The Special Olympics State Bowling Tournament will return to the Collins Bowling Centers in Lexington Dec. 5-6 and once again nearly 1,000 bowlers are expected to compete. The event has grown nearly every year since its inception, making it by far the largest single sport event that Special Olympics Kentucky holds each year.
The sheer number of bowlers has forced the event to be broken up into eight sessions. Three sessions each will be held on Saturday, Dec. 5 at Southland Lanes on Southland Drive and at Eastland Lanes on New Circle Road. Two more sessions will be held on Sunday at Eastland Lanes. Saturday's sessions will all be Singles competition, with each bowler bowling two games to complete his or her score for the Tournament. Sunday will be Unified Team competition (where a Special Olympics athlete pairs with a bowler who does not have a disability) in the morning, followed by Doubles (two Special Olympics athletes bowling as a team) in the afternoon. Saturday sessions begin at 8 am, 11:30 am and 2:30 pm at eastland Lanes and at 9 am, 12:15 pm and 3:10 pm at Southland Lanes. On Sunday, Unified Competition opens at 9 am with Doubles beginning at 12:30 pm.
With so many bowlers and so many sessions, Volunteers are a major part of the State Bowling Tournament. Volunteers can participate for just one session or are welcome to stay all day if they choose to. Groups can volunteer together and an effort will be made to place them all in the same area. You can sign up to volunteer on-line or call the Special Olympics office at 800-633-7409 or e-mail Camille Cecil for more information.
Special Olympics would like to thank our State Bowling Tournament sponsors, Year-Round Partners The Kentucky Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, Kroger and Texas Roadhouse; Statewide Sponsors Kentucky Department American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary and event Co-Sponsor The Trim Masters Charitable Foundation.
Nobody who has spent much time with Special Olympics athletes is ever surprised when they do something amazing, but even long-time coaches and volunteers took notice of what was happening at Eastland Lanes on the first day of the 2008 Special Olympics Kentucky State Bowling Tournament.
Doug Kelley, 31, opened his Singles competition with an impressive 257 game, but the Latonia resident's second game had the bowling alley buzzing. Kelley started the game with five smooth strikes. His sixth ball almost ended the streak, but a good bounce once again cleared the pins. Then Kelley cruised into the 10th frame in perfect fashion. With a crowd gathering behind his lane, Kelley rolled strikes on his first two balls, leaving him one shy of bowling's perfect score. His final ball, however, was a little bit light in the pocket and while the two pin wobbled a little, it would not fall for Kelley. Still, his 299 is believed to be the highest score in Special Olympics Kentucky competition history and his 556 two-game series easily won the Gold in his division.
Oddly, Kelley's feat was nearly duplicated the next day during the Unified team competition by another Northern Kentuckian. Unified Partner Jeremy Curnutt of Melbourne rolled eight straight strikes in his opening game before finally missing in the ninth frame. Jeremy and sister Jennifer ended up taking the Bronze Medal in their division.
Kelley and Curnutt produced just two of hundreds of memorable performances from what went on record as the largest Special Olympics Kentucky State Bowling Tournament to date. More than 1,100 bowlers and Unified Partners originally registered to compete at the Dec. 6-7 event. While the threat of bad weather forced a number of last minute cancellations, still nearly 950 bowlers took part. The turnout set an event record. In all, more than 2,700 total games were bowled in nine sessions over the course of the two days. In addition more than 300 sets of awards were presented in the Singles, Doubles and Unified competitions.
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We want to thank the nearly 325 volunteers who helped make the 2008 State Bowling Tournament such a success. It takes a huge number of volunteers to keep the tournament running smoothly and everyone who turned out did a great job.
For more information about the Special Olympics bowling program or about the 2009 State Bowling Tournament contact Camille Cecil, Special Olympics Kentucky Program Director at 800-633-7403 or via e-mail at ccecil.@soky.org.
