WAPAKONETA, Ohio (WLIO) — Bowlers were picking up strikes and spares across the lanes in Auglaize County on Tuesday night!
The University of Northwestern Ohio men’s and women’s bowling teams stopped at Astro Lanes in Wapakoneta for a good cause, spending the evening with the Auglaize County Special Olympics and their bowlers. While there was friendly competition, the final score didn’t matter — UNOH’s goal was to bring happiness to everyone bowling and to help teach their athletes some important life lessons.
"I grew up with local legend Mike Moore, watching him do his Special Olympics stuff and watching these guys here, and it made me, at a young age, understand folks on the spectrum, in these situations, that they're normal people. Learning from Mike and sharing his experience with the other guys is really what I wanted," says Tyler Sosby, Head Coach, University of Northwestern Ohio Men's Bowling.
"There's definitely a lot of challenges that come with team bowling. I mean, we try to teach them teamwork, you know, overcoming adversity, things like that. That's something that a lot of these people have to do every day- they overcome adversity, you know, it's not the easiest for them," says Anthony Kennard, Head Coach, University of Northwestern Ohio Women's Bowling.
"You're never above to giving back to your community. We get so caught up in the things we're so grateful for like school and bowling and all these nice things... and every now and then, it's super awesome just to give back and come hang out and meet new friends," says Kyle Drazil, Bowler for UNOH Men's Team.
We also caught up with several Special Olympics bowlers to see how their night was going.
"It's so much fun watching, seeing how the bowlers, like the big boys bowl. It's so much awesome and fun!" says Angela Gossard, Bowler with Auglaize County Special Olympics.
"I'm learning how to be patient when the other person's bowling and things like that," says Annette Hines, Bowler with the Auglaize County Special Olympics.
"I feel like they could teach us what we need to do to improve and like be best friends and get to know each other," says Andrea Davidson, Bowler with Auglaize County Special Olympics.
The UNOH bowling teams say they hope to take part in events like this more often.
