The Androscoggin County Special Olympics bowling competition was held in Lewiston on Friday.
LEWISTON – Adam Berube bent at the waist, placed the green bowling ball on the ground between his legs and lobbed it down the lane.
Before the ball even hit the pins, Berube spun around, threw his arms into the air and flashed two thumbs-up with a gleeful, “Ah, ha, ha!”
Nine of 10 pins fell, but to Berube, a 14-year-old Special Olympian from Auburn, the score didn’t matter much. After bowling, he grinned no matter what.
“It’s just the feeling they get from doing it,” said Frances Stauffer, a special education teaching assistant from Auburn Middle School. “They’re just doing something athletic-wise. Adam, he’s doing something and he’s accomplishing it.”
On Friday morning, Adam and 50 other special needs students gathered at Spare Time Recreation to compete in Androscoggin County’s Special Olympics bowling tournament. Designed for kids with emotional, physical or mental disabilities, the contest matched student against student based on age and the accommodations required to help them bowl.
Though for most kids, the morning wasn’t about winning or losing. It was about having fun.
“Everybody here cheers for everybody. That’s what we do,” said Farralee Wilson, an 18-year-old senior at Lisbon High School.
Most of the kids who competed Friday were middle or high school students from Auburn, Lewiston, Lisbon Poland, Sabattus and Turner.
Some used special ramps to start the ball rolling. Others added bumpers to the lane, blocking part of the gutter so the ball would stay on course.
Many bowled on their own, using the smooth one-handed toss of professionals or sweeping the ball between their legs.
“A seven-10 split. Oh, my God, a seven-10 split!” one Poland teenager yelled to his teammate. “How did you get that?”
From the sidelines, teachers and parents cheered every ball.
“She has come so far,” said Annette Wilson, applauding as her daughter, Farralee, rolled a strike. “It builds her self-esteem. It builds all of their self-esteem.”
Two years ago, Farralee would have had a hard time talking with a stranger, her mother said. Now she has her driver’s license and work experience at a day-care center. Just months shy of graduation, she attends classes without extra help and plans to enroll in a community college culinary arts program.
Her mother gives the Special Olympics some of the credit.
“It really gives her a lot to grow on and go on when she’s having an otherwise bad day,” she said. “It gives her a lot of success.”
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