ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Eddie Martin was struggling Sunday morning.
Martin, who carries a 178 bowling average, had rolled a 168 and a 138 in the first two games of a tournament at Viking Lanes on Franklin Road.
``I'm trying to get as close to my average as I can,'' Martin said. ``You have good days and bad days. In a tournament you want to bowl well and try too hard.''
Martin, 25, of Petersburg was a participant in the first statewide unified bowling tournament sponsored by Virginia Special Olympics. In unified tournaments, disabled people like Martin team with athletes who are not handicapped.
Competition in bowling and three other sports brought 500 athletes to the Roanoke Valley on Saturday and Sunday for Special Olympics' 10th Annual Fall Tournaments. Disabled athletes also participated in soccer at River's Edge, volleyball at North Cross School and roller-skating at Star City Skate Center.
Mike Eckles and Bob Preas, directors of the 3,000-member Roanoke Bowling Association, were recruited to coordinate the bowling tournament because of their previous work with youth leagues. The athletes were divided into six competitive levels based on their degree of disability.
Mental retardation, attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity are Martin's disabilities. He works at the Southside Sheltered Workshop in Petersburg.
His parents, Nancy and Bob Martin, sat at a table near the lane where he bowled and provided occasional words of encouragement. ``The important thing about this is that young people have a good time whether they win or not,'' Nancy Martin said.
Nancy Martin said she used to bowl with her son but found that her scores didn't improve, so she gave it up. Now, she takes her son, and occasionally others, to tournaments.
``I work with [Special Olympics] as a parent, not as a coach,'' she said.
Because of his talent for it, bowling is ``an extremely normalizing sport'' for her son, Nancy Martin said.
``I love bowling,'' Eddie Martin said with passion in his voice and a glint in his eye. You knew, deep down, he really meant it.
When he was young (about eight years ago), Eddie Martin said, he started bowling in a youth league at Walnut Hill Lanes at Petersburg. ``I enjoy being with people,'' he said. ``It's a lot of fun.''
As for competition, ``Sometimes you struggle,'' he said. ``The main thing is to try to have a good attitude and good sportsmanship.''
In his final game, Martin rolled a 140, still well below his average. But when the day's bowling was over around noon, he and his teammates, Curtis and Barbara Snider of Chesterfield and their disabled daughter, Cyndy, finished with the gold medal in Division Five.
There were hugs, high-fives, and pictures taken of them and other winners. Looking carefully around the lanes, you couldn't find any losers.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Curtis Snider (left in photo above)by CNBcongratulates Eddie Martin for a strike, 2. while Mike Williams
(photo below) celebrates a spare Sunday during the Virginia Special
Olympics 10th Annual Fall Tournament at Viking Lanes in Roanoke.
color.