What is Unified Bowling? Many individuals will ask this same question.  What those many people typically come to realize is that this sport is under-appreciated and deserves much more attention than it’s been getting lately. 

According to Mrs. Eickhoff, Unified Bowling is a sport that allows students with disabilities to play alongside students without disabilities while working together as a team to be the best bowlers they can be. The season started on October 18th with practices twice a week at Westbrook Lanes here in Columbus. The sport is sanctioned through the NSAA.

This season, the Unified Bowling team had four duals, before advancing to the District Tournament. Many CHS bowlers placed in the top third of all bowlers in the pre-district competitions. When the CHS Unified Bowling team advanced to the District Tournament, they finished runners-ups, missing out on the top spot by only 13 pins. Throughout the season, the Unified Bowling team did not have any problems due to COVID, but they did face another challenge. 

Mrs. Eickhoff says that one of the hardest challenges from running the Unified Bowling team is that it is quite difficult to get the word out to the CHS Student Body in order to recruit partners for the team. Luckily, this year the team grew to 18 players, a lot more students applied than in the past two years when they used to have only 10 players. Eickhoff states that once new bowlers realize how fun and rewarding being on the team is, very few quit afterward. 

Brianna Eickhoff, a Senior on the team says that her experiences have been full of fun.  Her most memorable and favorite experience from this season has been making it to the District Tournament.  She says that the environment there was amazing and so much fun.

Another experience she loved from this season was the overall vibe that the team had as they practiced for duals and the tournament. She loved the way they all came in ready to bowl as a team with smiles on their faces. One of her goals from this season as a bowler was to make it to the District Tournament, which she did. A goal she had throughout all the years she has been playing was to improve as a player, and, needless to say, she most definitely has contributed a lot over the years to the team. 

Another Senior from the Unified Bowling team, Wyatt Schott, says that he has also had an absolute blast this season. One of his most favorite experiences from this year was making it to the District Tournament and almost winning, as well as seeing the whole team improve over the season. His goal this year was to be a make it to the District Tournament and pose a competitive threat to the other teams.  He says that as a bowler, he has mostly seen improvement in himself during the off-season in the summer.

One of the team’s many goals they had for this season was to improve as individuals and as a team. While the team is focused on winning, Mrs. Eickhoff says her biggest goal is for everyone to be involved, to have fun, and feel like a part of the team. She says that, overall, they definitely reached those goals as evidenced by improved scores, obvious enthusiasm, and smiles that clearly showed participants were having a blast. To top off the year, the score at the districts was 785, which is 84 points better than the past 3 years! This year, there are many seniors from the team graduating, and they will be missed very much.  However, Mrs. Eickhoff says they have a great group of younger bowlers that will help the team in future years.

All in all, the Unified Bowling team has had a great season with many accomplishments. Anchor News wishes the best to the graduating seniors, and hopes that next year, the team has an even better season! For more information on sports and activities at CHS follow Anchor News on Fusfoo, Instagram, and Twitter.