Ithaca Unified Bowling begins fourth season

The Ithaca High School (IHS) Unified bowling team is back on the lanes for its fourth season. The Little Red kicked off their campaign on Feb. 7 at Horseheads. While they lost 6-4, head coach William Asklar was delighted to see the enjoyment on everyone’s faces, especially the newcomers.

“I know that they had a lot of fun,” Asklar said. “Unified bowling is great and we want to be competitive, but it’s more about building relationships with other people and supporting one another and having a good time, so we certainly did all of those things on Tuesday.”

The regular season consists of Ithaca playing Horseheads, Elmira, and Corning twice before the culminating event on Mar. 6. The Little Red will once again be on the road for all of their matches, as there are no bowling alleys in Ithaca that the team can use.

There’s the Helen Newman Bowling Center at Cornell University, but their lanes don’t open until after 5:30 p.m., which would be too late for practices and matches. Instead, the Little Red use the lanes at Atlas Bowl in Trumansburg.

“Atlas has been very welcoming, and we appreciate the fact that we can go anywhere at all,” Asklar said. “Those lanes are wooden… and it’s just a different experience from when we compete either in Corning or Elmira [where] we’re bowling on synthetic lanes that have medium to heavy oil. The kids get the experience of actually rolling the balls and so forth, but it’s quite different than when we’re actually competing against the other schools.”

Another thing that stands out about the Little Red is that unlike the other three schools, Ithaca High does not have a regular bowling team, meaning that they’re going up against more experienced bowlers. But the Little Red more make up for that lack of experience with the sheer number of players on the roster with 22, the largest out of the four schools.

There was plenty of interest this season with 39 students registering, part of a growing trend of enrollment in Ithaca’s Unified programs over the years.

“It’s been incredible, but it makes it difficult on me to decide who is going to be able to compete,” Asklar said. “We put the priority on people who have been involved with Unified sports in the past or are involved with the Youth Activation Committee, which does a lot of inclusive activities with the special ed students throughout the school year. That’s what we had to do to narrow the roster down. There’s talk about maybe trying to expand in the future, but with the bowling alleys we go to, I want to make sure that they can accommodate us. It’s a fine line between wanting to get more people interested, but also making sure that the people who are interested can commit to the meetings, the practices, and the games.”

Asklar has led the Unified bowling program since its inception. A bowling enthusiast, Asklar regularly bowled with his fellow teachers after school on Fridays back when the Bowl-O-Drome was open in Ithaca. What started off as a fun social gathering for teachers turned into an opportunity to add another Unified sport at IHS.

“I kept the tradition going, sending out emails to the staff wondering if they’re interested in bowling,” Asklar said. “The athletic director [Samantha Little] knew that I had an interest in bowling, and I know that there was great success with the Unified basketball team. She approached me about my interest in possibly being the coach of the Unified bowling team. Once I got a taste for it, I knew that it was just something that I had a great passion for, and I try to share my passion for bowling with the students.”

Since 2019, Ithaca High has been consistently recognized as a Unified Champion School, which is the highest national honor a school can receive for its commitment to inclusion and youth leadership. With the addition of Unified soccer this past fall, Ithaca continues to stand out as a strong supporter of Unified sports.

“We have some amazing, compassionate students, and people just want to try new things,” Asklar said. “There’s amazing support from the community. When I think of Unified sports, I think of building relationships and friendships, and it’s just something that’s been inspiring to see. The environment here at the high school and the students who are involved with the inclusive activities are so amazing. It all started with basketball, and now it’s grown up to several different sports. When students are able to experience it, whether it’s supporting the athletes or coming out to the games, I just think it’s contagious. I’m just so proud of the students who are on the team and the students who do the other sports, as well.”