Ben is autistic, and while he played soccer and tried basketball and tennis, nothing seemed to be the right fit. The 20-year-old found that fit at Poelking Lanes.
“This is something he loves,” Jane said.
Ben does more than enjoy it, he excels at it. The 2014 Chaminade Julienne graduate recently bowled his first sanctioned 300 game and has five other unsanctioned perfect games to his credit.
“And he throws a house ball,” Poelking Lanes general manager Jason Butler said. “He is very into it.”
Ben is currently bowling in his first sanctioned league, a Saturday morning youth league in which he is averaging close to 220. But on any given day, in his 10-game practice block, he averages between 230 and 260 with his nontraditional two-handed release.
“He watched the PBA on TV, probably Jason Belmonte, and he started emulating that style,” Butler said. “It’s really amazing to watch.”
Ben was 15 when he started bowling with bumpers and averaged about 100. It wasn’t long, however, before he did away with the bumpers and that’s when his game took off.
But the benefits of bowling go well beyond honor scores and high averages for Ben, whose confidence has increased steadily since he took to the lanes.
“He has come out of his shell a lot,” Butler said. “When he first started here, he wouldn’t talk to anyone and, now, he’s joking around and even trash-talking when he’s in here.”
Bowling has become a passion for Ben and the bowlers have become family.
“When Ben graduated, the first people he wanted to invite to his party were from Poelking Lanes,” Jane said. “Everyone there is so good to him.”
The young man of few words is clear that the best thing about the game is “bowling at Poelking Lanes.”
Like most bowlers, Ben has an occasional complaint (too much oil on the lanes, etc), but the pros far outweigh the cons. His parents even decided not to move out of the area because they wanted Ben to remain close enough to Poelking Lanes to get there every day on his own.
“Bowling is the one thing he absolutely loves and we don’t want to take that away from him,” Jane said.
Next up for Ben?
“Join an adult league,” his mom said, “And then, who knows.”
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