Published: September 05, 2008 09:58 am         

Giving the challenged a new lane to explore

By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

Watching their daughter participate in track and field events earlier this summer was a thrill for Mineral Wells parents Joe and Vicki Novak.

Their 17-year-old daughter Jamie was part of a group from Mineral Wells that attended the Special Olympics Texas games in Arlington in May.

“She didn’t qualify on the first day … but she still wanted to go,” said Vicki Novak.

Even though Jamie wasn’t to participate in the final events, that didn’t mean she didn’t want to quit going to the games.

Joe Novak added, “I though it was neat [for her] to just say ‘Dad, I still want to go … so I can cheer them on.’”

At the event, Novak described the opening ceremonies where the athletes took the field, the lighting of the torch and the vast amount of support present – including 300 to 400 law enforcement personnel from all over the state. At one point, he found his daughter, who has cerebral palsy, dancing in a conga line with the police officers. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

While their daughter participated in the track and field events this year, the Novaks hope to add another sport for children and adults with intellectual disabilities to participate in – bowling.

Joe Novak said his two brothers are avid bowlers and his family enjoys bowling for fun. His wife, who grew up in Iredell, recalled “going bowling [in Stephenville] was a big deal.”

One of Jamie’s uncles purchased her a personalized bowling ball as a birthday gift, a red 8-pound ball with her initials engraved.

When the Novak family lived in Hico several years ago, they learned of the Special Olympics through a group that attends in Stephenville. According to Vicki Novak, Jamie was too young to participate at the time but it didn’t stop her daughter from working out and preparing for when she could.

They moved to Minnesota in 2000, Joe Novak’s home state. There, Jamie’s dream of participating in Special Olympics became a reality and she was able to participate in bowling. Joe Novak recalled when the athletes were given their awards they were presented by Miss Minnesota.

When the family returned to Texas last year, there wasn’t a bowling group from the Mineral Wells area. Instead, Jamie joined the track and field participants in March. Their group had five participants – four from Mineral Wells and one from Springtown, the Novaks recalled.

Joe Novak said, “It’s so neat for us to see it. They don’t have the competition non-handicapped people have. They’re there to have fun.”

There’s more than fun and games happening with the Special Olympics events, according to Jamie’s parents.

“She became more social,” Vicki Novak said.

“She’s gotten involved with people,” her husband agreed. “She’s making lifelong friends. … It helped with coordination, understanding teamwork and being part of something.”

He added that their daughter is more involved with the group in Mineral Wells because “they’re closer to her age. It was just total strangers who came together and now they’re friends.”

Now calling Mineral Wells home, the couple said they wanted to help and become involved in something in the community.

“We plan on being here a while,” Joe Novak remarked.

He said he helped back up their coach, Wendy Boswell, with the track and field games, but now they want to go even further with the opportunities for Special Olympics participants by becoming coaches for a bowling team.

According to the Special Olympics Texas Web site, volunteers who want to become coaches must complete a certification program and attend training schools before each season.

On Saturday, the Novaks will take another step towards obtaining their certification to coach a Special Olympics bowling team and hopefully begin practice on Sept. 13. They have to be completely certified before the state competition in November.

“We wanted to do something together and since we have a little one, something he can be around,” said Vicki Novak. “This is something I’ve wanted to do.”

Joe Novak said they were able to work with local bowling alley owner Doug Chitwood, who helped them establish a weekly time for the athletes to practice on Saturday afternoons.

“He said he’ll help us whenever he could. He’s been extremely helpful,” Novak remarked.

According to the Special Olympics Texas Web site, their mission is “to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”

“We hope to get more people in the community that want to compete,” Novak said. “The biggest thing is to teach them the fundamentals of the game – how to hold the ball, stepping up to the line, scoring, fouling.”

When their daughter bowls, the Novaks said it helps her in several ways such as dexterity, gross and fine motor skills and balance, to name a few.

“She’s excited about it [the bowling team] because she loves bowling,” Joe Novak said.

Jamie’s mother added that, like any teenager, she was asked not to embarrass her 17-year-old while coaching.

Bowling, which is considered a winter sport, offers participants a variety of events such as singles, doubles, team, ramp assisted and ramp unassisted. Just the athletes and volunteers – who would hold ramps steady – are allowed on the lanes.

The competition divisions are based on athletes’ ability level, age and gender.

“With Special Olympics, everybody that participates gets a ribbon,” Joe Novak said.

According to the SOTX Web site, it is one of the fastest growing sports and was first included in 1987 with 33 competitors. Twelve years later, there were 388 athletes from 33 countries at the 1999 World Games.

Vicki Novak said they hope the local Special Olympics bowling group will provide a place not only for the athletes to interact but parents and caretakers as well “so you can get to know people.”

As with any athlete, Novak said participants will have to fill out medical release forms if they’ve not competed in a Special Olympics event before. There is also a $4 cost per athlete per practice.

n For more information on the Special Olympics games, contact Boswell at (940) 682-9840. For more information on the organization, visit their Web site: www.sotx.org