Local Special Olympics participants get into a free-for-ball knockdown

Kallie Aceveda is a Special Olympics medalist who says she’s qualified for the state bowling competition the past three years, so hopes were high going into the local qualifying match this weekend.

Aceveda, one of about 25 participants in the Juneau Special Olympics bowling event at Pinz bowling ally Saturday and Sunday, said her game comes from a family full of bowlers, along with plenty of other sports experience to keep her active.

“I did almost every sport I could,” she said. “Volleyball, rock climbing, hiking, basketball, swimming…and a game player, I play a lot of video games.”

She also recognizes her delivery power is the strength of her game and knows the weaknesses she needs to address.

“I’m not really good with curving,” she said. “I want to learn to curve more.”

As the scores for Aceveda’s four-person team were tallied automatically on the display screen above her lane game after game, other teams in the lanes to the left and right were piling points by the pin as well. Among them was Amanda Savikko, who said she’s been bowling for at least a decade, taking a deliberative approach to her delivery with her custom 12-pound snake-themed ball named “Slither.”

“It’s just a fun sport,” she said.

Savikko was part of the “unified” team that qualified for the state event, consisting of two Special Olympics athletes — including herself — and two “partners” without disabilities. Tanya Lewis, an intense power player present with three generations of family during the weekend, said she will be a partner at the state tournament to her daughter, Aubree Hall, while Savikko will be partnered with fourth team member Renee Ramirez.

Participants in the local tournament needed to bowl every Sunday for an eight-week period, or on a makeup day up to twice) said Michelle Umbs. While the local tournament was more communal than competitive — with the hope of sending all the competitors to the state competition if circumstances allowed — she said that event and the national one leading to the world competition can get intense.

“I would say there’s there’s probably a handful (locally) that are competitive and take it very, very seriously,” she said. “And when you go to state with the unified teams around the state there’s some dang good bowlers and, I mean, it’s amazing. And there are some good players all around the state. So when you get to that state competition it’s pretty darn competitive.”

Another of the multi-sport athletes participating in the weekend tournament was Fu Bao Hartle, who started bowling in 2012 and has become a spokesperson for local events for people with disabilities. He said the simplicity and social aspects of bowling are what make it appealing.

“It’s easy for my disability and to meet new people I’ve never met before,” he said.

When the tournament ended at midday Sunday, three four-person teams were selected to go to the statewide Special Olympics Bowling Tournament in Eagle River on Nov. 10-12. In addition to the united team, there was a traditional women’s team (Michelle Boster, Tammi Birch, Evvanne Menefee, Amanda Lambert) and a traditional men’s team (Andres Jones, CJ Umbs, Tyler Anderson, Jacob Mallinger).

Aceveda, failing to make the state tournament for a fourth year, shrugged it off with the realism that, like any athlete, she didn’t have her best day.

“When I’m cranky you don’t want to mess with me,” she quipped good-naturedly.

Not qualifying for state was also disappointing for Hartle, but he also noted the competition there isn’t quite as casual.

“I always like to get to state with bowling, but they have very intense times,” he said, referring to the lengthy days of competition.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 95y7-2306.