to the Bowling Alley

In the memory of June Bengston, the booster club of the former Anaheim Therapeutic Recreation Center (now Ability First), organized a bowling event. June was a tireless advocate for the developmentally disabled. June passed away last December, and we miss her.

 

We first met June when our son transferred from Maxwell Elementary to Orangeview Junior High. June was a teacher’s aide in one of the two classrooms at Orangeview. June was also volunteering with Special Olympics. She was active in every and any way that advocated for our children. 

 

Today was a happy occasion. Although the event was to have started at 10 a.m., the staff finally got everyone and things going an hour later. The picture above is the group while we were waiting for staff to show up. Fantastic group of bowlers!

 

The best bowler in my humble opinion, of course, is my son. Here I captured him just as his ball will give him a strike. He likes to see those XXXs.
 

Olympics!

My son has been bowling since he was about eight years old. The Special Education teachers at Maxwell Elementary School, Mrs. Roy and Mrs. Merrill, started taking the class to the bowling alley about once a week. They had great gifts to deal with their special students.

Through the years, my son has participated in Special Olympics every year. The venues have changed, the dates have been moved around the calendar, but he has always managed to participate.

I use the word participate instead of compete, because he is not competitive. He just likes to bowl. He does not even care if his scores are high or low. But he does like to watch the “turkey” on the monitor when he does the three strikes in a row. Today was a turkey day.

As I watched the Olympics from Beijing tonight, I saw Michael Phelps mom when he won the 400m swimming event. I knew just exactly how proud she felt, and why tears swelled in her eyes. I experience that pride yearly when my son wins his Special Olympic medals.