By Terrionna Brockman
Sheila Lawton is a bowling instructor from Corona, California, and will compete with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) athletes at USA Games in Orlando, Florida. She began bowling at the age of four and never stopped playing. She now has 40 years of experience under her belt and is looking forward to blazing the bowling lanes with her bowling partner.
To prepare, Sheila bowls in a weekly league and practices every Saturday. In addition to training for the Games, she is a bowling instructor, not only for SOSC, but for mainstream bowling leagues as well. She is also active in an adult league with her son who has Autism.
She shares that SOSC has impacted her life by “Having the opportunity to work with our athletes who are not always accepted by our world today and giving them a platform and being a part of that—and also being able to create relationships and allow them to not focus on their disability, but their abilities to do whatever they want to do.”
When asked what it means to represent Southern California at the Games, Sheila shares, “This is such a lifetime opportunity! I’m honored and humbled just to be able to be a part of a sport, number one, that I love the most.” She also says that Special Olympics is an organization that she has invested a lot of time into and she is honored to be a member of the Special Olympics family and to witness what the mission is all about.