The AWBA kicked off the 2014 wheelchair bowling season at the 2nd Annual Texas Shootout held at City View Lanes in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Bowlers from all over the country came together for four days of bowling, fellowship, great food, and beautiful weather.  The Doubles competition kicked off the event and Shawn Beam, Mr. 300, rolled an impressive 717 to open the competition.  There were some high scores for the Doubles by most all that competed.  In the end, Peter Arballo and Phillip Daniel walked away with this years Doubles title.  Eddy Hutchens and Colby Kortum took second while Mark Shepherd and Shawn Beam came in third.

Singles competition began Friday morning with the first set.  With all the bowling centers have in today’s world of computerization, City View Lanes took charge of all the scoring and it went without a hitch throughout the event including the UP/Down event.  In addition, we placed all bowlers within the same division for the 5 sets bowled.  After the completion of the 5th set, the top 5 Scratch bowlers were identified and placed in the Scratch Roll Off.  The top 10 handicap bowlers were then identified and seeded in order of their finish.  A one game match play roll off was then held between the top 10 to identify the top 5 Handicap bowlers for the roll offs.  In Scratch, Peter Arballo defeated Al Uttecht,  then defeated Eddy Hutchens before being handed defeat by Mark Shepherd.  In the end, Mark Shepherd defeated  High Qualifier Shawn Beam for the Scratch Title after Shawn chopped a 3,6,10 in the Tenth.  In the Handicap Division, Gil Herrera defeated David Nelson, in addition to Wayne Webber, before being ousted by John Budd.  John then bowled High Qualifier Rich Harrell for the Handicap Championship with Rich winning the title.  John Budd bowled an outstanding 632 during the event.  While the format needs some review, it appeared to fair for all that attended.

The UP/Down was a huge success as over 150 bowlers participated in a night filled with fun.  Team USA along with a number of Professional participated.  The only regret was that we had to turn away bowlers as we had no room in the center to place them.  We introduced a new event this year which we titled “A Session with the Pros” that was hosted by Carolyn DorinBallard, Del Ballard, and Lynda Barnes.  This was open to the public as well and with little prior notice given, it was well attended.  Many wheelchair bowlers had the chance to get professional advice from some of the most well known professionals and then tried their hand at bowling from a chair.  Great to see they are as human as we are!!!!!

Much thanks to the many volunteers for this event, notably Onie Ryan and Kandice Lee.  Without their hard work throughout the 4 days, this would have not been as successful as it was.  To the sponsors, Storm Bowling, ABC Medical, and the USBC, a big thanks for all you do for the AWBA.  And to the individuals that help sponsor, you know who you are and we thank you very much.

ALL EVENTS:  SHAWN BEAM, SCRATCH
COLBY KORTUM, HANDICAP

Thanks to all of you that came and enjoyed the 2014 Texas Shootout.  WE will see y’all next year!