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At our central Florida Quad Squad outing on Saturday, September 14th, we had seven different power wheelchair users bowl with an IKAN Bowler. The reasons for wheelchair use among the seven people include cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and spina bifida. We also have had people with muscular dystrophy in our group, but not on that day.
Brenda, Julie, Lilian, Rhonda, Aaron, Doug, and I were the seven IKAN users. If you're wondering how it works, the bowling alley typically has enough lanes that each wheelchair user can bowl on his/her own lane. Most of us bowl 3-5 games in the roughly two hours that we are together with various family, friends, and our volunteer caddies who are now friends who have become like family. We usually have a sizable group -- and we ALWAYS have a good time! :)
Bowling is always fun, whether the scores are particularly good or not. A good score is subjective to the person bowling, but we all have a friendly competition for top score of the afternoon (my Dad started this by offering $20 for the top score -- if that score beats me; I'm not eligible as the prize money is supposed to be incentive for people to beat me and keep my "ego" in check, says my loving Dad:) and Aaron set the bar high with a really good 196 in his second game of the afternoon.
But my strike ball found its groove and I followed Aaron's 196 with a 205 to take the lead for the top score of the afternoon. That was my 22nd game of 200 or better, so my caddy George tried to get a printout. But my Aunt Jackie accidentally cleared my score before George could get the printout! Jackie apologized and half-jokingly said, "you'll just have to do it again!"
That, of course, is MUCH easier said than done, but my strike ball was working well and I did break 200 again in the very next game, nearly matching the 205 with a 204. So that's why the title of this post includes mention of a 23rd 200+ game -- for a person who happens to be a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. Here's my scoresheet:
All glory to God and God bless all!
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
Rhonda is doing pretty well, but without the collective generosity of others, she will likely have to move to a nursing home sometime in 2014 when she's either 47 or 48.
We just updated the goal amount for her fundraiser to $90,000. We're hoping that is a fairly feasible goal. Originally we estimated the amount it would take for Rhonda to stay in her apartment and to afford her care for the next ten years, but that amount (over $500,000) seemed unrealistic (unless a very wealthy philanthropist happened across her fundraiser).
Every donation helps. Rhonda is quite possibly the most grateful person I know.
Here's the link, and thank you for your consideration and potential generosity:
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-for-rhonda/37633
May God bless Rhonda and everyone reading this.
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
My blog is about empowering wheelchair users... empowering my fellow wheelchair users to seek to improve some aspect of their life, or even their mindset. A stereotype about us wheelchair users is that for some or many of us, life is a spectator sport. And that needn't be.
Properly enabled and empowered, the sky is the limit. I'm a quadriplegic on a ventilator and yet I know someone in a condition like mine who has been skydiving multiple times. Much of my blog talks about the bowling successes of people who cannot even lift a bowling ball themselves, myself included. And I had a blog post about earning my Masters degree. Many examples exist of people overcoming significant obstacles to achieve.
Here's a video on Victoria Conrad, a senior at the University of Massachusetts who is succeeding despite cerebral palsy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srN4g0lKGS8
I don't know Victoria personally. But I do know that she is a great example of someone who is striving to live her life to the best of her ability, despite significant physical challenges. We all face challenges of some kind, some more difficult than others. And I love to see people like Victoria courageously facing and conquering the challenges before her, and striving to achieve what she wants and what she can.
She's focused on what she can do, not on what she can't.
That perspective and mindset can empower us all.
And may God bless us all.
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
Many wheelchair users are not aware that a relatively new device exists that enables even people paralyzed from the neck down (like me) to bowl in a way that mimics the able-bodied bowling process. The IKAN ("I can") Bowler® attaches to one's wheelchair and allows its user to setup, and then physically approach and release the ball upon stopping short of the foul line. That's basically able-bodied bowlers do, and it's why the United States Bowling Congress sanctioned the IKAN Bowler® for league and tournament play, bowling with or against able-bodied bowlers and/or fellow IKAN users.
Using my IKAN Bowler, I had my 21st game of 200 or better on June 22nd, with a 213 in my first game of the day with our Quad Squad Bowling group. Brenda, Melissa, Ben and I were the IKAN users that day, and we all had a good time as usual. It was our first time back at what was Classique Lanes and is now Break Point Alley. I opened with a turkey (three straight strikes) and that seemed to be validation that we made the right choice to return to the revamped bowling alley.
Here's my scoresheet, and additional commentary is below (click the picture to enlarge the scoresheet):
I followed the turkey with a 9-spare, then two more strikes, and knew I could/should break 200 unless I messed it up, which I almost did. In my next two frames, the 7th and 8th, I missed spares I usually make. I rebounded with a 9-spare in the 9th, which meant that a mark (spare or strike) in the 10th frame would result in 200+. My strike ball worked twice more and I added 9 with the bonus ball in the 10th for a 213.
Just being able to bowl legitimately is fun, and I tell new IKAN users that having fun and striving to bowl personal best games are what I would try to do each time out. I happen to have co-invented the IKAN Bowler, so I've bowled with it quite a bit, and my personal best is 255, which happens to be the overall world record for dynamic wheelchair bowling. I'd love to break 255, but that's a really high score, and my goal each time out is to have a 500 series (three games with roughly a 167 average) because that's not easy, and takes quite a bit of quality bowling for IKAN users.
Our ball speed averages about 6 mph so we don't get nearly the "pin action" that most able-bodied bowlers do, so it takes excellent placement (and some luck) to get quite a few strikes in one game. It takes at least a few consecutive strikes to give a person a good opportunity to break 200. My average is about 155-160, so bowling 200 or better is fairly rare and special, which is why I keep track of the number of times I do it.
All glory to God and God bless all!
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
My blog is about empowering wheelchair users, and I hope that by sharing that I recently graduated with a Masters of Entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University, perhaps others will be encouraged to pursue additional education or whatever they desire. I finished my Bachelor's degree and earned my Master's online in accredited degree programs. If it helps to provide further encouragement, in every course since becoming paralyzed, I earned an A grade.
Lori Carter, a freelance writer for the Orlando Sentinel, did a story on my graduation and some of my activities. The story was fairly long and the Sentinel chose to break it up into two smaller articles. Here are the titles and links...
Overcoming disability, Leesburg resident Bill Miller earns master's degree:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-bill-miller-quadriplegic-graduation-20130529,0,6799500.story
Quadriplegic Bill Miller doesn't let disability slow him down:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-sidebar-bill-miller-quadriplegic-graduation-20130529,0,5074569.story
Philippians 4:13 (NIV) "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
All glory to God, and God bless all!
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
A graduate student at the University of Florida, Belinda Post, asked if she could do a video story on me and our efforts to get wheelchair users (back) in the game of life, especially power wheelchair users. I agreed, although for several months my voice has been unusually soft, so I'm hard to hear in the video (we're still trying to determine the cause and solution).
My Stepmom just watched it and thought it was "wonderful" and she and my Dad said I should share it, so I am. I think the video is very well done, however the on-screen name for my friend should read Lilian Strandlund. No worries.
Here's the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txpw6Vla5RY
God bless all!
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
My friend Aaron Parker bowled a 209 on March 23rd, 2013. Many people have bowled that well before, but not many — if any — who have lived with paralysis for more than 31 years.
Aaron has been a C7 quadriplegic since July 1st, 1981. He is paralyzed from his chest down and thus uses a power wheelchair. That doesn’t sound like a typical description for someone who just set a personal bowling record of 209, but adding an IKAN Bowler to a wheelchair allows its user to bowl in a way that is equivalent to how able-bodied people bowl (so says the USBC). For an explanation and video example, checkout WheelchairBowlingRecords.com.
I personally find it amazing that someone who has been paralyzed for over 31 years can compete in a sport on a level “playing field” and do so very well.
For Aaron’s scoresheet and more, click here:
http://www.wheelchairbowlingrecords.com/Aaron_Parker_209.htm
CONGRATULATIONS Aaron!
Bill Miller :-)
C1-2 Quadriplegic with a 255 High Bowling Game
Co-founder of Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. d/b/a MGT
Business website: http://www.ikanbowler.com
Personal website: http://www.lookmomnohands.net
