Team USA set for inaugural IBF Para Bowling World Championships
November 12, 2021
Team USA from left: Eddy Hutchens, Emma (Toodie) Perry, Debra Freed and Shawn Beam
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The four competitors representing Team USA at the inaugural International Bowling Federation Para Bowling World Championships have completed their journey to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and are ready to represent the red, white and blue on the lanes at the Dubai International Bowling Centre.
While the team will look to collect gold medals in singles, doubles, mixed team and most valuable athlete (formerly all-events) from Nov. 13-16, the opportunity to help usher in a new era for para bowlers and create additional exposure through international competition is just as important for each team member.
The team competing in Dubai will feature Shawn Beam of Burleson, Texas; Eddy Hutchens of Franktown, Colorado; Debra Freed of Framingham, Massachusetts; and Emma (Toodie) Perry of Bakersfield, California.
The group was selected by the United States Bowling Congress National Selection Committee to represent Team USA in the W1 category of the IBF Para Bowling World Championships.
The W1 Para/Amputee Classification incorporates all wheelchair classifications. It includes leg amputees, cerebral palsy (with functional hands), and Les Autres athletes with mobility disfunction. All must compete from a wheelchair and follow the rules of play, along with modified rules established for this discipline.
The foursome will join the teams currently competing at the IBF Super World Championships, which started Nov. 6 and will conclude Nov. 15. The IBF Masters (formerly Senior) World Championships will follow the Para Bowling World Championships and take place Nov. 18-26.
Prior to their 8,000-mile trip to Dubai, the new teammates made their way to the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, for a day of team building and orientation, before beginning the journey.
The time and dedication over the years to make the opportunity a reality between USBC and the American Wheelchair Bowling Association was not lost on the team as they came together to train and prepare at the home of Team USA, crediting the work of Gary Ryan, who serves as secretary on the AWBA Board of Directors.
"Gary Ryan started working with the USBC in trying to get wheelchair bowling into the Paralympics," said Hutchens, who is the chairman of the AWBA Board of Directors and the top-ranked athlete in the scratch division of the AWBA Ranking System. "He worked on it for probably eight years, and I was with him for four or five of those years. When we got the call, everybody was ecstatic that wheelchair bowling was going to be recognized.
"I had goosebumps (when I found out I had made the team). I've never had goosebumps in my life. It was awesome to know I was going to get to represent the United States in Dubai. To get to Dubai wearing the red, white and blue is the greatest honor."
Freed was able to celebrate her 64th birthday training at the ITRC before heading to the airport for Dubai.
She is no stranger to international travel and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, but this will be her first time competing on the global stage.
"It's pretty amazing being allowed to go and represent the USA," Freed said. "It's an opportunity at my age to still be a part of something. Having been in the military, it really is amazing."
Perry will return to international competition after representing the United States in basketball prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
She hopes this experience also encourages other women to become active in the sport.
"It's really important to get the bowling out there for wheelchair bowlers," Perry said. "We have a lot of tournaments, but to be in the Paralympic area shows there's no limits. There are no limits in anything that anybody can do. I'm really excited to be one of the first women to represent the United States. That's even more important. We don't have a lot of women who bowl. Hopefully, this is going to help women bowlers get out there."
Beam earned national attention when he became the first to bowl a USBC-certified 300 game in a wheelchair in 2012. The correlation to being an inspiration to other athletes in that moment, and now being part of the inaugural team competing at the Para Bowling World Championships, is a humbling experience for him.
"It's really hard to put into words, and just thinking about it can make me a bit emotional," Beam said. "To again be able to do something nobody else has done before and having the honor to represent this country for the first time as a para bowler is an amazing feeling. Our goal as an organization is to spread knowledge and let people know this is a possibility. We want to get it out there, and this type of exposure could help so many people."
Beam also is looking forward to learning from the other countries in the field, and he hopes to be able to share some of the things he has learned while competing in AWBA tournaments to help grow wheelchair bowling on a global scale.
The experience will be a great opportunity for all the team members to learn and promote the sport, but the goal remains the same when it's time to compete at the Dubai International Bowling Centre.
"We want to come back with medals," Beam said. "I want to go there and win in everything we compete in. I want to soak everything in, because this is a once in a life opportunity. To be on this team, I want to enjoy it all. But once I get on the lanes and am wearing our colors, I'm going to be 100% focused on doing what I need to do to lock in and try to bring home that gold."
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The four competitors representing Team USA at the inaugural International Bowling Federation Para Bowling World Championships have completed their journey to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and are ready to represent the red, white and blue on the lanes at the Dubai International Bowling Centre.
While the team will look to collect gold medals in singles, doubles, mixed team and most valuable athlete (formerly all-events) from Nov. 13-16, the opportunity to help usher in a new era for para bowlers and create additional exposure through international competition is just as important for each team member.
The team competing in Dubai will feature Shawn Beam of Burleson, Texas; Eddy Hutchens of Franktown, Colorado; Debra Freed of Framingham, Massachusetts; and Emma (Toodie) Perry of Bakersfield, California.
The group was selected by the United States Bowling Congress National Selection Committee to represent Team USA in the W1 category of the IBF Para Bowling World Championships.
The W1 Para/Amputee Classification incorporates all wheelchair classifications. It includes leg amputees, cerebral palsy (with functional hands), and Les Autres athletes with mobility disfunction. All must compete from a wheelchair and follow the rules of play, along with modified rules established for this discipline.
The foursome will join the teams currently competing at the IBF Super World Championships, which started Nov. 6 and will conclude Nov. 15. The IBF Masters (formerly Senior) World Championships will follow the Para Bowling World Championships and take place Nov. 18-26.
Prior to their 8,000-mile trip to Dubai, the new teammates made their way to the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, for a day of team building and orientation, before beginning the journey.
The time and dedication over the years to make the opportunity a reality between USBC and the American Wheelchair Bowling Association was not lost on the team as they came together to train and prepare at the home of Team USA, crediting the work of Gary Ryan, who serves as secretary on the AWBA Board of Directors.
"Gary Ryan started working with the USBC in trying to get wheelchair bowling into the Paralympics," said Hutchens, who is the chairman of the AWBA Board of Directors and the top-ranked athlete in the scratch division of the AWBA Ranking System. "He worked on it for probably eight years, and I was with him for four or five of those years. When we got the call, everybody was ecstatic that wheelchair bowling was going to be recognized.
"I had goosebumps (when I found out I had made the team). I've never had goosebumps in my life. It was awesome to know I was going to get to represent the United States in Dubai. To get to Dubai wearing the red, white and blue is the greatest honor."
Freed was able to celebrate her 64th birthday training at the ITRC before heading to the airport for Dubai.
She is no stranger to international travel and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, but this will be her first time competing on the global stage.
"It's pretty amazing being allowed to go and represent the USA," Freed said. "It's an opportunity at my age to still be a part of something. Having been in the military, it really is amazing."
Perry will return to international competition after representing the United States in basketball prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
She hopes this experience also encourages other women to become active in the sport.
"It's really important to get the bowling out there for wheelchair bowlers," Perry said. "We have a lot of tournaments, but to be in the Paralympic area shows there's no limits. There are no limits in anything that anybody can do. I'm really excited to be one of the first women to represent the United States. That's even more important. We don't have a lot of women who bowl. Hopefully, this is going to help women bowlers get out there."
Beam earned national attention when he became the first to bowl a USBC-certified 300 game in a wheelchair in 2012. The correlation to being an inspiration to other athletes in that moment, and now being part of the inaugural team competing at the Para Bowling World Championships, is a humbling experience for him.
"It's really hard to put into words, and just thinking about it can make me a bit emotional," Beam said. "To again be able to do something nobody else has done before and having the honor to represent this country for the first time as a para bowler is an amazing feeling. Our goal as an organization is to spread knowledge and let people know this is a possibility. We want to get it out there, and this type of exposure could help so many people."
Beam also is looking forward to learning from the other countries in the field, and he hopes to be able to share some of the things he has learned while competing in AWBA tournaments to help grow wheelchair bowling on a global scale.
The experience will be a great opportunity for all the team members to learn and promote the sport, but the goal remains the same when it's time to compete at the Dubai International Bowling Centre.
"We want to come back with medals," Beam said. "I want to go there and win in everything we compete in. I want to soak everything in, because this is a once in a life opportunity. To be on this team, I want to enjoy it all. But once I get on the lanes and am wearing our colors, I'm going to be 100% focused on doing what I need to do to lock in and try to bring home that gold."