Blind bowlers play for the love of the game

More than ghosts and goblins will be descending upon Danville on Halloween weekend. More than 100 bowlers from across North Carolina and southern Virginia will also be in town for the 13th annual Carolina Bowling Alliance and Shootout Blind Bowler’s Tournament Oct. 30–Nov. 1.

The CBA is an organization that promotes blind bowling in the Carolinas and surrounding areas, but bowlers do not have to be blind to participate in the organization.

One dedicated team of blind bowlers will be representing Danville. They are the five members of the Danville Blind Bowler League.

Although the league used to be larger than it is now, the bowlers gather every week at Riverside Lanes and, with the help of sighted volunteers and adaptive equipment, work on their bowling skills and have a lot of fun.

Michelle Craft, who has been blind from birth from cataracts and glaucoma, has been bowling since shortly after her graduation from George Washington High School in 2000.

Besides her interests of reading, listening to music, video games, her computer and TV, Craft also enjoys her mornings at the bowling lanes.

“It’s fun,” she said. “I like to do it.”

Alvin Davis has only been involved with bowling for about one year and almost totally blind for four years because of diabetes.

“I like to bowl because I can get away from the house,” he said.

He moved from Texas to Danville and found out about the bowling through word-of-mouth.

Ellen Wilson started bowling with the league in 1981 when it was much larger and stronger.

“I used to be pretty good at bowling,” she said, “but the team kind of broke up, and we’re trying to get it back up again. I’ve gotten out of practice, and I bowl better when I practice. It’s a lot of excitement and fun — something to get out and just do.”

Transportation to the lanes is the biggest problem the bowlers face, although for now they have a friend and driver in Ray Brandon, a volunteer whose brother helps take care of Davis.

“I help them and bowl and have fun,” he said. “A couple of hours out of a day isn’t much.”

Brandon will be starting a new job soon at a local manufacturing facility, but plans on still providing transportation for the bowlers since he gets to pick his day off each week.

“If I can’t do it, I’ll get someone to do it,” he said.

Joyce Thomas is the leader — she calls herself the “head honcho” — of the group, having been involved for the past 10 years. She is partially blind in her right eye and then found out last week that she is losing the sight in her left eye.

“In order to see something, I have to be right smack dab on top of it,” she said.

She is determined to keep the bowling team alive because, she said, “we have so much fun.”

Bowlers who are blind use a hand rail that is placed on the approach from the ball return to the foul line and serves as a guide on how to position themselves. A sighted individual describes the roll of the ball to the bowler and the position of the remaining pins.

The CBA has paid the $40 registration fee for the Danville bowlers, according to James Benton, outreach coordinator for the CBA.

“We’re excited to be able to operate the tournament in Danville and to be able to sponsor the Danville bowlers,” Benton said.

The CBA Tournament

The CBA holds an annual tournament the last weekend of October called the “CBA Shootout.” The tournament is held in a different city each year and features singles, doubles and team competitions as well as a scratch, single-elimination “shootout.”

The singles competition and shootout are divided into categories based on the bowler’s vision category and sex. Doubles pairs have at least one bowler with a visual impairment, but four-man teams may not have more than two fully sighted bowlers.

In Danville this year, the tournament will be bowled at Riverside Lanes on Riverside Drive. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 31 with opening ceremonies at 8:45 a.m.

The morning will involve three games of team competition, and the CBA Shootout, a scratch competition, will begin at 1:30 p.m. The singles and doubles events will begin on Nov. 1 with the first squad starting at 9 a.m. and the second at 12:15 p.m.

During the evening on Oct. 31, the Comfort Inn and Suites will host the bowlers for a fund-raising auction and dance beginning at 7 p.m.

At 6 p.m. on Oct. 30, a free hospitality room with be open for registered participants of the tournament. Members of the visually impaired community of Danville are invited to join in.

Volunteer pin-spotters and order-takers for the snack bar are needed, as well as door prizes for the dance and gifts for the auction.

To volunteer, donate prizes or pre-register, please contact the CBA at (919) 308-8445 or (919) 755-0700.